Citation
The Adventures of Jack Pomeroy

Material Information

Title:
The Adventures of Jack Pomeroy : a book for boys
Series Title:
"Little Dot" series
Creator:
Darnton, Peter William ( Author, Primary )
Knight, Edward ( Printer )
Religious Tract Society (Great Britain) ( Publisher )
Place of Publication:
London
Publisher:
Religious Tract Society
Manufacturer:
Knight
Publication Date:
Language:
English
Physical Description:
64 p., [1] leaf of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 16 cm.

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Christian life -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Adventure and adventurers -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Brigands and robbers -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Prisoners -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Runaway teenagers -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Sailors -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Escapes -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Publishers' advertisements -- 1890 ( rbgenr )
Prize books (Provenance) -- 1890 ( rbprov )
Baldwin -- 1890
Genre:
Publishers' advertisements ( rbgenr )
Prize books (Provenance) ( rbprov )
novel ( marcgt )
Spatial Coverage:
England -- London
Target Audience:
juvenile ( marctarget )

Notes

General Note:
Frontispiece printed in colors.
General Note:
Publisher's advertisements on endpapers.
Statement of Responsibility:
by P.W. Darnton.

Record Information

Source Institution:
University of Florida
Holding Location:
University of Florida
Rights Management:
This item is presumed to be in the public domain. The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not claim any copyright interest in this item. Users of this work have responsibility for determining copyright status prior to reusing, publishing or reproducing this item for purposes other than what is allowed by fair use or other copyright exemptions. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions may require permission of the copyright holder. The Smathers Libraries would like to learn more about this item and invite individuals or organizations to contact The Department of Special and Area Studies Collections (special@uflib.ufl.edu) with any additional information they can provide.
Resource Identifier:
026665080 ( ALEPH )
ALG5469 ( NOTIS )
04724836 ( OCLC )

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The Baldwin Library

University
RmB vv
Florida









































































































































































Setma, the Turkish Captive.

Show Yous Colours.

True and False Friendship.

Always too Late.

= The Patched Frock

a The Story he was old +

Soldier Sam,

Stephen Grattan’s Faith,

David the Schotar. —

Tired of Homie. ©

Setting Out for Heaven.

The Stolen Money.

Helen’s Stewardship.

Pat Riley’s Friends.

Olive Crowhurst,

The White. Feather.

Stieenie ANoway’s Adventures.

Angel's Christmas.

“G@ottage Life; its Lights and
Shadows,

fhe. Raven's Feather,

Aunt Milly’s Diamonds and
Our Cousin from India.

My Eady’s Prize and Hijie’s

- Letter, i ‘

ih How the Golden Bagle was

Caught. Bae

Emity’s Trouble and what it

taught her.

Lhe Adopied Son






















































































































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Pittle Dot Series, |

ADVENTURES OF JACK POMEROY

A Book for Boys,

BY

“P, W. DARNTON.













































































































































THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY:

56, PATERNOSTER Row; 65, St. Paut’s CHURCHYARD ;
AND 164, PICCADILLY. :







CHAP.

Il.

Ill,

TV.

Vv.

VI.

Vil,

VII,

How THE STORY CAME TO BE TOLD .

YouTHFUL Days 7
New CoMPANIONS .

AMONG THE BRIGANDS

PAGE

A SHARP ENCOUNTER, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 33

Tue GREAT CHANGE.

THE UNEXPECTED GUEST

Tue EscaPE . ;





THE

ADVENTURES OF JACK POMEROY.

00 £@f0-0-—_-

CHAPTER I.
HOW THE STORY CAME TO BE TOLD.

Â¥ grandfather, Captain Pom-
eroy, was a fine, ruddy, hale
old man seventy-two years of
age, but full of life and energy
still,
Vs gS He sometimes astonished us
SAS youngsters by coming to our bed-
qs ‘ room doors at six o'clock in the
morning, and challenging us to a
pull across the bay before breakfast, or some
fine morning announcing that a big shoal of fish
had been seen in the offing, and that he meant
to go out with the boats.

We thought there never was such a Jolly old
fellow as our grandfather; and he was as good
as he was jolly. He was never seen with a
long face, and yet we knew that he used to.
spend many an hour, alone, praying to God for
us boys and girls; and he would often drop





4 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

some quiet word, or give a little bit of advice,
which came right out of lis heart, and perhaps
checked us in some folly or disobedience, and
yet somehow never beclouded his sunny counte-
nance for a moment.

Captain Pomeroy used to be my idea of a
Christian; and it does a good deal for a lad
such as I was, when he has before him a cha-
racter so staunch, true, and sweet as an example
of Christianity. It was better than a hundred
sermons, though I don’t say anything against
sermons. é

But grandfather Pomeroy’s life was a_per-
petual sermon, always being preached and yet
never tiring anyone.

Whenever, as I grew older, I heard people
sneer at religion, or say harsh things about
religious people, I always instinctively thought
of my grandfather, and it was the best argument
for Christianity that could possibly have been
devised. ,

No holiday was ever looked forward to by us
with such delight as a week or two spent at
Saltbury, where Captain Pomeroy lived, within
sight and hearing of his much-loved ocean.

I am going to tell you the story of his life, as
he told it to us yourgsters, and I really think
the circumstances under which he told us were
almost as romantic as the story itself, and so I
will tell you how it came about :— -

One summer, IJ, my younger brother Ted, and



How the Story Came to be Told. 5

our sister Hester, all went on a visit to Saltbury ;
while we were there a grand expedition was
planned. We were all to go out in Captain
Pomeroy’s pinnace, The Marguerita; and after
standing out to sea and rounding the light-ship,
we were to make for a part of the coast where
there was a particularly snug cave, abounding
with all kinds of lovely gem-like pebbles, of
which Hester wanted to take home a collection.
So we victualled the ship, as the old gentle-
man said; that is, we took on board a good
hearty luncheon, and early one morning, with
a fair wind, we stood out to sea.

Ted and I managed the sails, and grandfather
was skipper and steersman, and a rare time we
had. The day was beautiful, or so it seemed to
us, though we noticed that the old gentleman
kept casting rather curious glances seaward.
However, he said nothing, and it would have
taken a good deal of ‘‘ saying” to have damped
our spirits that morning.

After sailing about two hours we “ wore ship,”
and stood in for the cove.

This little bay was about twenty or twenty-
five miles from Saltbury, on a long spit of rocky
shore which ran out like a crooked arm. We
made the cove all right, and ran into a little
creek or bight between two rocks, where there was
a bit of clean sandy beach, and the boat could
ride at anchor, or lie on the beach as we chose.
We soon landed, and being hungry with our



6 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

voyage, proceeded to unpack the baskets for
lunch. ,

While we were sitting on the beach regaling
ourselves to our hearts’ content, we observed the
sky gradually become overcast, and grandfather
said, rather gravely, “Well, lads, ’'m glad we
have got here before the wind, but we are going
to have a blow.”

“Tt won’t be much, grandfather, will it?”
asked Hester.

“Ah! lassie, I can’t tell yet,” he answered ;
“but we are safe enough, that’s one comfort.
And now you had better go and gather your
pebbles before the rain comes on.”

The afternoon wore away, and we had
gathered a splendid lot of pebbles and sea-
weed, and all sorts of curious things, while the
old gentleman sat on the rocks, and smoked pipe
after pipe, as though tobacco were as natural to
him as fresh air.

All this time the wind had been rising. We
had seen the white-caps far out to sea, and I,
as being the eldest and most experienced, had
felt some qualms about our homeward voyage.

I was just thinking of asking grandfather
whether we had not better start before the sea
grew rougher, when I heard his voice calling for
Hester. ‘Did you put any tea in the basket,
lassie 2” he cried.

“Yes,” said Hester, running up, “and the
kettle is in the boat. Shall we make a fire P”’



How the Story Came to be Told. 7

“T think we had better find a shelter first.
. You lads, run and pick up some drift wood.
We shall have the rain presently; and then
getting up, he went along the beach a little way
toasmall cave. The cave did not go straight
in among the rocks, but had a sort of bend in
it so that at the back you had a fine shelter
from any wind from the sea.

“ Here’s our tea-room. Now get the fire up,”
said he, in a cheery voice.

“Ts it going to rain much?” I asked.

“T should say it is going to rain pretty smart ;
and what’s more than that, I don’t expect you'll
get home to your supper to-night, youngsters,”
he replied.

“Oh, what a lark!” shouted Ted. “I say,
Hester, it is as good as being shipwrecked.”

“Hum!” exclaimed my grandfather, “a
little better, I should say, my boy.”

“Tt’s a good thing we took plenty of bread
and things,” I cried.

“Ah! you may trust an old sailor for think-
ing of the victuals, my lad; we shall not starve
to-night.”

So the fire was built and the kettle hung on
a crooked stick, and i in another quarter of an
hour we were all enjoying the hot tea out of
pewter mugs, and eating bread and meat and
cake to our hearts’ content. The wind did blow
now, and the rain began pattering fiercely on
the rocks outside our cave.





8 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

Ted and I ran to the boat, saw to the moor-
ings, and covered everything which we could
not carry to the cave.

“Will grandmother be anxious about us, do
you think?” asked Hester.

“No, no, my dear. She knows the old sailor
too well for that: Pll be bound she’s picturing
us all sitting here out of the rain. Why, she
and I have eaten many a lunch in this cave.”

‘Keep up the fire, lads,” he continued ; “ we
shall be feeling cold presently, and it’s really
beginning to grow dusk.” So there we sat on
stones and points of rock as the darkness in-
ereased, and the fire blazed and crackled merrily.

“Well, grandfather,” said I, “we are in. for
it; won’t you tell us a story, just to wile zeway
the time, and keep us from being hungry.”

“Ah! that I will, if you like,” he answered.
“T have often thought I would like to tell you
lads about my early life, and how I came to be
what Iam now. I have had plenty of ups and
downs, of storms and calm, in my life; and if
it had not been for a gracious and patient Father
above me, I shouldn’t be here to-day.”

“This will be just the place for a story, won’t
it?” said I. “Let us all sit close.”

So getting as near us we conveniently could,
we listened to the following story, while the |
wind stormed without and the big breakers filled
up the pauses with their unceasing thunder.

=



CHAPTER II.

YOUTHFUL DAYS.




@ eit, my lads,” said my
erandfather, “when I
) first went to sea I was
p. only just as old as Ted
here—just fourteen. I
am sorry to say that J
ran away from home, and,
. I am afraid, nearly broke
my dear mother’s heart.
) I did not think then, as
I do now, of the pain parents feel

° “%. when their children go wrong. I
am glad and thankful to God that none of my
lads ever did the same. Your father has been
a good son, Hester, God bless him, and so have
the others. I hope, lads, youll follow your
father’s example, and be spared all the suffering
and regret which your old grandfather has had
to endure.”

Here Hester looked up with a sweet smile
into grandfather’s face, down which, I believe,
a tear was trickling.



10 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

“And yet,” he continued, “I had a good
home. My father was a good man, who did
his best to guide me in Christian ways, and my
mother was kind and gentle. But somehow
boys are often very foolish and wild. All my
troubles, lads, I have brought on myself, and
they have come generally through listening to
bad companions. I wish I could put a mark
upon every bad man’s face, so that they might
be known for what they are.» I am afraid, how-
ever, that some boys who are like what I was,
would not be warned even by. that.

Iwas so wilful that when my father hesi-
tated about sending me to sea, I just took the
bit between my teeth, and one night ran away.

Tremember the night so well. Everybody
in the house was asleep, and I crept out of the
back door like a thief, and through the silent
-village, till I got ito the open road. I wasn’t
a bit of a coward, I must say that for myself,
and yet when I got clear of the houses and
was all alone beneath the stars, I felt a little
frightened—more frightened than ashamed, I
think, for I was so determined and self-willed
that I wouldn’t give in. I had made up a
bundle of clothes and some bread and meat, and
J had a few shillings in my pocket.

Now what I have always thought was a
very strange thing and could only have been
done through an impulse given by a merciful
God, I packed up among my clothes a little



Youthful Days. 11

Bible, which my mother had given me on my
last birthday. I had been very proud of that
Bible: it was bound in a bright plum-coloured
cover, and had gilt edges. I caught sight of it
in the moonlight lying on the table m my bed-
room, just as | was tying up my bundle, and I
couldn’t find it in my heart to leave it behind.
Not that I had read it much: if I had done so
JT should not have been found stealing out
secretly that night. I only took it because of
the handsome outside ; but as you will hear, it
became my best friend and the. means of. my
salvation. I am sure God inclined my heart to
take it, that it might be a link between my
foolish heart. and the God of my fathers: as
indeed it turned out to be. God’s ways are very
wonderful ; I have found that out in the course
of my life.

Well, I tramped on all that night, that is, for
about four or five hours till I caught sight of
the sea; and about six o’clock in the morning
found myself on the little quay of Brighthaven.

There was no difficulty in those days, as there
would be now, in a likely-looking lad getting on
board a ship as cabin-boy; and before many
hours were over I was sailing out of the har-
bour on a trading brig.

The captain turned out to be a good man;
and though he had been too busy at first to ask
me many questions, as soon as he found out
that I had run away from home, he insisted on



12 Adventures of Juck Pomeroy.

knowing my father’s name and where he lived,
and at the very first port we touched at, which
was Lisbon, he wrote to. him to relieve his
anxiety. I have often felt very grateful to that
man since, for his consideration lessened the
suffering my folly inflicted upon others, and I
was too stubborn and rebellious for a long time
to write at all.

I took kindly enough to a sea-life ; and though
I got a good many cuffs, and some thrashings,
and occasionally very hard fare on my first
voyage, yet on the whole I liked the life, and
had no intention of leaving it.

So when the vessel returned to England, and
the hands were paid off at Southampton, I
shipped again on a vessel going to Calcutta.
This was one of the most disastrous voyages,
both for soul and body, Lever made. The cap-
tain was an ungodly and drunken man, and as
a natural consequence, he had a bad crew. I
was growing a tall, muscular lad, and was ready
to drink in villainy as a thirsty man drinks
water. Though I was not quite sixteen, I be-
came notorious, even among such a ribald crew
as this, for my profanity, and the more I was
laughed at and applauded the worse I became.

One night the cry of ‘fire’ was raised.
There’s no more horrible sound at sea, and fear
and horror seized every heart.

The vessel was laden with a general cargo,
and as we all knew, had a good deal of gun-





Youthful Days. 13

powder on board, besides some casks of inflam-
‘mable oil. We were in mid ocean, hundreds of
miles from land; and if the fire made headway,
we knew our position would be perilous indeed.

To make matters worse, the captain was in-
capable through drink, and was worse than use-
less. Those of the crew, who were able, set to
work to try and extimguish the fire, but in vain.
During the whole night and next day we fought
the flames, but it was impossible to extinguish
them. We knew the fire was nearing the mag-
azine where the powder was stored, and that
not many hours would elapse before the inevit-
able explosion would take place, and the vessel
and all on board would be blown to atoms.

The second mate, who was the steadiest man
on board, prepared to get out a boat and put
into her such provisions as he could, and a keg
of water. But the majority of the men had by
this time got at the liquor, and some were lying
about the deck helplessly intoxicated, while
others were wildly smging and cursing in their
bunks. The ship was a terrible scene of con-
fusion, and only the coolness and sobriety of the
mate saved any of usfrom destruction. Happily
to all my sins I had not yet added that of drunken-
ness, and I worked alongside the mate to get
the jolly-boat off. The mate and six of us, who
avere sober enough to know what we were about,
sprang into her and pushed off.

-. We lay on and off for a little, but it was dan-



14 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

gerous to keep near the burning vessel, and we
had not been half an hour out of the ship,
before she blew up with a terrible explosion.

As soon as the smoke had cleared away, we
pulled back to the spot where the remains of
the wreck were burning on the waves. One
man and one only was to be seen, and he was
almost insensible. We picked him up; but
although we pulled over and about the spot for
more than an hour, we saw no une else. ‘They
had all gone down into the devouring sea—
summoned into eternity in a moment.

The event sobered, for the time, even such
rough, thoughtless sailors as we were, and for
a little there was silence amongst us.

Happily the second mate had had the sense
to bring a pocket compass with him, and most
of us had our bundles with us, with a few
clothes. Strange to say, though I had grown
so careless and profane, I had brought the little
Bible away. You see God had not forsaken
the prodigal, nor forgotten the mother’s prayers ;
my. belief is that He never does.

For three or four days we sailed before the
wind, going south by west, for as we had lost
our reckoning, we really did not know how to
steer. We must have got a good deal out of
our course before the fire broke out, for the
weather became exceedingly cold, and we suf-
fered from it a good deal.

At last we sighted land, and ran the boat



Youthful Day. 15

ashore on a sandy beach, at the foot of a great
cliff. There was nothing for it, but to scale
the cliff, which we did with a good deal of
difficulty, for it was very smooth and precipi-
tous. When we reached the top we found we
were on a flat-topped, treeless island, covered
with rank grass and rushes. There was no
shelter except in a few hollow places among the
rocks; and as the wind was now- blowing from
the southwards, that is, straight from the vast
ice-fields around the south pole, the cold was
severe. It seemed as though we had been saved
from burning to be frozen to death.

If we could get a fire, and make some sort of
shelter, we thought we might manage to exist
for a while. -But how to get the fire was the
question. The mate suddenly remembered that
he had brought no matches. Hverybody searched
their pockets, but the one or two matches which
were discovered were all spoiled by the water.
At last I found one in the depths of one of my ,
pockets, and the anxiety lest it should be lost or
fail was mtense.

We should not have dared to go to sleep out
on that high rock, with such an icy wind blow-
ing. If we had done so, we should probably
none of us have awakened again. . The little
food we had brought in the boat was nearly all
consumed; and though we saw plenty of pen-
guins and some rabbits and goats in the island,
what could we do without fire to cook by, and



16 Adventures of Juck Pomeroy.

to keep ourselves from being frozen? The fact
was, our very lives depended upon that match.
No gold mine could have purchased that match.
We took elaborate pains to ensure its safety.
We gathered a quantity of the driest brush-
wood we could find, and then all surrounded
the most sheltered spot among the rocks, that
we might shield our infant fire from the least
breath of wind. The mate got a fragment of
paper which he had kept dry, and amid our
breathless silence, struck the match. It lit, the
paper blazed up and caught the brushwood, and
in five minutes we had a blazing fire. The mate
said, ‘Thank God;’ and we shouted ‘ Hurrah!’
That fire saved our lives, though the fire on
board had threatened to destroy them.

It has often seemed to me since, that that
scene would have made a fine illustration for a
sermon. One man has sometimes a light of
truth which many people need. No one knows
how much he needs 1, till he stands face to
face with death, as we were that day. The
spark of truth which Christ lit when He died,
has raised a glorious fire, and millions have
warmed themselves at it, and been saved. You
can’t live in a world like this, depend upon it,
my lads, without the Gospel. Why, my little
Bible was like that match, too. I did not think
so then. JI didn’t the least know the value of
it, nor care about it, except that I thought it a
fine-looking book, and I didn’t like to lose it.



Youthful Days. 17

But there it lay in my bundle like the match in
my pocket, of no use apparently; till the day
came when it was wanted, and I was ready to
listen to its teaching, and then it became the
light of heaven to me.

Lamp of our feet, whereby we trace
Our path when wont to stray ;

Stream from the fount of heavenly grace,
Brook by the traveller’s way; -

Pillar of fire, through watches dark,
And radiant cloud by day ;

When waves would whelm our tossing bark,
Our anchor and our stay :

Word of the everlasting God,
Will of His glorious Son,

Without thee, how could earth be trod,
Or heaven itself be won ?

Well, we stayed on that island twenty-four
days and a half. We caught the penguins, but
we had to soak them in salt water all night,
before we could eat the flesh. Some of the
men managed to make some fish-hooks, and we
caught some fish; but the goats and rabbits were
too nimble for us, though we did manage to
entrap one she-goat, which gave us a good
draught of welcome milk for several days. We
‘gathered a good many nettles and boiled them
as vegetables, and they proved very wholesome,
though certainly not very pleasant food.

I am sorry to say that the effects of our
peril and alarm soon passed away, and we be-
came as profane and thoughtless as ever. But
c



18 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

as there was happily no liquor, and nothing to
drink except rain-water, the men could not get
intoxicated, and men generally keep their senses,
however vicious and ungodly they may be, if
they get no alcohol. Every day, you may be
sure, we kept a sharp look-out for a passing
vessel. Once or twice we put off in our boat
when a sail hove in sight, and tried to attract’
the attention of the crew, but it was all in vain.
At last we determined to keep a big fire burning
on the highest point of the island, so that some
ship might descry the smoke, and bear down
upon us.

We had seen many a vessel pass on her
voyage, far away on the distant horizon, and
had almost begun to despair, when one day a
sail hove in sight much closer to our island than
usual. We heaped up the fuel on our fire, and
made our boat ready to go out and intercept the
ship if necessary.

To our intense delight the sailors saw our
signals, and the course of the ship was altered.
You may be sure it was not long before we were
all on board, and very kind and hospitable were
that captain and his crew.

We were glad and thankful for our rescue,
but I am afraid we gave no thanks to the
Unseen Father who had shielded and helped
us. At least, I know I never thought about
Him, nor of anything I had learned in my
English home. I seemed to have abandoned



Youthful Days. 19

myself to the wild, roving, thoughtless life of
so many around me.

As I was a young, active fellow, the captain
of this ship took a fancy to me, and I stayed
with him, and sailed in that vessel several
voyages, learning a good deal of seamanship,
and a great deal of wickedness into the bargain.

When I look back, I sometimes wonder how
God had patience with me. I was.worse than
most of my companions, because I had had
better teaching than they.

But this, instead of making me wiser or
better, only served to give me a sort of leader-
ship in all sorts of wickedness.

I never go to bed, lad, of a night now, with-
out thanking God that He did not cut me off
in the midst of my sins.

By this time I was nineteen years old, tall
and strong and healthy, but a most determined
rascal.





20

CHAPTER MII.




NEW COMPANIONS,



HEN I landed in Eng-
land, five years after
leaving her shores, |
felt a sort of longing
to see my old home. [
was past being ashamed
of my doings. I was
only ‘a jolly tar, I
thought, living like the
rest of them, and I set
off fo my ative village in fine spirits, and
certainly without any compunctions.

But as I neared the place, and from the
coach-top I began to recognise the once familiar
features of the landscape, I began to feel a little
pensive, if not a little ashamed of myself. 1
had sent occasional letters home, and had re-
ceived two or three. But my life had been
such a wandering one that correspondence had
never been easy, and my brother might have
written many times without my reeeivimz a





New Companions. 21

letter. J had heard nothing, certaimly, for nine
months, and how did I know whether my father
and mother were dead or living.

These reflections sobered me a good deal, and
I actually felt anxious. So much so indeed
that I was fain to get down from the coach
before we reached the village, and walk quietly -
on alone. I shunned the principal street lest I
should meet some one who knew me, and so
heav what I dreaded to know, and for the same
reason I came to the back door of my old house.

A strange face was looking out of the open
window. At least the face was strange at first.
After a minute I recognised an old neighbour,
but it was not my mother. ‘Mrs. Crump,’
said I, ‘is my mother living P’

‘Good gracious!’ she answered, ‘who is it?
Not Jack Pomeroy, surely.’

‘Yes, it is Jack, and no one else,’ I answered.

-*Tell me, where is mother?’

‘Dear, dear, dear,’ said she. ‘Oh, why didn’t
you come back a week ago P’

‘Then she is dead, I answered, falteringly.

‘Yes, Jack, yes; didn’t you hear?’

‘And father?’ I interrupted.

‘Your father died six months ago; but your
mother was only buried yesterday.’

I could stand it no longer. The sight of the
old place had softened my heart a little, and
now the bad news which came upon me broke
me down, and I burst into tears.



22 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

Good old Mrs. Crump let me sit alone in the
old kitchen for a while. As I sat there and
thought, how it all came back to me! All my
ingratitude and wickedness, all the pain I must
have cost my parents! I sobbed a good time;
but I am afraid, though my heart was softened,
my conscience was not touched; and after a few
days of unusual quiet and gravity, I shook off
the influence of my loss, and determined to go
back to sea. I was too young, you see, to fret
for long; and too wicked, I am afraid, to appre-
ciate all I had lost.

Next week I was back at Southampton, look-
ing out for a ship and ‘ having a fling,’ as the:
sailors call it, to bury my sorrow, and spend the
remainder of my pay.

I was not long in finding a ship. Iwas taken
as second mate on board of a barque going to
the Mediterranean and Black Sea. It was not
necessary in those days, as it is now, for a man
to pass examinations; and as I knew a good
deal about sea-life, and was strong and active,
the captain was glad to engage me.

There were several passengers on board, and
among them an elderly gentleman, who seemed
to take very kindly to me. He was a most
benevolent man; a true Christian if ever there .
was one, for though he did not talk much about
religion, he Hved it, and that was a great deal
better. He soon won the esteem of evervbody
on board.



New Companions. 28

He had been a great traveller, and would en-
tertain us all by long stories about what he had
seen in other countries; and whenever he could
get a word with me alone, as he managed to do
sometimes when I was sitting in my bunk mend-
ing, or doing something of that kind, he would
try to draw me out, and make me tell him about
my home, and my father and mother. I soon
felt as though I could tell him. everything, for
he was as kind and sympathetic as though he
had been my own father.

There was another man on board that vessel,
who had a good deal to do with my future life,
but he was a very different person. He was
one of the crew, a handsome young Sicilian.
Now, I had picked up a good smattering of
several languages in the course of my voyaging,
for I was always fond of learning such things,
and very quick at it; and as this young fellow
could not talk English, and no one on board but
myself could understand his patois, I became
very intimate with him. His influence was
directly opposed to that exerted by my elderly
friend, for he was an unprincipled, but brilliant
fellow, keen and quick-tempered like many of
his countrymen. He was so fiery that I often
had to interfere to pacify quarrels which would
probably have ended in something worse than
words, if I had not been at hand to quell them.
But he always yielded to my remonstrances,
and seemed. desirous of pleasing me.



24 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

He was generally in my watch, and for hours
he would amuse and interest me with stories of
his native country. He declared that his brother
was the leader of a band of brigands, and was
very proud of the fact. He did not call them
thieves, he used a much pleasanter name, but
that was what he really meant, though he never
seemed to imagine there was any disgrace or
wrong in such a profession. He had himself
been up in the mountains to their place of con-
cealment, and he drew such fascinating pictures
of their haunts and of the wild self-imdulgent
life they led, that I found myself dreaming
about them, and going over in my thoughts the
adventures he had described, until my friend,
Captain Willats, came along again, and drove
such wicked thoughts out of my head by some
wise, kindly talk.

So it went on all through the voyage. We
made slow progress, had head-winds, and touched
at several ports, so that it was a long time be-
fore we reached Alexandria. But people were
not in such a hurry in those days as tkey are
now. There was no steam then, and nothing
was thought of a little delay.

At Alexandria our passengers mostly ieft, and
among them Captain Willats. Thence we went
on to the Black Sea ; and taking in, after a long
delay, a new cargo at some Black Sea port, we
shaped our course for home. During all this
time I had been gradually forgetting the con-



New Companions. 25

versations of my kind old friend, and the in-
fluence he had for the time exerted was fast
wearing off.

On going over the bills of lading, for I had to
be supercargo as well as second mate, I found
that we were to touch at Messina on our way
homeward; and soon after leaving port I told
my Italian friend that we were going to take
cargo to Sicily. This seemed to excite him, and
IT remember on that night—it was as we were
sailing calmly across the Mediterranean, and I
was pacing the quarter-deck on my watch—I
heard a low voice close at my side; it was
Beppo, and he began hurriedly talking in a low
voice.

He proposed that when we reached Sicily he
and I should leave the ship secretly, and make
for the mountains to join his brother. He
declared he knew the way to the stronghold
where his brother and the band of bravoes
lived, and that we could get there quite safely
and easily in the night.

At first I pooh-poohed such an idea; but
gradually the desire to see the bandits and join
their expeditions arose within me, and kept
growing stronger and stronger as the wily Italian
talked. My head had always been full of all
sorts of devilry; and when I was on shore I
was always getting into scrapes and doing some-
thing outrageous. And it seemed a fine thing
to ride on a prancing horse in a troop of brigands



26 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

all dressed as I had seen them in foolish pic-
tures, and waylay a bishop or rich merchant,
and hold him to ransom: living a jovial rollick-
ing life, governed by no laws but the laws of
one’s own passions. But I confess I did not like
the idea of pilfering: I would not be a low thief,
I thought. But then, as Beppo, in his high-
flown way, described the life of these bravoes,
the pilfering part of the business seemed almost
lost sight of, and only the romantic side struck
my attention.

The end of it was that, like a young fool, I
at last allowed the wily Italian to persuade me.

When we reached Messina we anchored just
off the port. The captain spent his time pretty
much on shore for a day or two, and meanwhile
a boat always lay alongside ready for his signal.
So one night Beppo and J, having each made up
a small portable parcel, slipped quietly over the
ship’s side and dropped into the boat. We pulled
silently down the Straits for about two miles,
and landing at a solitary spot, set off to walk.





27

CHAPTER IV.

AMONG THE BRIGANDS.

sss) uu place where we landed was

4, very wild. The mountains
came close to the sea, and we
were soon clambering on the
very slopes of Etna. Leaving
this towering summit on the
left, we crossed a shoulder or
‘spur of the great volcano ;
and just as the dawn touched
the eastern sky, we came in
sight of a wide valley, along
which the mists lay white and thick. Above
them, and right opposite to us, we could descry,
ghost-like in the morning air, another range of
mountain slopes and peaks, just beginning to
glow in the beams of the rising sun.

Pomting to one part of the distant range,
Beppo told me that we should find the great
stronghold there. He also declared that we
were quite safe from any pursuit, even if any
one was inclined:to pursue (which was not very
likely), and proposed that we should have a rest





28 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

and some breakfast; so descending into the
nearest village, we went into a country inn,
where we breakfasted off dried fish and bread
and fruit, and then had a long sleep under the
verandah.

We waited till the heat of the day had passed,
and then, after a good meal, we went on in a
country waggon, which was travelling in the
direction of our destination ; leaving it at sunset,
at a point where the roads divided. By mid-
night we found ourselves beneath a lofty peak,
and close to the bandits’ hold.

Arriving at a certam point my companion
halted, and putting his hand to his mouth, gave
a peculiar cry, which was almost immediately
answered by a similar sound close at hand. In
a minute or two a man with along rifle under
his arm and a rough, half-savage appearance,
stepped from behind some rocks and confronted
us. A rapid conversation followed between him
and my companion, which I could not wholly
follow, and at last we were permitted to share
the shelter of the cave, where he and two
equally savage-looking companions kept watch.

Savage looking as they were, they were
hospitable enough, and had a profusion of food
and wine, so that after a hearty supper, we
stretched ourselves on beds of dry fern, and
slept till the dawn.

It was a remarkable and lovely place which
we explored when the daylight came. Never



Among the Brigands. 29

before and never since have I seen anything to —
compare with it.

Right under the mountain peak lay a small
valley or gorge. The cliffs on either hand were
so rugged and precipitous that except in one
place—the side on which we were standing—
where a stream had scooped out a narrow bed,
down which it fell in a series of cataracts, access
or exit seemed impossible. Even this rude
cully was almost inaccessible except to moun-
taineers or sailors. But what was most remark-
able was that right m front of you, as you stood
under the peak, the gorge at the farther end
was completely blocked by an enormous mass of
rock, which must have fallen between the very
jaws of the glen, and absolutely prevented any
entrance from that side. The face of this rock
towards the valley was broken and rugged, but
accessible, and at the top a small hut had been
built as an outlook station. The outer face,
however, as I afterwards found, was quite per-
pendicular, and so smooth that it seemed as if
it had been purposely made so for defence.

Thus the gorge had become a large bason or
hollow, shut im on every side, and only to be
reached by the rude and rugged steps, formed
partly by nature and partly by art, down which
the stream ran, leaping to the bottom of the
dell. When the little torrent reached the level

turf, it rippled across the bottom of the green
bason through grass and flowers until it found



30 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

its way out by a kind of subterranean passage
beneath the fallen rock. The hollow, which
might have been three-quarters of a mile across,
was all green with mountain turf and waving
trees and shrubs, which clothed all the crags.
and rocks, and made the little dell like a
paradise.

Of course I did not see this all at once, but
the general features of the place were visible
from the spot where we had spent the night.

As soon as the sun rose I had been aroused
by a cry similar to that made on the previous
night by my companion, and which seemed to
be a kind of watchword or signal, and up came
three men, armed like the rest, to relieve guard.
The three who had been our hosts now accom-..
panied us down to the camp at the foot of the
rugged steps. I could not help admiring the
skill with which these lawless men had made
their fastness secure. Stockades were erected
here and there, and every advantage was taken
of the inequalities of the ground. Hollows had
been made in the rocks above the narrow pass
where men with rifles could be stationed to pick
off any unfortunate invaders. It was quite
evident that the leader of the band, brigand
though he was, had been a soldier.

At last we reached the bottom, and I was.
allowed to enter one of the huts, while Beppo.
went to find his brother. After a long delay,|
he returned and took me to see the leader. I,

|
|
|

|
|
|
iy



Among the Brigands. 31

could see he was very suspicious and distrustful.
He said Beppo should not have brought me, but
that now I had found my way into their strong-
hold I must stay, and it would depend upon
myself whether 1 should continue as a prisoner
or become one of the band. I did not much
like the position in which I found myself, but
there was no help for it now: I had to submit.
T soon found that the sentinels or guards posted
on the pass had received instructions not to let
me pass, but the security of the glen seemed so
absolute—it was so utterly impossible to escape
by any other way that the captain gave himself
no further trouble about me. I should indeed
have starved had it not been for Beppo.
Gradually, however, I gained the good opinion
of the captain, and after a while, when he
seemed to be convinced I was no spy, he em-
ployed me in various capacities,

This camp, I found, was the headquarters of
the banditti of the island, and the captain occu-
pied the position of a kind of generalissimo.
There were four or five subsidiary camps scat-
tered about among the mountains and the coasts,
and several pirate ships which were in alliance
with these brigands, and ranged the sea for
plunder. These vessels held frequent communi-
cation with the island, carrying away much
booty which their comrades had secured, or
bringing food and luxuries for their use. Of
course these bands of pirates have all been



82 Adventures of. Jack Pomeroy.

broken up long ago. I am speaking of what
existed five-and-forty, or fifty years since.

Curiously, as I thought, the captain never
permitted me to jom the band when upon any
raid or pilfering expedition. The only duties m
which he employed me were in sending com-
munications, messages, or orders to other camps,
or to the vessels when they signalled from the
sea. On one of these occasions, however, I had
a narrow escape from the guns of the gen-
darmerie, which perhaps I will tell you about
another time.”

Here Ted interrupted, and said, ‘“ Oh, do tell
us now, grandfather: we are so much interested,
and there is plenty of time.”













33

CHAPTER V.

A SHARP ENCOUNTER, AND ITS
CONSEQUENCES.

ja : We uruaps, then,” said my
pi 1 ovandfather, “T may as
well tell the whole story.
I had been sent down with
‘three other men to a village
on the coast, to meet the
boat of a pirate ship which
had signalled us.
We used to keep a sharp
look-out all day long over
the sea, from the little hut
_ = which, I told you, had been
built on the top of the great rock which blocked
the mouth of the ravine.

All day one or other of the men occupied
that post, from which there was a clear view
over the land and sea for many miles, Several
of the other camps were within sight of this
look-out, so that communication could easily be
made by signal in various directions. When a
D








i
- 84 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

ship wanted to communicate with us it would)
lie off and on the shore in a_ certain pre-
arranged fashion, and dip the sails or flags so |
that we knew what was meant, and generally
the other camps signalled by means of the
smoke of a fire kindled on some neighbouring
eak.

Most of the villagers in our neighbourhood
were more or less under our influence or in our |
pay. We took care to make it worth their
while to conceal us and our doings, and so we
had nothing to fear from them.

Thus, on the occasion I am referring to,
though we were all well-armed, we made no
special attempts at concealment.

But it happened that, without our knowledge,
a company of soldiers had marched into the
village that very morning, on their way to
another town, and before we knew where we
were going, we swaggered into the very middle
of them. Happily, the captam of the troop
was in a neighbouring café, and the men, loung-
ing about in groups, were not anxious to attack
us, so taking the contretemps as coolly as pos-
sible, we Just sauntered down to the shore.

We saw our danger, and the only thing to
do was to get into the boat we expected would
be waiting, and pull out to sea till the dusk
came on.

Unfortunately, when we got down to the
beach, no boat was to be seen. LHither they



\

A Sharp Encounter. 85

had miscalculated the time, or, what was more
likely, had spied the soldiers along the road, and
keptaway. We were ina dilemma, We dared
not return through the village; and, indeed,
expected every moment to hear the tramp of
the soldiers coming to attack us. So we made
the best of our way along a path which led
under the cliffs, and by and by came to a steep
rocky gully filled with brushwood, where we
thought we might conceal ourselves.

Butwe had not gone far into it, however, before
we heard the steps of the soldiers and the clank
of arms. Turning round, as we emerged into
a clear space, we could see the men clustering
round the foot of the gully, and, unfortunately,
at the same moment they saw us. In a minute
their muskets were levelled, and the bullets
rattled among the bushes close around us. We
instantly returned the volley, and then sprang
away to seek shelter. So we went on, the
soldiers firing at intervals with the chance of
hitting us, and one of us occasionally giving a
shot if any man appeared among the rocks.

We clambered up the cliffs as rapidly as
possible, but presently one of my comrades was
hit, and fell with a cry over the rocks into the
ravine. Presently another stumbled and fell,
and whether he was shot or no I could not tell.
I now gave myself over for lost. My breath
was spent. My clothes were torn to shreds,
and I was exhausted. Just at that moment



36 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

a random shot caught my leg, and I fell.
Happily, by God’s good providence, I am sure,
I stumbled right into a great hole, which was
completely overgrown with ferns and_ bushes,
and where I lay perfectly concealed. How
long I lay there I did not know, for I
presently became unconscious.

When my senses returned I heard shouts,
and presently I heard my name called, and
shouting in reply, I managed to make myself
heard through the mass of weeds and ferns
which concealed me, and then I descried the
faces of my two companions, Beppo and another,
who, between them, managed to lift me out of
the hole, and lead me gently down the path
towards the village.

One of the men, the first who fell, I found
had heen killed; the other two were unhurt.
And the soldiers, after climbing to the top of
the rock, and passing close to the hole into
which I had providentially fallen, had given up
the chase and pursued their march.

I was too much hurt to walk any distance,
and my comrades got some of the villagers to
carry me on a litter up the mountains, and to
leave me at a small hut, which we used as
a refuge in bad weather, whence next day
several of the brigands fetched me in the same
fashion.

While I was gradually getting better of my
wound, which turned out to be much worse



A Sharp Hncownter. 37

than I had supposed, I noticed a good deal
of suppressed excitement among the men, as
though something was going forward, or some
event was expected.

It had often been the practice for these
banditti to march down twenty or thirty strong,
armed to the teeth, and entering some village
or small town, loot every house, and carry away
the booty, while the people were afraid to resist.
At another time, they would take a rich mer-
chant or great man prisoner, and concealing
him in one of their strongholds, would only
release him on payment of a big ransom. It
was one of these adventures for which they
were preparing, and which caused the excite-
ment I had noticed.

I found, on inquiry of Beppo, that the cap-
tain had had intelligence that a rich English-
man was about to take a journey from Palermo
to Syracuse, and that probably his escort would
not be a large one.

If the brigands could secure his person, they
could hold him in their stronghold till a heavy
ransom was paid.

Great preparations were accordingly made to
waylay the travellers in a suitable place, and
the captain, with twenty men or so, were to
march out for that purpose.

Meanwhile my wounded leg gave me a great
deal of trouble. It became much worse, and
as there was no possibility of obtaining a doctor,



88 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.



I could only use such rude remedies as were|
known to the men themselves. I was unable |
to walk a step, and had to lie still day and night |
in the little room in one of the huts, which had |
been appropriated to my use.

Time passed very heavily and my spirits sunk |
very low. It seemed wretched to be im this
condition, just when everyone about me vee
most active and excited, and my conscience |
sometimes gave me an unpleasant twinge, and
suggested that it was a judgment upon me for
my wickedness. I tried to banish such thoughts,
but: they came back again and again.

I know now that this was God’s way of
bringing me to myself. Nothing but pain and
weakness would have tamed my unruly spirit ;
but as I lay on my lonely couch, my thoughts
would wander back to the past, and even in my
dreams I seemed to see my dead father’s face,
and heard my mother’s voice. One or two of
the more good-natured among the men came in
sometimes to sit with me, but their ribald talk
and foolish merriment somehow became dis-
tasteful, and as they were mostly hardened,
selfish men, they left off coming when they
found I no longer responded to their jests, and
if it had not been for Beppo, who was true to
me all through, rascal as he was, I really think
I should have starved.

One day as I lay thus in pain and languor,
my thoughts travelled back, whether I would or



A Sharp Encounter. 39

no, to my childish days, and I suddenly remem-
bered the little Bible my mother had given me,
and which I knew still lay among my belongings
in a box beneath my bed. I would not draw it
out, however, for I instinctively felt that it
vould certainly condemn me, and I was not at
all willing to hear the voice of conscience. Next
day I still resisted the impulse to look at it, but
on the third day, I said to myself, ‘ Well, it
can do no harm just to see how it looks. Why,
I have never even looked at the cover for years.
I wonder if it is tarnished or spoiled.’

I managed to put my hand far enough be-
neath my bed to get hold of my box, and pulling
it out, opened it, and after a good deal of
trouble, and not without giving my leg several
painful wrenches, got hold of the parcel in which
the book was wrapped.

Ah! how well I remember that day. It was
the turning-point in my life, lads, when I
opened that Bible. God had been leading me
on to it, though I did not know it. J am sure
He had been speaking to me all the time, and
gently forcing me to this point, and I am just
as sure it was an answer to my mother’s
prayers for her prodigal son.

There lay the little book on my bed—a rough
bed it was, and a rough room I was in. But
the book looked beautiful in purple cover and
gold edges, as fresh as when it was first put
into my hands seven years before.



40 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

I turned it over and over, but did not open
it for some time. The very sight of it was too
much for my feelings in my weak state, and I
actually shed tears as the whole scene of the
past came back to me. The old house was
there before me; the kitchen where we all sat,
with the blazing fire, and the grey cat on the
hearth. My mother busy with her work on one
side; my father at the other; myself, a lad of
thirteen or fourteen, sitting at the table with
my school-books before me. It all came as
plainly as if it were real. I must look at my
mother’s writing once again, and so I took the
book in my hands and opened it.





































































































































































































































































41

CHAPTER VI.
THE GREAT CHANGE.

Hx book opened of its own accord,
not at the beginning, where my
name was inscribed, but at a

\ place where a pook-marker lay ;

; and on the page which presented
itself to my eye, I caught the words,

if ‘I will arise and go to my Father.’

I could not remove my gaze for a

moment or so from the page: I almost seemed

to hear my mother’s voice, and the tears again
and again brimmed over my eyes and rolled
down my cheeks.

Presently I read a little more. That wonder-
ful parable of the Prodigal Son was speaking to
my heart, as it had spoken to thousands before.
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and.
before Thee. Yes, I Aad sinned; I saw it
now. As I lay there I looked back over my
past life and saw how wicked it had been. I
had been the prodigal ; I had ‘wasted my sub-
stance with riotous living.’ But then, what did
coming to the Father mean? That puzzled me.
Every day now I read in that little Bible, but I






42 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

seemed to get no nearer understanding it
than I was at first.

At the same time a great change had come
over me: I began to hate myself; my con-
science was thoroughly awake, and I could
certainly no longer take part in the ribaldry and
wickedness of the abandoned crew amidst which
T had heedlessly thrown myself. I think Beppo
and some others began to suspect that I was
changed, but they attributed it to my long ill-
ness and weakness of body. Indeed to what
else could they attribute it? They knew
nothing, absolutely nothing, about the Bible.
They would confess to a priest often enough
when they went into the villages, but they never
confessed the robberies and murders they had
committed. They thought these things were
only in the way of business. All they confessed.
were trivial mistakes or neglect of some Church
duty: as the eating of meat on a fast-day, and
such like. Of repentance towards God they had
never even heard. So they rallied me on being
so quiet, and declared that as soon asl regained
strength I should be as merry as ever.

And indeed, strange to say, I began to get
better from the very day on which I opened. the
Bible. I don’t mean to say, my lads, that there
was any miracle aboutit. Very likely that was
about the turning-point of my condition, or
perhaps the mind acted upon the body, and a
healed mind does sometimes play the physician ;



The Great Change. 43 >

at all events it was so, and in a few days I
began to crawl about a little. The wound
looked healthier and began to close up, and
with the help of a stick I got out in the fresh
air and began to pick up my strength.

‘When I began to get about I found that the
expedition of which I had heard so much talk,
had not yet taken place. The captain was
wailing for news from some of his spies in the
city of Palermo, so that by the time the bandits
marched out on their raid I had almost recovered
the use of my leg.

Of course, however, I was left behind. The
captain never had thoroughly trusted me, and
had never allowed me to go with the rest on
their marauding expeditions. Indeed, I believe,
he kept a very jealous eye upon me. He seemed
to think that, being an Englishman, I could not
be a good thief, which really I thought very
complimentary to my country, and I wish it
was true.

However, I was left behind with eight or
nine others, some of whom were invalided, and
some disinclined for one reason or another to
join in the enterprise. .

During these days of idleness I had nothing
to do but to wander about the little valley and
read my Bible, which I now always carried in
my pocket. I was still, as it were, half way to
conversion, perhaps more than half way : I don’t
know. But while I was determined to live a



44 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

new life, I kept slipping back into some of the
old bad habits, and then repenting again. Be-
sides which I saw no prospect of leading a new
life. Icould not get away, I knew well enough,
from what the captain had said many a time,
that he would not let me leave the place alive.
Then men who went out on any matter of busi-
ness always had strict charge to shoot any
comrade who seemed inclined to desert the band.
Tt would have been more than my Life was
wortn to hint any wish of that kind to any of
the men. The secrecy and safety of the strong-
hold were dependent upon the band keeping
loyally together. You see, if one left he might
easily be bribed to betray the rest.

My only chance, therefore, was either that the
soldiers should one day find their way up to our
fastness, or else that the captain should get
shot or be taken prisoner in some of the fre-
quent encounters with the gendarmes.

One day, however, I was lounging lazily
about, when drawing near the rock which
blocked the mouth of the gorge, I noticed that
a new rope-ladder had been provided, to make
the ascent to the look-out more easy. As
my wounded leg was so much better, I ven-
tured to ascend the ladder. No look-out was
being kept just at that time, and I sat in the
shadow of the little building, gazing over the
fair prospect.

As I was sitting musing on my strange and



The Great Change. 45

perplexing fate, quite determined to get free of
my evil associates, yet seeing no way of escape,
my attention was arrested by the sound of the
stream us it dashed down a precipice on the
outer side of the rock on which I was sitting.
‘I wonder,’ I said to myself, ‘how that stream
finds its way out P what sort of a channel can
it have?’ Of course I knew that it did make
its way beneath the rock, but I had not given
two thoughts to the matter until that moment.

The idea had no sooner come into my head
than I jumped up determined upon exploring
the place thoroughly. I looked over the face
of the rock on which I stood, and found it per-
tectly inaccessible. It was perpendicular, and
absolutely smooth for seventy or eighty feet,
and one could neither climb down nor up, that
was certain. The cliffs, too, on either hand,
were much loftier, and would be exceedingly
difficult to surmount, if not impossible. I knew
that no one had ever succeeded in getting out of
the glen in this direction.

I remembered now that nearly all the pre-
vieus week we had heavy rain and thunder-
storms, and that the brook had flooded part of the
almost level bottom of the valley. That would
account for the larger quantity of water falling
over the precipice, and the louder roar of the
cataract. And it struck me, too, that the
stream, when so much swollen, might wear
itself a wider channel than usual.



46 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

And so it proved. For when, with a good
deal of trouble, I had forced my way through
the thick and thorny underwood which mantled
around the cavernous opening down which the
brook plunged, I found a much larger cavity
than I had expected. I clambered down, and
found the mouth of the cave quite large enough
to creep into, but almost dark, owing to the
dense foliage which overhung it. As soon as
my eyes got a little accustomed to the dim light,
I crept cautiously onward. Evidently the water
had worn for itself a tolerably large channel
through the softer parts of rock.

A few more steps, accompanied by as many
bumps and stumbles, brought me in view of a
glimmer of light at the farther end. The
stream had shrunk a little since the rains, and
it was quite possible to find a foothold, though
a slippery and precarious one, along the side.
Stooping low and feeling carefully with hands
and feet, I at last emerged at the end of the
natural tunnel on the brink of a rugged pre-
cipice down which the brook leaped. I stood
on a little platform of rock exactly under the
smooth precipitous face of the rock down which
an hour before I was gazing. The very rugged-
ness of the ravine through which the stream
leaped down towards the lower valleys made that
perfectly easy as a path by which to descend,
but so shielded and draped was the whole place
with foliage, that no one coming within sight of



The Great Change. 47

the little foaming cataract would imagine that
the narrow cleft through which the brook
emerged would give access to such a roomy,
luxuriant nook as that which formed the
robber’s stronghold.

Retracing my steps, I took care to obliterate,
as far as possible, all trace of my footsteps in
the neighbourhood of the rock, and resolved, as
I walked back to my quarters, to make due use
of my remarkable discovery on the first avail-
able opportunity. There was not much danger
of my discovery bemg known to others. The
men were much fonder of lying in the sun, and
quaffing the rich wines they managed to convey
up the mountain sides, and smoking lazily, than
exploring the wonders even of their own strong-
hold. When a raid had to be undertaken they
were bold as lions, and as savage. But as to
walking or clambering about, like we English
do, they would have laughed the idea to scorn.
- So it seemed to me that I had only to watch my
opportunity, and escape was possible.

J was sufticiently alive to thoughts of God to
see His hand in all this. I was afraid as yet
to pray. I thought I must first of all atone
somehow for -my past sins before I dared to
pray. But yet I could not help believing that
God was making a way of deliverance for me.

But a great surprise was in store for me. A
thing I never could have anticipated or dreamed
of was about to take place.



48 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

CHAPTER VII.



THE UNEXPECTED QUEST.








| 11s surprise was no less
than the appearance of
my old friend, Captain
Willats. ‘Two or three
days after my adven-
ture in the cave, the
marauding band made
itsreappearance. They
had evidently been en-
tirely successful. They came
. shouting and rollicking down

the narrow pass, and were

escorting a fine elderly military-
‘looking man, with grey hair. In an instant I
knew him. He was the passenger on board
the vessel I had left nearly two years previously,
the kind friend who had so often warned and
persuaded me from my evil courses. If an
angel from heaven had appeared I could not
have been more surprised. ‘This, then, was the
prisoner the brigands had sought to capture for
the sake of the ransom. He was, I found, no



Lhe Unexpected Guest. 49

longer Captain Willats, but Sir Percy Willats,
having, I supposed, succeeded to the title during
the interval, or else having been created a
baronet for some special service.

He evidently did not recognise me, for I was
a good deal more changed m my appearance
than he was. I was glad of this, for his
presence there added greatly to my perplexity,
and for some time I really did not know how
to act.

You see, I could have got away at any time
by means of the secret cavern; but I saw
plainly if I did the brigands would suspect that
J had escaped in order to bring the soldiers
upon them, and liberate my countryman. They
would then either have shot him at once—
which they were quite capable of domg—or
would have hurried him away to some other of
their fastnesses. Then it did not seem generous
to leave such a man as that, one who had been
so kind and considerate towards me, in the
hands of. these fierce banditti, without, at least,
some effort to aid him. I had already begun
to cogitate in my own mind as to whether I
could not help him to escape by the same
method as I had contemplated, when a message
reached me from our captain that he wanted to
see me.

I found him alone in his hut, and he im-
mediately asked me if I had scen his prisoner.

‘Yes,’ I answered, ‘I saw him as he came

E



50 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

down into the camp; but I have not seen him
since.’

‘Well,’ he said, ‘I think I may trust you.
So far you have never betrayed us;’ and then,
looking hard at me, he went off into a volley
of Italian oaths and threatenings as to what
he would do if he caught me playing him false
in anything. I have told you he was always
suspicious of me, and he could not get rid of
that feeling now, and, indeed, he never had
such cause for suspicion before. If he had
been able to look into my heart just then and
se@n what things I was contemplating, I should
* never have gone out of his room alive. Then
he told me that the prisoner could not speak
Italian, and none but myself was able to speak
English, and, in short, he wanted me to be his
interpreter or channel of communication with the
prisoner.

He then gave me a message containing the
conditions upon which he was to be set at
liberty, all of which he ordered me to impress
carefully and positively on the unfortunate
captive. He was to write a letter immediately
to his friends, wherever they might be, in-
forming them of his condition, but giving no
clue to the place where he was concealed, and
naming the amount of money which was de-
manded as his ransom. And full instructions
were to be added by me as to the mode by
which the answer should reach him.



The Unexpected Guest. 51

When I went to see the prisoner I found
him confined in a small hut, close to that
which formed my dormitory. He had suffered
no injury, but he was naturally downcast and
anxious.

I was thankful for the necessity which had
made me the messenger, and for the whim of
the bandit, which had enabled me to have an
interview with him alone.

When I told my kind old friend who ‘I was,
he was overwhelmed with astonishment and
grief. ‘You, Jack, you,’ he said, ‘turned robber
and_assassin P’

‘No, sir, not assassin, I replied; ee
God, I have never killed a man yet.’

‘Thank God, indeed,’ said he, ‘it is strange
to me that you care to thank God for anything.’

‘ Alas, sir,’ said J, ‘I know how wicked I
have been; I can only thank God that He has
not left me to smk deeper into wickedness.’

‘What do you do here, then?’ he asked,
sternly.

‘I am here now ene my will, though in
my headstrong folly I came here by my own
choice,’ I replied.

‘You must tell me what all this means,’
said he; ‘I do not understand it |’

‘ Will you let me come and talk to you another
time, sir?’ said 1; ‘all I can say now is, that
you must trust me to be your friend, whatever
I may seem.’



52 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

‘Tl trust you, Jack; I always told you, I
was sure you would come right some day. What
brings you here now P’

I then proceeded to lay before him my com-
mission. I told him it went hard with me to
see him there, and to be the bearer of such a
message ; but that it would be best for him to
obey the orders exactly, and that I must not
appear too friendly with him, nor he with me,
J added, that I was not without hope of render-
ing him valuable help.

He at once saw the reasonableness of these
suggestions, and having carefully written the
letter, I duly placed it in the hand of the chief,
by whom it was forwarded according to his
usual custom. All such negotiations we had
been accustomed to carry out with such secrecy
that no one yet had ever been able to penetrate
into his plans.

While the band was waiting for the reply,
Sir Perey Willats was allowed a good deal of
liberty. The place was looked upon as so ab-
solutely secure, that the captain deemed bolts
and bars and fetters utterly unnecessary. And
the prisoner could thus wander about the small
level space of the valley, almost as he would.
I knew, however, that a watch was really kept
on all his movements, and that it would not be
safe to make such an attempt as I contemplated
until the men began to relax their vigilance.

But I made use of my time to haye many a



The Unewpected Guest. 53

quiet chat with my friend. This was not diff-
cult, because as I only could talk intelligibly to
him; the men, while they could not understand
what we said, perceived how natural it was that
we compatriots should converse together.

However jealous and suspicious the chief was,
his feelings were not shared by the bandits
generally. I had been a jovial companion all
along, and was really a favourite with most of
them. noe

You may be sure that I told my old friend
of my illness, of my uneasy conscience, and of
my dear little Bible which had done so much
to awaken me to a sense of my sinfulness.
And Itold him also how I felt afraid to pray,
nor did I see how to pacify my conscience, or to
get rid of the load of guilt which lay like a
burden upon me. And then he talked to me
about Christ, about the Divine mercy. He
asked me for my Bible, and opened it as I had
done at the parable of the prodigal son. ‘Why,
said he, ‘here, Jack, is the very thing you want.
And then he read.the parable to me, and as he
read it, it seemed almost like the voice of God
bidding me come back to my father.

‘But,’ said I, ‘do you mean that God is
just like that Father ?’

‘It isn’t what Z mean, Jack, that matters
one whit: it is what Christ means. Can
He mean anything else? How do you think
your father would have acted, if you had gone



54 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

back to him years ago, and told him you were
sorry for all the wrong you had done to him,
and in the sight of God, don’t you think he
would have welcomed you home again P’

‘Poor, dear father,’ I answered, with tears
in my eyes; ‘I know he would.’

And then he said, ‘Go into some quiet place
among the trees, and tell God just that, and He
will welcome you and receive you.’

And another time, I remember, we were
talking about what Christ had done for us. It
was after I had confided to him the plan I had
formed for escape; and I was puzzled to under-
stand how Christ could have been ‘a ransom’
for us, as He had said He was. And he made
it very plain to me in this way.

‘You see, Jack, the position I am in. I
can’t get away from this place. I am in peril
of my life here until I can get ransomed by my
friends. They will have to raise five thousand
pounds before I can have my liberty, unless you
can carry out your hazardous project. Now
supposing, Jack, that we succeed in getting
down the mountain, and in doing so you fall
and are killed, or the brigands pursue us and
you are shot, ‘while I get off safely and find
liberty and home. Don’t you see that you will
_ have given your life as my ransom? ‘The five
thousand pounds will never be paid, but your
life will be the price of my safety.

‘Now, you know, I am no clergyman, but it



The Unexpected Guest. 55

seems to me that that is just what Christ has
done. You can’t get rid of your sins by paying
any penalty for them. Your punishment would
not destroy your guilt; no ransom you could
raise would deliver you, but Christ takes you
out of your sins, gives you liberty and life, and
in doing that He gives His own life. Is not
that a ransom for you ?’

‘Ah! it begins to be plain to me now,’ I
said. ‘If that is what God means by the
Gospel I can trust Him’

“Yes, and that 7s what God means. It was
the father who put the thought in the prodigal’s
heart to come back and to leave his sins, and he
did that because he was ready to accept him
when he returned. Do you think that your
Heavenly Father who, by the blessed Spirit, put
that desirein your heart, did not mean to satisfy
it afterwards or to accept you, when you left your
sins and threw yourself on His merey? Why,
that’s just the message Christ came to bring,
and He brought it at the cost of His own life.’

Ah, my lads, I began to be happy then. As
soon as I saw that I could pray, I could praise
and rejoice too; and up there, in that robbers’
stronghold, I found Christ, and gave myself to
Him. And I thank God He has never let me
go back from that day to this.



56 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE ESCAPE,

> uINGs took an unexpected turn,
and threatened to defeat my.
. plans entirely. For our chief
2 heard from some of his con-
: federates elsewhere that the
; government had taken up the
question of their seizure of
‘ Sir Percy, and were about to
' send soldiers to explore the
mountains and apprehend the
brigands.
This put every one into a
terrible rage, and again my
services were called into requisition to compel
the captive to write again to his friends. This
time he was ordered to say that unless the
money was forthcoming by a certain day, or if a
single soldier was seen in the neighbourhood of
their hold he would certainly be shot, and to
beg the government to desist for his sake from
their plans. All this was done, and the letter
sent as before.
Meanwhile it was determined to render the
captivity of their prisoner more rigorous. He










ae i.
ie



a











The Escape. 57

was ordered to remain in the hut day and night,
and only the plainest and scanties; diet was
permitted. Men were put on guard at the
doors, who were ordered to permit none to enter
except by special order of the captain.

This made me decide to run all risks, and
by some means or other, liberate my friend,
and, if possible, mysclf at the same time. I
knew what a risk we both ran, for the men
were utterly reckless and always revengeful,
and I had seen men shot, more than once, by
the leader with his own hand, for disobeying his
orders. But religion, my boys, never made a
man less brave, and I have always been
courageous enough, and now had a new in-
spiration, a new motive and purpose which
made me more daring, I think, than ever.

First of all, however, I took an opportunity,
one evening, of exploring the tunnel again
and found it in the same condition, except
that, as the stream had shrunk considerably,
there was more room to creep along than
formerly.

The difficulty then was to communicate with
Sir Percy, and arrange the time and mode of
escape. I was obliged to wait until my turn
came to be on guard at the door of his hut,
and here chance, or I should say, Providence
came to my help. My companion on guard
was a young man who had taken a great fancy
to me, and whom I had nursed when he was



58 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

wounded, in return for which he had nursed
me. He was a good-natured young fellow,
much less of a savage than most of the band.
So when we had mounted guard, and all was
quiet, I told him I wanted to go in and speak
to our prisoner, and see if J could make him
any more comfortable, for ‘after all,’ I said
‘he is a countryman of mine. My com-
panion made no objection, and I had a long
talk with the captive, and made him under-
stand all my plans. First of all, I showed him
how to remove some bars which lay across the
window of the hut, and pomted out that he
could easily get free of his little prison that
way, while the guardsmen were sitting, as they
did every night, against his door. For, after
all, the guard was nota strict one. If he had
climbed out, he would, as they supposed, be no
nearer liberty, and the arrangements had been
made far more for the sake of inflicting dis-
comfort upon him, and of intimidating him,
than for the sake of safety. That, they
thought, was absolutely secured.

I then handed him a bundle of clothes I had
previously deposited outside his window, with
which he was to disguise himself, and I gave
him a signal by which he would know that I
was prepared to meet him. We had several
dogs in the camp, and I was clever in imitating
things, and he was to listen,,for a peculiar bark
and growl on the left hand of his window,



The Escape. 59

where there was a clump of bushes; and as
soon as he heard that to spring ot, and run
into the bushes.

The next question was when this was to be
attempted. It must be on a dark night, and
as the moon would have almost vanished after
midnight that week, that seemed a favourable
time, as all that side of the camp would be in
deep shadow.

As to the patrols, I told him he must leave
that part of the business to me. I knew that
these men were by no means pleased with the
duty of mounting guard at the door of the
hut night after night, and that they generally
took with them a bottle or two of wine to
solace them. My plan was to wait until
certain men, who I knew were specially fond
of the bottle were on guard, and then, when
they were drowsy and perhaps even fast asleep,
to make my attempt.

A few nights after that on which I had had
the interview with the captive, two of the
roughest of our band took their turn at the
duty of patrolling in front of the hut-door.
I watched them—myself unseen—until every-
one around had turned in for the night, and
silence reigned over the camp. Then the men
sat down beneath a tree close at hand, and
taking out a bottle, passed it from one to the
other. I could hear their voices, as they
talked in a half whisper, grow sleepier and



60 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

sleepier, until it was evident both had suc-
cumbed to the effect of the strong wine, and
were fast asleep.

I then slipped on a countryman’s blouse over
my coat, changed my hat for one more common
among the peasants, and silently walked to my
post, behind the hut. I listened for some time,
and hearing no noise, ventured at last to bark
in the manner I had agreed upon. The sound
was answered by a low whistle, and in a few
moments Sir Percy was at my side. He had
had no time to don the disguise I had provided
for him, so carrying the bundle, we made our
way amidst the trees towards the cave.

It was now so dark that we could hardly see
the ground at our feet, and in a whisper I told
my companion we must get into the mouth of
the cavern, and wait till the first gleam of day-
light, for it would be impossible to descend
upon the other side in the darkness. A better
idea struck him, however. When he noticed
into what a hole we had to descend to reach
the cave’s mouth, and how thickly overgrown
the place was with foliage, he suggested that
we should strike a light, and by its help grope
our way at all events to the other end, where
we might wait in safety for the morning.
Happily he had a tinder-box and some candles,
and with some trouble, crouching under the
rocky roof, we managed to get a light, and then
each taking a small piece of candle, we care-



The Eseape. 61

fully and painfully worked our way out of the
cavern to the edge of the waterfall.

We were quite safe, and breathed out a
thanksgiving to God for the deliverance. We
dared not, however, speak above a whisper, for
I knew that a look-out was kept on the top of
the rock, and though the falling stream would
probably have drowned our voices, yet it was
best to be on the safe side. We had not long
to wait. It was a good deal past midnight
when we started, and at that season of the year
the daylight came very early.

There was still one danger. The scout on
the top of. the rock might catch sight of our
figures descending the gully. It was only a
chance, but it was one we must, if possible,
elude.
I remembered that the watch was always
changed at sunrise, and that, at least, when I
had been on duty, the new-comer having
announced his arrival as he drew near the foot
of the rope-ladder—the man at the top would
very often descend first, and the two would
perhaps talk together awhile, before the new
comer climbed into his post. If I could only
hear the signal, and time our descent when the
change was being made, we should probably be
unobserved. As I was telling my companion
my ideas about the matter, we saw the Hast
flush with gold, and soon after, I heard faintly
the well-known cry.



62 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

‘Now is the moment,’ I exclaimed, and we at
once began to climb down the gully through
which the stream was fallmg. We got a good
many bruises, and, of course, were drenched
with water, but we got safely to a point where
a great rock shut off the view from above, and
halting, drew a long breath.

We had escaped !

But the question was, would there be a pur-
suit? It was not likely that the absence of the
prisoner would be observed before the morning
meal, which would be taken to the hut at the
usual time. I might indeed be missed before
that by some of my companions, but that would
create no surprise for a while. We might cer-
tainly calculate on four hours’ start, and then,
when the discovery was made, our pursuers
would have to travel two or three miles farther
than we, for the regular track down the moun-
tain was a long way round.

We were about fifteen miles from the sea-
coast village to which I thought we had better
direct our steps. We chose that, first because
the people were not so friendly to the brigands,
nor in collusion with them, as were many of the
inhabitants of the smaller and nearer villages,
and secondly, because the banditti seldom went
in that direction.

We marched rapidly on, and not venturing
into any inn upon the road, contented ourselves
with such provision as we had managed to bring



The Escape. 68

with us. In about five hours we had covered
the distance, and tramped into the village at
ten o’clock in the morning.

My plan was to hire a fishing-boat and sail
for Palermo, and this plan we were able to
carry out without any difficulty. The sight of
a gold piece or tivo smoothed the negotiations,
and before evening of that day we were running
into the harbour of Palermo.

And now, lads, I: have almost done my. story.
My kind old friend and companion was among
his friends as soon as we set foot in the town,
and great was the rejoicing over his escape.
As for me, I was féted and petted, and became
quite a popular character until, one evening, a
tall, i-looking fellow was caught by one of the
gendarmes presenting a pistol at my head as
I passed.

The raseal confessed that he was sontelerals
with some brigands who had sworn to have
my life. The consequences of this was that
both I and my companion took passage In an
English vessel which lay at the port, and lost
no time in getting back to safer quarters.

Now, I am not going to give you all the
story of my life after this, my lads, especially
as 1 see little Hester here is asleep already.
But you may like to know that it was Sir
Percy Willats who got me my commission as
. lieutenant in the navy, and that I rose to
the position of captain. I was sent home



64 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

invalided a good many years ago, disabled for a
time by an ugly wound, and here I am to-day,
thank God, sound and hearty, with many to
love me and many to love.

And, best of all, I have a Heavenly Father,
who brought me back, prodigal as I was, to His
heart, and has guided and blessed me all my
days, and when all storms here are over, I[
know I shall sail right into the port of heaven,
and I'll wait there to weleome you, my boys;
mind you do your duty; obey your Captain,
sail by the chart of the Bible, and it will all be
well.”

By this time all trace of the storm had
passed away. The moon was high and bright,
and so, hurrying our things into the boat,
with grandfather again at the tiller, we sped
across the bay, and got safely home before
midnight, little Hester sleeping all the way.

I have written down this story of my grand-
father’s from memory; but I don’t think I
have left anything out, though I daresay I
have not. given, always, the old gentleman’s
exact words. My brother Ted says it is all
right, so I hope the boys who read it will
like the reading as much as we did the
telling, and that it will do them as much
good as I think it has-done to us.



KNIGHT, PRINTER, MIDDLE STREET, ALDERSGATE, E.C,









































































































































The Book of Books.

Springfield Stories.

Titile Dot. :

John Thompson’s Nursery.

Lwo Ways to begin ESCs :

4 Ethel Ripon,

Little Gooseberry.

Fanny Ashley.

The Gamekeeper’s Daehien

Fred Kenny, ;

Old Humphrey's Study-Table.

) Jenny’s Waterproof.

The Holy Welt.

The Travelling Sixpence.

The Three Flowers. *

Lost and Rescued:

Lightbearers and Beacons.

Little Lottie. :

Phe Dog of St. Bernard.

fsane Gould the Waggoner,

Uncle Rupert's Stories for
Boys. —

Dreaming and Doing. ese

Many Ways of Being weer

Rachel Rivers.

; Lessong out of School.






































































































































Ps Lo ae ee pose pene :



Full Text















——————











































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































The Baldwin Library

University
RmB vv
Florida






































































































































































Setma, the Turkish Captive.

Show Yous Colours.

True and False Friendship.

Always too Late.

= The Patched Frock

a The Story he was old +

Soldier Sam,

Stephen Grattan’s Faith,

David the Schotar. —

Tired of Homie. ©

Setting Out for Heaven.

The Stolen Money.

Helen’s Stewardship.

Pat Riley’s Friends.

Olive Crowhurst,

The White. Feather.

Stieenie ANoway’s Adventures.

Angel's Christmas.

“G@ottage Life; its Lights and
Shadows,

fhe. Raven's Feather,

Aunt Milly’s Diamonds and
Our Cousin from India.

My Eady’s Prize and Hijie’s

- Letter, i ‘

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Pittle Dot Series, |

ADVENTURES OF JACK POMEROY

A Book for Boys,

BY

“P, W. DARNTON.













































































































































THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY:

56, PATERNOSTER Row; 65, St. Paut’s CHURCHYARD ;
AND 164, PICCADILLY. :




CHAP.

Il.

Ill,

TV.

Vv.

VI.

Vil,

VII,

How THE STORY CAME TO BE TOLD .

YouTHFUL Days 7
New CoMPANIONS .

AMONG THE BRIGANDS

PAGE

A SHARP ENCOUNTER, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 33

Tue GREAT CHANGE.

THE UNEXPECTED GUEST

Tue EscaPE . ;


THE

ADVENTURES OF JACK POMEROY.

00 £@f0-0-—_-

CHAPTER I.
HOW THE STORY CAME TO BE TOLD.

Â¥ grandfather, Captain Pom-
eroy, was a fine, ruddy, hale
old man seventy-two years of
age, but full of life and energy
still,
Vs gS He sometimes astonished us
SAS youngsters by coming to our bed-
qs ‘ room doors at six o'clock in the
morning, and challenging us to a
pull across the bay before breakfast, or some
fine morning announcing that a big shoal of fish
had been seen in the offing, and that he meant
to go out with the boats.

We thought there never was such a Jolly old
fellow as our grandfather; and he was as good
as he was jolly. He was never seen with a
long face, and yet we knew that he used to.
spend many an hour, alone, praying to God for
us boys and girls; and he would often drop


4 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

some quiet word, or give a little bit of advice,
which came right out of lis heart, and perhaps
checked us in some folly or disobedience, and
yet somehow never beclouded his sunny counte-
nance for a moment.

Captain Pomeroy used to be my idea of a
Christian; and it does a good deal for a lad
such as I was, when he has before him a cha-
racter so staunch, true, and sweet as an example
of Christianity. It was better than a hundred
sermons, though I don’t say anything against
sermons. é

But grandfather Pomeroy’s life was a_per-
petual sermon, always being preached and yet
never tiring anyone.

Whenever, as I grew older, I heard people
sneer at religion, or say harsh things about
religious people, I always instinctively thought
of my grandfather, and it was the best argument
for Christianity that could possibly have been
devised. ,

No holiday was ever looked forward to by us
with such delight as a week or two spent at
Saltbury, where Captain Pomeroy lived, within
sight and hearing of his much-loved ocean.

I am going to tell you the story of his life, as
he told it to us yourgsters, and I really think
the circumstances under which he told us were
almost as romantic as the story itself, and so I
will tell you how it came about :— -

One summer, IJ, my younger brother Ted, and
How the Story Came to be Told. 5

our sister Hester, all went on a visit to Saltbury ;
while we were there a grand expedition was
planned. We were all to go out in Captain
Pomeroy’s pinnace, The Marguerita; and after
standing out to sea and rounding the light-ship,
we were to make for a part of the coast where
there was a particularly snug cave, abounding
with all kinds of lovely gem-like pebbles, of
which Hester wanted to take home a collection.
So we victualled the ship, as the old gentle-
man said; that is, we took on board a good
hearty luncheon, and early one morning, with
a fair wind, we stood out to sea.

Ted and I managed the sails, and grandfather
was skipper and steersman, and a rare time we
had. The day was beautiful, or so it seemed to
us, though we noticed that the old gentleman
kept casting rather curious glances seaward.
However, he said nothing, and it would have
taken a good deal of ‘‘ saying” to have damped
our spirits that morning.

After sailing about two hours we “ wore ship,”
and stood in for the cove.

This little bay was about twenty or twenty-
five miles from Saltbury, on a long spit of rocky
shore which ran out like a crooked arm. We
made the cove all right, and ran into a little
creek or bight between two rocks, where there was
a bit of clean sandy beach, and the boat could
ride at anchor, or lie on the beach as we chose.
We soon landed, and being hungry with our
6 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

voyage, proceeded to unpack the baskets for
lunch. ,

While we were sitting on the beach regaling
ourselves to our hearts’ content, we observed the
sky gradually become overcast, and grandfather
said, rather gravely, “Well, lads, ’'m glad we
have got here before the wind, but we are going
to have a blow.”

“Tt won’t be much, grandfather, will it?”
asked Hester.

“Ah! lassie, I can’t tell yet,” he answered ;
“but we are safe enough, that’s one comfort.
And now you had better go and gather your
pebbles before the rain comes on.”

The afternoon wore away, and we had
gathered a splendid lot of pebbles and sea-
weed, and all sorts of curious things, while the
old gentleman sat on the rocks, and smoked pipe
after pipe, as though tobacco were as natural to
him as fresh air.

All this time the wind had been rising. We
had seen the white-caps far out to sea, and I,
as being the eldest and most experienced, had
felt some qualms about our homeward voyage.

I was just thinking of asking grandfather
whether we had not better start before the sea
grew rougher, when I heard his voice calling for
Hester. ‘Did you put any tea in the basket,
lassie 2” he cried.

“Yes,” said Hester, running up, “and the
kettle is in the boat. Shall we make a fire P”’
How the Story Came to be Told. 7

“T think we had better find a shelter first.
. You lads, run and pick up some drift wood.
We shall have the rain presently; and then
getting up, he went along the beach a little way
toasmall cave. The cave did not go straight
in among the rocks, but had a sort of bend in
it so that at the back you had a fine shelter
from any wind from the sea.

“ Here’s our tea-room. Now get the fire up,”
said he, in a cheery voice.

“Ts it going to rain much?” I asked.

“T should say it is going to rain pretty smart ;
and what’s more than that, I don’t expect you'll
get home to your supper to-night, youngsters,”
he replied.

“Oh, what a lark!” shouted Ted. “I say,
Hester, it is as good as being shipwrecked.”

“Hum!” exclaimed my grandfather, “a
little better, I should say, my boy.”

“Tt’s a good thing we took plenty of bread
and things,” I cried.

“Ah! you may trust an old sailor for think-
ing of the victuals, my lad; we shall not starve
to-night.”

So the fire was built and the kettle hung on
a crooked stick, and i in another quarter of an
hour we were all enjoying the hot tea out of
pewter mugs, and eating bread and meat and
cake to our hearts’ content. The wind did blow
now, and the rain began pattering fiercely on
the rocks outside our cave.


8 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

Ted and I ran to the boat, saw to the moor-
ings, and covered everything which we could
not carry to the cave.

“Will grandmother be anxious about us, do
you think?” asked Hester.

“No, no, my dear. She knows the old sailor
too well for that: Pll be bound she’s picturing
us all sitting here out of the rain. Why, she
and I have eaten many a lunch in this cave.”

‘Keep up the fire, lads,” he continued ; “ we
shall be feeling cold presently, and it’s really
beginning to grow dusk.” So there we sat on
stones and points of rock as the darkness in-
ereased, and the fire blazed and crackled merrily.

“Well, grandfather,” said I, “we are in. for
it; won’t you tell us a story, just to wile zeway
the time, and keep us from being hungry.”

“Ah! that I will, if you like,” he answered.
“T have often thought I would like to tell you
lads about my early life, and how I came to be
what Iam now. I have had plenty of ups and
downs, of storms and calm, in my life; and if
it had not been for a gracious and patient Father
above me, I shouldn’t be here to-day.”

“This will be just the place for a story, won’t
it?” said I. “Let us all sit close.”

So getting as near us we conveniently could,
we listened to the following story, while the |
wind stormed without and the big breakers filled
up the pauses with their unceasing thunder.

=
CHAPTER II.

YOUTHFUL DAYS.




@ eit, my lads,” said my
erandfather, “when I
) first went to sea I was
p. only just as old as Ted
here—just fourteen. I
am sorry to say that J
ran away from home, and,
. I am afraid, nearly broke
my dear mother’s heart.
) I did not think then, as
I do now, of the pain parents feel

° “%. when their children go wrong. I
am glad and thankful to God that none of my
lads ever did the same. Your father has been
a good son, Hester, God bless him, and so have
the others. I hope, lads, youll follow your
father’s example, and be spared all the suffering
and regret which your old grandfather has had
to endure.”

Here Hester looked up with a sweet smile
into grandfather’s face, down which, I believe,
a tear was trickling.
10 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

“And yet,” he continued, “I had a good
home. My father was a good man, who did
his best to guide me in Christian ways, and my
mother was kind and gentle. But somehow
boys are often very foolish and wild. All my
troubles, lads, I have brought on myself, and
they have come generally through listening to
bad companions. I wish I could put a mark
upon every bad man’s face, so that they might
be known for what they are.» I am afraid, how-
ever, that some boys who are like what I was,
would not be warned even by. that.

Iwas so wilful that when my father hesi-
tated about sending me to sea, I just took the
bit between my teeth, and one night ran away.

Tremember the night so well. Everybody
in the house was asleep, and I crept out of the
back door like a thief, and through the silent
-village, till I got ito the open road. I wasn’t
a bit of a coward, I must say that for myself,
and yet when I got clear of the houses and
was all alone beneath the stars, I felt a little
frightened—more frightened than ashamed, I
think, for I was so determined and self-willed
that I wouldn’t give in. I had made up a
bundle of clothes and some bread and meat, and
J had a few shillings in my pocket.

Now what I have always thought was a
very strange thing and could only have been
done through an impulse given by a merciful
God, I packed up among my clothes a little
Youthful Days. 11

Bible, which my mother had given me on my
last birthday. I had been very proud of that
Bible: it was bound in a bright plum-coloured
cover, and had gilt edges. I caught sight of it
in the moonlight lying on the table m my bed-
room, just as | was tying up my bundle, and I
couldn’t find it in my heart to leave it behind.
Not that I had read it much: if I had done so
JT should not have been found stealing out
secretly that night. I only took it because of
the handsome outside ; but as you will hear, it
became my best friend and the. means of. my
salvation. I am sure God inclined my heart to
take it, that it might be a link between my
foolish heart. and the God of my fathers: as
indeed it turned out to be. God’s ways are very
wonderful ; I have found that out in the course
of my life.

Well, I tramped on all that night, that is, for
about four or five hours till I caught sight of
the sea; and about six o’clock in the morning
found myself on the little quay of Brighthaven.

There was no difficulty in those days, as there
would be now, in a likely-looking lad getting on
board a ship as cabin-boy; and before many
hours were over I was sailing out of the har-
bour on a trading brig.

The captain turned out to be a good man;
and though he had been too busy at first to ask
me many questions, as soon as he found out
that I had run away from home, he insisted on
12 Adventures of Juck Pomeroy.

knowing my father’s name and where he lived,
and at the very first port we touched at, which
was Lisbon, he wrote to. him to relieve his
anxiety. I have often felt very grateful to that
man since, for his consideration lessened the
suffering my folly inflicted upon others, and I
was too stubborn and rebellious for a long time
to write at all.

I took kindly enough to a sea-life ; and though
I got a good many cuffs, and some thrashings,
and occasionally very hard fare on my first
voyage, yet on the whole I liked the life, and
had no intention of leaving it.

So when the vessel returned to England, and
the hands were paid off at Southampton, I
shipped again on a vessel going to Calcutta.
This was one of the most disastrous voyages,
both for soul and body, Lever made. The cap-
tain was an ungodly and drunken man, and as
a natural consequence, he had a bad crew. I
was growing a tall, muscular lad, and was ready
to drink in villainy as a thirsty man drinks
water. Though I was not quite sixteen, I be-
came notorious, even among such a ribald crew
as this, for my profanity, and the more I was
laughed at and applauded the worse I became.

One night the cry of ‘fire’ was raised.
There’s no more horrible sound at sea, and fear
and horror seized every heart.

The vessel was laden with a general cargo,
and as we all knew, had a good deal of gun-


Youthful Days. 13

powder on board, besides some casks of inflam-
‘mable oil. We were in mid ocean, hundreds of
miles from land; and if the fire made headway,
we knew our position would be perilous indeed.

To make matters worse, the captain was in-
capable through drink, and was worse than use-
less. Those of the crew, who were able, set to
work to try and extimguish the fire, but in vain.
During the whole night and next day we fought
the flames, but it was impossible to extinguish
them. We knew the fire was nearing the mag-
azine where the powder was stored, and that
not many hours would elapse before the inevit-
able explosion would take place, and the vessel
and all on board would be blown to atoms.

The second mate, who was the steadiest man
on board, prepared to get out a boat and put
into her such provisions as he could, and a keg
of water. But the majority of the men had by
this time got at the liquor, and some were lying
about the deck helplessly intoxicated, while
others were wildly smging and cursing in their
bunks. The ship was a terrible scene of con-
fusion, and only the coolness and sobriety of the
mate saved any of usfrom destruction. Happily
to all my sins I had not yet added that of drunken-
ness, and I worked alongside the mate to get
the jolly-boat off. The mate and six of us, who
avere sober enough to know what we were about,
sprang into her and pushed off.

-. We lay on and off for a little, but it was dan-
14 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

gerous to keep near the burning vessel, and we
had not been half an hour out of the ship,
before she blew up with a terrible explosion.

As soon as the smoke had cleared away, we
pulled back to the spot where the remains of
the wreck were burning on the waves. One
man and one only was to be seen, and he was
almost insensible. We picked him up; but
although we pulled over and about the spot for
more than an hour, we saw no une else. ‘They
had all gone down into the devouring sea—
summoned into eternity in a moment.

The event sobered, for the time, even such
rough, thoughtless sailors as we were, and for
a little there was silence amongst us.

Happily the second mate had had the sense
to bring a pocket compass with him, and most
of us had our bundles with us, with a few
clothes. Strange to say, though I had grown
so careless and profane, I had brought the little
Bible away. You see God had not forsaken
the prodigal, nor forgotten the mother’s prayers ;
my. belief is that He never does.

For three or four days we sailed before the
wind, going south by west, for as we had lost
our reckoning, we really did not know how to
steer. We must have got a good deal out of
our course before the fire broke out, for the
weather became exceedingly cold, and we suf-
fered from it a good deal.

At last we sighted land, and ran the boat
Youthful Day. 15

ashore on a sandy beach, at the foot of a great
cliff. There was nothing for it, but to scale
the cliff, which we did with a good deal of
difficulty, for it was very smooth and precipi-
tous. When we reached the top we found we
were on a flat-topped, treeless island, covered
with rank grass and rushes. There was no
shelter except in a few hollow places among the
rocks; and as the wind was now- blowing from
the southwards, that is, straight from the vast
ice-fields around the south pole, the cold was
severe. It seemed as though we had been saved
from burning to be frozen to death.

If we could get a fire, and make some sort of
shelter, we thought we might manage to exist
for a while. -But how to get the fire was the
question. The mate suddenly remembered that
he had brought no matches. Hverybody searched
their pockets, but the one or two matches which
were discovered were all spoiled by the water.
At last I found one in the depths of one of my ,
pockets, and the anxiety lest it should be lost or
fail was mtense.

We should not have dared to go to sleep out
on that high rock, with such an icy wind blow-
ing. If we had done so, we should probably
none of us have awakened again. . The little
food we had brought in the boat was nearly all
consumed; and though we saw plenty of pen-
guins and some rabbits and goats in the island,
what could we do without fire to cook by, and
16 Adventures of Juck Pomeroy.

to keep ourselves from being frozen? The fact
was, our very lives depended upon that match.
No gold mine could have purchased that match.
We took elaborate pains to ensure its safety.
We gathered a quantity of the driest brush-
wood we could find, and then all surrounded
the most sheltered spot among the rocks, that
we might shield our infant fire from the least
breath of wind. The mate got a fragment of
paper which he had kept dry, and amid our
breathless silence, struck the match. It lit, the
paper blazed up and caught the brushwood, and
in five minutes we had a blazing fire. The mate
said, ‘Thank God;’ and we shouted ‘ Hurrah!’
That fire saved our lives, though the fire on
board had threatened to destroy them.

It has often seemed to me since, that that
scene would have made a fine illustration for a
sermon. One man has sometimes a light of
truth which many people need. No one knows
how much he needs 1, till he stands face to
face with death, as we were that day. The
spark of truth which Christ lit when He died,
has raised a glorious fire, and millions have
warmed themselves at it, and been saved. You
can’t live in a world like this, depend upon it,
my lads, without the Gospel. Why, my little
Bible was like that match, too. I did not think
so then. JI didn’t the least know the value of
it, nor care about it, except that I thought it a
fine-looking book, and I didn’t like to lose it.
Youthful Days. 17

But there it lay in my bundle like the match in
my pocket, of no use apparently; till the day
came when it was wanted, and I was ready to
listen to its teaching, and then it became the
light of heaven to me.

Lamp of our feet, whereby we trace
Our path when wont to stray ;

Stream from the fount of heavenly grace,
Brook by the traveller’s way; -

Pillar of fire, through watches dark,
And radiant cloud by day ;

When waves would whelm our tossing bark,
Our anchor and our stay :

Word of the everlasting God,
Will of His glorious Son,

Without thee, how could earth be trod,
Or heaven itself be won ?

Well, we stayed on that island twenty-four
days and a half. We caught the penguins, but
we had to soak them in salt water all night,
before we could eat the flesh. Some of the
men managed to make some fish-hooks, and we
caught some fish; but the goats and rabbits were
too nimble for us, though we did manage to
entrap one she-goat, which gave us a good
draught of welcome milk for several days. We
‘gathered a good many nettles and boiled them
as vegetables, and they proved very wholesome,
though certainly not very pleasant food.

I am sorry to say that the effects of our
peril and alarm soon passed away, and we be-
came as profane and thoughtless as ever. But
c
18 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

as there was happily no liquor, and nothing to
drink except rain-water, the men could not get
intoxicated, and men generally keep their senses,
however vicious and ungodly they may be, if
they get no alcohol. Every day, you may be
sure, we kept a sharp look-out for a passing
vessel. Once or twice we put off in our boat
when a sail hove in sight, and tried to attract’
the attention of the crew, but it was all in vain.
At last we determined to keep a big fire burning
on the highest point of the island, so that some
ship might descry the smoke, and bear down
upon us.

We had seen many a vessel pass on her
voyage, far away on the distant horizon, and
had almost begun to despair, when one day a
sail hove in sight much closer to our island than
usual. We heaped up the fuel on our fire, and
made our boat ready to go out and intercept the
ship if necessary.

To our intense delight the sailors saw our
signals, and the course of the ship was altered.
You may be sure it was not long before we were
all on board, and very kind and hospitable were
that captain and his crew.

We were glad and thankful for our rescue,
but I am afraid we gave no thanks to the
Unseen Father who had shielded and helped
us. At least, I know I never thought about
Him, nor of anything I had learned in my
English home. I seemed to have abandoned
Youthful Days. 19

myself to the wild, roving, thoughtless life of
so many around me.

As I was a young, active fellow, the captain
of this ship took a fancy to me, and I stayed
with him, and sailed in that vessel several
voyages, learning a good deal of seamanship,
and a great deal of wickedness into the bargain.

When I look back, I sometimes wonder how
God had patience with me. I was.worse than
most of my companions, because I had had
better teaching than they.

But this, instead of making me wiser or
better, only served to give me a sort of leader-
ship in all sorts of wickedness.

I never go to bed, lad, of a night now, with-
out thanking God that He did not cut me off
in the midst of my sins.

By this time I was nineteen years old, tall
and strong and healthy, but a most determined
rascal.


20

CHAPTER MII.




NEW COMPANIONS,



HEN I landed in Eng-
land, five years after
leaving her shores, |
felt a sort of longing
to see my old home. [
was past being ashamed
of my doings. I was
only ‘a jolly tar, I
thought, living like the
rest of them, and I set
off fo my ative village in fine spirits, and
certainly without any compunctions.

But as I neared the place, and from the
coach-top I began to recognise the once familiar
features of the landscape, I began to feel a little
pensive, if not a little ashamed of myself. 1
had sent occasional letters home, and had re-
ceived two or three. But my life had been
such a wandering one that correspondence had
never been easy, and my brother might have
written many times without my reeeivimz a


New Companions. 21

letter. J had heard nothing, certaimly, for nine
months, and how did I know whether my father
and mother were dead or living.

These reflections sobered me a good deal, and
I actually felt anxious. So much so indeed
that I was fain to get down from the coach
before we reached the village, and walk quietly -
on alone. I shunned the principal street lest I
should meet some one who knew me, and so
heav what I dreaded to know, and for the same
reason I came to the back door of my old house.

A strange face was looking out of the open
window. At least the face was strange at first.
After a minute I recognised an old neighbour,
but it was not my mother. ‘Mrs. Crump,’
said I, ‘is my mother living P’

‘Good gracious!’ she answered, ‘who is it?
Not Jack Pomeroy, surely.’

‘Yes, it is Jack, and no one else,’ I answered.

-*Tell me, where is mother?’

‘Dear, dear, dear,’ said she. ‘Oh, why didn’t
you come back a week ago P’

‘Then she is dead, I answered, falteringly.

‘Yes, Jack, yes; didn’t you hear?’

‘And father?’ I interrupted.

‘Your father died six months ago; but your
mother was only buried yesterday.’

I could stand it no longer. The sight of the
old place had softened my heart a little, and
now the bad news which came upon me broke
me down, and I burst into tears.
22 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

Good old Mrs. Crump let me sit alone in the
old kitchen for a while. As I sat there and
thought, how it all came back to me! All my
ingratitude and wickedness, all the pain I must
have cost my parents! I sobbed a good time;
but I am afraid, though my heart was softened,
my conscience was not touched; and after a few
days of unusual quiet and gravity, I shook off
the influence of my loss, and determined to go
back to sea. I was too young, you see, to fret
for long; and too wicked, I am afraid, to appre-
ciate all I had lost.

Next week I was back at Southampton, look-
ing out for a ship and ‘ having a fling,’ as the:
sailors call it, to bury my sorrow, and spend the
remainder of my pay.

I was not long in finding a ship. Iwas taken
as second mate on board of a barque going to
the Mediterranean and Black Sea. It was not
necessary in those days, as it is now, for a man
to pass examinations; and as I knew a good
deal about sea-life, and was strong and active,
the captain was glad to engage me.

There were several passengers on board, and
among them an elderly gentleman, who seemed
to take very kindly to me. He was a most
benevolent man; a true Christian if ever there .
was one, for though he did not talk much about
religion, he Hved it, and that was a great deal
better. He soon won the esteem of evervbody
on board.
New Companions. 28

He had been a great traveller, and would en-
tertain us all by long stories about what he had
seen in other countries; and whenever he could
get a word with me alone, as he managed to do
sometimes when I was sitting in my bunk mend-
ing, or doing something of that kind, he would
try to draw me out, and make me tell him about
my home, and my father and mother. I soon
felt as though I could tell him. everything, for
he was as kind and sympathetic as though he
had been my own father.

There was another man on board that vessel,
who had a good deal to do with my future life,
but he was a very different person. He was
one of the crew, a handsome young Sicilian.
Now, I had picked up a good smattering of
several languages in the course of my voyaging,
for I was always fond of learning such things,
and very quick at it; and as this young fellow
could not talk English, and no one on board but
myself could understand his patois, I became
very intimate with him. His influence was
directly opposed to that exerted by my elderly
friend, for he was an unprincipled, but brilliant
fellow, keen and quick-tempered like many of
his countrymen. He was so fiery that I often
had to interfere to pacify quarrels which would
probably have ended in something worse than
words, if I had not been at hand to quell them.
But he always yielded to my remonstrances,
and seemed. desirous of pleasing me.
24 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

He was generally in my watch, and for hours
he would amuse and interest me with stories of
his native country. He declared that his brother
was the leader of a band of brigands, and was
very proud of the fact. He did not call them
thieves, he used a much pleasanter name, but
that was what he really meant, though he never
seemed to imagine there was any disgrace or
wrong in such a profession. He had himself
been up in the mountains to their place of con-
cealment, and he drew such fascinating pictures
of their haunts and of the wild self-imdulgent
life they led, that I found myself dreaming
about them, and going over in my thoughts the
adventures he had described, until my friend,
Captain Willats, came along again, and drove
such wicked thoughts out of my head by some
wise, kindly talk.

So it went on all through the voyage. We
made slow progress, had head-winds, and touched
at several ports, so that it was a long time be-
fore we reached Alexandria. But people were
not in such a hurry in those days as tkey are
now. There was no steam then, and nothing
was thought of a little delay.

At Alexandria our passengers mostly ieft, and
among them Captain Willats. Thence we went
on to the Black Sea ; and taking in, after a long
delay, a new cargo at some Black Sea port, we
shaped our course for home. During all this
time I had been gradually forgetting the con-
New Companions. 25

versations of my kind old friend, and the in-
fluence he had for the time exerted was fast
wearing off.

On going over the bills of lading, for I had to
be supercargo as well as second mate, I found
that we were to touch at Messina on our way
homeward; and soon after leaving port I told
my Italian friend that we were going to take
cargo to Sicily. This seemed to excite him, and
IT remember on that night—it was as we were
sailing calmly across the Mediterranean, and I
was pacing the quarter-deck on my watch—I
heard a low voice close at my side; it was
Beppo, and he began hurriedly talking in a low
voice.

He proposed that when we reached Sicily he
and I should leave the ship secretly, and make
for the mountains to join his brother. He
declared he knew the way to the stronghold
where his brother and the band of bravoes
lived, and that we could get there quite safely
and easily in the night.

At first I pooh-poohed such an idea; but
gradually the desire to see the bandits and join
their expeditions arose within me, and kept
growing stronger and stronger as the wily Italian
talked. My head had always been full of all
sorts of devilry; and when I was on shore I
was always getting into scrapes and doing some-
thing outrageous. And it seemed a fine thing
to ride on a prancing horse in a troop of brigands
26 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

all dressed as I had seen them in foolish pic-
tures, and waylay a bishop or rich merchant,
and hold him to ransom: living a jovial rollick-
ing life, governed by no laws but the laws of
one’s own passions. But I confess I did not like
the idea of pilfering: I would not be a low thief,
I thought. But then, as Beppo, in his high-
flown way, described the life of these bravoes,
the pilfering part of the business seemed almost
lost sight of, and only the romantic side struck
my attention.

The end of it was that, like a young fool, I
at last allowed the wily Italian to persuade me.

When we reached Messina we anchored just
off the port. The captain spent his time pretty
much on shore for a day or two, and meanwhile
a boat always lay alongside ready for his signal.
So one night Beppo and J, having each made up
a small portable parcel, slipped quietly over the
ship’s side and dropped into the boat. We pulled
silently down the Straits for about two miles,
and landing at a solitary spot, set off to walk.


27

CHAPTER IV.

AMONG THE BRIGANDS.

sss) uu place where we landed was

4, very wild. The mountains
came close to the sea, and we
were soon clambering on the
very slopes of Etna. Leaving
this towering summit on the
left, we crossed a shoulder or
‘spur of the great volcano ;
and just as the dawn touched
the eastern sky, we came in
sight of a wide valley, along
which the mists lay white and thick. Above
them, and right opposite to us, we could descry,
ghost-like in the morning air, another range of
mountain slopes and peaks, just beginning to
glow in the beams of the rising sun.

Pomting to one part of the distant range,
Beppo told me that we should find the great
stronghold there. He also declared that we
were quite safe from any pursuit, even if any
one was inclined:to pursue (which was not very
likely), and proposed that we should have a rest


28 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

and some breakfast; so descending into the
nearest village, we went into a country inn,
where we breakfasted off dried fish and bread
and fruit, and then had a long sleep under the
verandah.

We waited till the heat of the day had passed,
and then, after a good meal, we went on in a
country waggon, which was travelling in the
direction of our destination ; leaving it at sunset,
at a point where the roads divided. By mid-
night we found ourselves beneath a lofty peak,
and close to the bandits’ hold.

Arriving at a certam point my companion
halted, and putting his hand to his mouth, gave
a peculiar cry, which was almost immediately
answered by a similar sound close at hand. In
a minute or two a man with along rifle under
his arm and a rough, half-savage appearance,
stepped from behind some rocks and confronted
us. A rapid conversation followed between him
and my companion, which I could not wholly
follow, and at last we were permitted to share
the shelter of the cave, where he and two
equally savage-looking companions kept watch.

Savage looking as they were, they were
hospitable enough, and had a profusion of food
and wine, so that after a hearty supper, we
stretched ourselves on beds of dry fern, and
slept till the dawn.

It was a remarkable and lovely place which
we explored when the daylight came. Never
Among the Brigands. 29

before and never since have I seen anything to —
compare with it.

Right under the mountain peak lay a small
valley or gorge. The cliffs on either hand were
so rugged and precipitous that except in one
place—the side on which we were standing—
where a stream had scooped out a narrow bed,
down which it fell in a series of cataracts, access
or exit seemed impossible. Even this rude
cully was almost inaccessible except to moun-
taineers or sailors. But what was most remark-
able was that right m front of you, as you stood
under the peak, the gorge at the farther end
was completely blocked by an enormous mass of
rock, which must have fallen between the very
jaws of the glen, and absolutely prevented any
entrance from that side. The face of this rock
towards the valley was broken and rugged, but
accessible, and at the top a small hut had been
built as an outlook station. The outer face,
however, as I afterwards found, was quite per-
pendicular, and so smooth that it seemed as if
it had been purposely made so for defence.

Thus the gorge had become a large bason or
hollow, shut im on every side, and only to be
reached by the rude and rugged steps, formed
partly by nature and partly by art, down which
the stream ran, leaping to the bottom of the
dell. When the little torrent reached the level

turf, it rippled across the bottom of the green
bason through grass and flowers until it found
30 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

its way out by a kind of subterranean passage
beneath the fallen rock. The hollow, which
might have been three-quarters of a mile across,
was all green with mountain turf and waving
trees and shrubs, which clothed all the crags.
and rocks, and made the little dell like a
paradise.

Of course I did not see this all at once, but
the general features of the place were visible
from the spot where we had spent the night.

As soon as the sun rose I had been aroused
by a cry similar to that made on the previous
night by my companion, and which seemed to
be a kind of watchword or signal, and up came
three men, armed like the rest, to relieve guard.
The three who had been our hosts now accom-..
panied us down to the camp at the foot of the
rugged steps. I could not help admiring the
skill with which these lawless men had made
their fastness secure. Stockades were erected
here and there, and every advantage was taken
of the inequalities of the ground. Hollows had
been made in the rocks above the narrow pass
where men with rifles could be stationed to pick
off any unfortunate invaders. It was quite
evident that the leader of the band, brigand
though he was, had been a soldier.

At last we reached the bottom, and I was.
allowed to enter one of the huts, while Beppo.
went to find his brother. After a long delay,|
he returned and took me to see the leader. I,

|
|
|

|
|
|
iy
Among the Brigands. 31

could see he was very suspicious and distrustful.
He said Beppo should not have brought me, but
that now I had found my way into their strong-
hold I must stay, and it would depend upon
myself whether 1 should continue as a prisoner
or become one of the band. I did not much
like the position in which I found myself, but
there was no help for it now: I had to submit.
T soon found that the sentinels or guards posted
on the pass had received instructions not to let
me pass, but the security of the glen seemed so
absolute—it was so utterly impossible to escape
by any other way that the captain gave himself
no further trouble about me. I should indeed
have starved had it not been for Beppo.
Gradually, however, I gained the good opinion
of the captain, and after a while, when he
seemed to be convinced I was no spy, he em-
ployed me in various capacities,

This camp, I found, was the headquarters of
the banditti of the island, and the captain occu-
pied the position of a kind of generalissimo.
There were four or five subsidiary camps scat-
tered about among the mountains and the coasts,
and several pirate ships which were in alliance
with these brigands, and ranged the sea for
plunder. These vessels held frequent communi-
cation with the island, carrying away much
booty which their comrades had secured, or
bringing food and luxuries for their use. Of
course these bands of pirates have all been
82 Adventures of. Jack Pomeroy.

broken up long ago. I am speaking of what
existed five-and-forty, or fifty years since.

Curiously, as I thought, the captain never
permitted me to jom the band when upon any
raid or pilfering expedition. The only duties m
which he employed me were in sending com-
munications, messages, or orders to other camps,
or to the vessels when they signalled from the
sea. On one of these occasions, however, I had
a narrow escape from the guns of the gen-
darmerie, which perhaps I will tell you about
another time.”

Here Ted interrupted, and said, ‘“ Oh, do tell
us now, grandfather: we are so much interested,
and there is plenty of time.”










33

CHAPTER V.

A SHARP ENCOUNTER, AND ITS
CONSEQUENCES.

ja : We uruaps, then,” said my
pi 1 ovandfather, “T may as
well tell the whole story.
I had been sent down with
‘three other men to a village
on the coast, to meet the
boat of a pirate ship which
had signalled us.
We used to keep a sharp
look-out all day long over
the sea, from the little hut
_ = which, I told you, had been
built on the top of the great rock which blocked
the mouth of the ravine.

All day one or other of the men occupied
that post, from which there was a clear view
over the land and sea for many miles, Several
of the other camps were within sight of this
look-out, so that communication could easily be
made by signal in various directions. When a
D





i
- 84 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

ship wanted to communicate with us it would)
lie off and on the shore in a_ certain pre-
arranged fashion, and dip the sails or flags so |
that we knew what was meant, and generally
the other camps signalled by means of the
smoke of a fire kindled on some neighbouring
eak.

Most of the villagers in our neighbourhood
were more or less under our influence or in our |
pay. We took care to make it worth their
while to conceal us and our doings, and so we
had nothing to fear from them.

Thus, on the occasion I am referring to,
though we were all well-armed, we made no
special attempts at concealment.

But it happened that, without our knowledge,
a company of soldiers had marched into the
village that very morning, on their way to
another town, and before we knew where we
were going, we swaggered into the very middle
of them. Happily, the captam of the troop
was in a neighbouring café, and the men, loung-
ing about in groups, were not anxious to attack
us, so taking the contretemps as coolly as pos-
sible, we Just sauntered down to the shore.

We saw our danger, and the only thing to
do was to get into the boat we expected would
be waiting, and pull out to sea till the dusk
came on.

Unfortunately, when we got down to the
beach, no boat was to be seen. LHither they
\

A Sharp Encounter. 85

had miscalculated the time, or, what was more
likely, had spied the soldiers along the road, and
keptaway. We were ina dilemma, We dared
not return through the village; and, indeed,
expected every moment to hear the tramp of
the soldiers coming to attack us. So we made
the best of our way along a path which led
under the cliffs, and by and by came to a steep
rocky gully filled with brushwood, where we
thought we might conceal ourselves.

Butwe had not gone far into it, however, before
we heard the steps of the soldiers and the clank
of arms. Turning round, as we emerged into
a clear space, we could see the men clustering
round the foot of the gully, and, unfortunately,
at the same moment they saw us. In a minute
their muskets were levelled, and the bullets
rattled among the bushes close around us. We
instantly returned the volley, and then sprang
away to seek shelter. So we went on, the
soldiers firing at intervals with the chance of
hitting us, and one of us occasionally giving a
shot if any man appeared among the rocks.

We clambered up the cliffs as rapidly as
possible, but presently one of my comrades was
hit, and fell with a cry over the rocks into the
ravine. Presently another stumbled and fell,
and whether he was shot or no I could not tell.
I now gave myself over for lost. My breath
was spent. My clothes were torn to shreds,
and I was exhausted. Just at that moment
36 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

a random shot caught my leg, and I fell.
Happily, by God’s good providence, I am sure,
I stumbled right into a great hole, which was
completely overgrown with ferns and_ bushes,
and where I lay perfectly concealed. How
long I lay there I did not know, for I
presently became unconscious.

When my senses returned I heard shouts,
and presently I heard my name called, and
shouting in reply, I managed to make myself
heard through the mass of weeds and ferns
which concealed me, and then I descried the
faces of my two companions, Beppo and another,
who, between them, managed to lift me out of
the hole, and lead me gently down the path
towards the village.

One of the men, the first who fell, I found
had heen killed; the other two were unhurt.
And the soldiers, after climbing to the top of
the rock, and passing close to the hole into
which I had providentially fallen, had given up
the chase and pursued their march.

I was too much hurt to walk any distance,
and my comrades got some of the villagers to
carry me on a litter up the mountains, and to
leave me at a small hut, which we used as
a refuge in bad weather, whence next day
several of the brigands fetched me in the same
fashion.

While I was gradually getting better of my
wound, which turned out to be much worse
A Sharp Hncownter. 37

than I had supposed, I noticed a good deal
of suppressed excitement among the men, as
though something was going forward, or some
event was expected.

It had often been the practice for these
banditti to march down twenty or thirty strong,
armed to the teeth, and entering some village
or small town, loot every house, and carry away
the booty, while the people were afraid to resist.
At another time, they would take a rich mer-
chant or great man prisoner, and concealing
him in one of their strongholds, would only
release him on payment of a big ransom. It
was one of these adventures for which they
were preparing, and which caused the excite-
ment I had noticed.

I found, on inquiry of Beppo, that the cap-
tain had had intelligence that a rich English-
man was about to take a journey from Palermo
to Syracuse, and that probably his escort would
not be a large one.

If the brigands could secure his person, they
could hold him in their stronghold till a heavy
ransom was paid.

Great preparations were accordingly made to
waylay the travellers in a suitable place, and
the captain, with twenty men or so, were to
march out for that purpose.

Meanwhile my wounded leg gave me a great
deal of trouble. It became much worse, and
as there was no possibility of obtaining a doctor,
88 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.



I could only use such rude remedies as were|
known to the men themselves. I was unable |
to walk a step, and had to lie still day and night |
in the little room in one of the huts, which had |
been appropriated to my use.

Time passed very heavily and my spirits sunk |
very low. It seemed wretched to be im this
condition, just when everyone about me vee
most active and excited, and my conscience |
sometimes gave me an unpleasant twinge, and
suggested that it was a judgment upon me for
my wickedness. I tried to banish such thoughts,
but: they came back again and again.

I know now that this was God’s way of
bringing me to myself. Nothing but pain and
weakness would have tamed my unruly spirit ;
but as I lay on my lonely couch, my thoughts
would wander back to the past, and even in my
dreams I seemed to see my dead father’s face,
and heard my mother’s voice. One or two of
the more good-natured among the men came in
sometimes to sit with me, but their ribald talk
and foolish merriment somehow became dis-
tasteful, and as they were mostly hardened,
selfish men, they left off coming when they
found I no longer responded to their jests, and
if it had not been for Beppo, who was true to
me all through, rascal as he was, I really think
I should have starved.

One day as I lay thus in pain and languor,
my thoughts travelled back, whether I would or
A Sharp Encounter. 39

no, to my childish days, and I suddenly remem-
bered the little Bible my mother had given me,
and which I knew still lay among my belongings
in a box beneath my bed. I would not draw it
out, however, for I instinctively felt that it
vould certainly condemn me, and I was not at
all willing to hear the voice of conscience. Next
day I still resisted the impulse to look at it, but
on the third day, I said to myself, ‘ Well, it
can do no harm just to see how it looks. Why,
I have never even looked at the cover for years.
I wonder if it is tarnished or spoiled.’

I managed to put my hand far enough be-
neath my bed to get hold of my box, and pulling
it out, opened it, and after a good deal of
trouble, and not without giving my leg several
painful wrenches, got hold of the parcel in which
the book was wrapped.

Ah! how well I remember that day. It was
the turning-point in my life, lads, when I
opened that Bible. God had been leading me
on to it, though I did not know it. J am sure
He had been speaking to me all the time, and
gently forcing me to this point, and I am just
as sure it was an answer to my mother’s
prayers for her prodigal son.

There lay the little book on my bed—a rough
bed it was, and a rough room I was in. But
the book looked beautiful in purple cover and
gold edges, as fresh as when it was first put
into my hands seven years before.
40 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

I turned it over and over, but did not open
it for some time. The very sight of it was too
much for my feelings in my weak state, and I
actually shed tears as the whole scene of the
past came back to me. The old house was
there before me; the kitchen where we all sat,
with the blazing fire, and the grey cat on the
hearth. My mother busy with her work on one
side; my father at the other; myself, a lad of
thirteen or fourteen, sitting at the table with
my school-books before me. It all came as
plainly as if it were real. I must look at my
mother’s writing once again, and so I took the
book in my hands and opened it.


































































































































































































































































41

CHAPTER VI.
THE GREAT CHANGE.

Hx book opened of its own accord,
not at the beginning, where my
name was inscribed, but at a

\ place where a pook-marker lay ;

; and on the page which presented
itself to my eye, I caught the words,

if ‘I will arise and go to my Father.’

I could not remove my gaze for a

moment or so from the page: I almost seemed

to hear my mother’s voice, and the tears again
and again brimmed over my eyes and rolled
down my cheeks.

Presently I read a little more. That wonder-
ful parable of the Prodigal Son was speaking to
my heart, as it had spoken to thousands before.
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and.
before Thee. Yes, I Aad sinned; I saw it
now. As I lay there I looked back over my
past life and saw how wicked it had been. I
had been the prodigal ; I had ‘wasted my sub-
stance with riotous living.’ But then, what did
coming to the Father mean? That puzzled me.
Every day now I read in that little Bible, but I



42 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

seemed to get no nearer understanding it
than I was at first.

At the same time a great change had come
over me: I began to hate myself; my con-
science was thoroughly awake, and I could
certainly no longer take part in the ribaldry and
wickedness of the abandoned crew amidst which
T had heedlessly thrown myself. I think Beppo
and some others began to suspect that I was
changed, but they attributed it to my long ill-
ness and weakness of body. Indeed to what
else could they attribute it? They knew
nothing, absolutely nothing, about the Bible.
They would confess to a priest often enough
when they went into the villages, but they never
confessed the robberies and murders they had
committed. They thought these things were
only in the way of business. All they confessed.
were trivial mistakes or neglect of some Church
duty: as the eating of meat on a fast-day, and
such like. Of repentance towards God they had
never even heard. So they rallied me on being
so quiet, and declared that as soon asl regained
strength I should be as merry as ever.

And indeed, strange to say, I began to get
better from the very day on which I opened. the
Bible. I don’t mean to say, my lads, that there
was any miracle aboutit. Very likely that was
about the turning-point of my condition, or
perhaps the mind acted upon the body, and a
healed mind does sometimes play the physician ;
The Great Change. 43 >

at all events it was so, and in a few days I
began to crawl about a little. The wound
looked healthier and began to close up, and
with the help of a stick I got out in the fresh
air and began to pick up my strength.

‘When I began to get about I found that the
expedition of which I had heard so much talk,
had not yet taken place. The captain was
wailing for news from some of his spies in the
city of Palermo, so that by the time the bandits
marched out on their raid I had almost recovered
the use of my leg.

Of course, however, I was left behind. The
captain never had thoroughly trusted me, and
had never allowed me to go with the rest on
their marauding expeditions. Indeed, I believe,
he kept a very jealous eye upon me. He seemed
to think that, being an Englishman, I could not
be a good thief, which really I thought very
complimentary to my country, and I wish it
was true.

However, I was left behind with eight or
nine others, some of whom were invalided, and
some disinclined for one reason or another to
join in the enterprise. .

During these days of idleness I had nothing
to do but to wander about the little valley and
read my Bible, which I now always carried in
my pocket. I was still, as it were, half way to
conversion, perhaps more than half way : I don’t
know. But while I was determined to live a
44 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

new life, I kept slipping back into some of the
old bad habits, and then repenting again. Be-
sides which I saw no prospect of leading a new
life. Icould not get away, I knew well enough,
from what the captain had said many a time,
that he would not let me leave the place alive.
Then men who went out on any matter of busi-
ness always had strict charge to shoot any
comrade who seemed inclined to desert the band.
Tt would have been more than my Life was
wortn to hint any wish of that kind to any of
the men. The secrecy and safety of the strong-
hold were dependent upon the band keeping
loyally together. You see, if one left he might
easily be bribed to betray the rest.

My only chance, therefore, was either that the
soldiers should one day find their way up to our
fastness, or else that the captain should get
shot or be taken prisoner in some of the fre-
quent encounters with the gendarmes.

One day, however, I was lounging lazily
about, when drawing near the rock which
blocked the mouth of the gorge, I noticed that
a new rope-ladder had been provided, to make
the ascent to the look-out more easy. As
my wounded leg was so much better, I ven-
tured to ascend the ladder. No look-out was
being kept just at that time, and I sat in the
shadow of the little building, gazing over the
fair prospect.

As I was sitting musing on my strange and
The Great Change. 45

perplexing fate, quite determined to get free of
my evil associates, yet seeing no way of escape,
my attention was arrested by the sound of the
stream us it dashed down a precipice on the
outer side of the rock on which I was sitting.
‘I wonder,’ I said to myself, ‘how that stream
finds its way out P what sort of a channel can
it have?’ Of course I knew that it did make
its way beneath the rock, but I had not given
two thoughts to the matter until that moment.

The idea had no sooner come into my head
than I jumped up determined upon exploring
the place thoroughly. I looked over the face
of the rock on which I stood, and found it per-
tectly inaccessible. It was perpendicular, and
absolutely smooth for seventy or eighty feet,
and one could neither climb down nor up, that
was certain. The cliffs, too, on either hand,
were much loftier, and would be exceedingly
difficult to surmount, if not impossible. I knew
that no one had ever succeeded in getting out of
the glen in this direction.

I remembered now that nearly all the pre-
vieus week we had heavy rain and thunder-
storms, and that the brook had flooded part of the
almost level bottom of the valley. That would
account for the larger quantity of water falling
over the precipice, and the louder roar of the
cataract. And it struck me, too, that the
stream, when so much swollen, might wear
itself a wider channel than usual.
46 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

And so it proved. For when, with a good
deal of trouble, I had forced my way through
the thick and thorny underwood which mantled
around the cavernous opening down which the
brook plunged, I found a much larger cavity
than I had expected. I clambered down, and
found the mouth of the cave quite large enough
to creep into, but almost dark, owing to the
dense foliage which overhung it. As soon as
my eyes got a little accustomed to the dim light,
I crept cautiously onward. Evidently the water
had worn for itself a tolerably large channel
through the softer parts of rock.

A few more steps, accompanied by as many
bumps and stumbles, brought me in view of a
glimmer of light at the farther end. The
stream had shrunk a little since the rains, and
it was quite possible to find a foothold, though
a slippery and precarious one, along the side.
Stooping low and feeling carefully with hands
and feet, I at last emerged at the end of the
natural tunnel on the brink of a rugged pre-
cipice down which the brook leaped. I stood
on a little platform of rock exactly under the
smooth precipitous face of the rock down which
an hour before I was gazing. The very rugged-
ness of the ravine through which the stream
leaped down towards the lower valleys made that
perfectly easy as a path by which to descend,
but so shielded and draped was the whole place
with foliage, that no one coming within sight of
The Great Change. 47

the little foaming cataract would imagine that
the narrow cleft through which the brook
emerged would give access to such a roomy,
luxuriant nook as that which formed the
robber’s stronghold.

Retracing my steps, I took care to obliterate,
as far as possible, all trace of my footsteps in
the neighbourhood of the rock, and resolved, as
I walked back to my quarters, to make due use
of my remarkable discovery on the first avail-
able opportunity. There was not much danger
of my discovery bemg known to others. The
men were much fonder of lying in the sun, and
quaffing the rich wines they managed to convey
up the mountain sides, and smoking lazily, than
exploring the wonders even of their own strong-
hold. When a raid had to be undertaken they
were bold as lions, and as savage. But as to
walking or clambering about, like we English
do, they would have laughed the idea to scorn.
- So it seemed to me that I had only to watch my
opportunity, and escape was possible.

J was sufticiently alive to thoughts of God to
see His hand in all this. I was afraid as yet
to pray. I thought I must first of all atone
somehow for -my past sins before I dared to
pray. But yet I could not help believing that
God was making a way of deliverance for me.

But a great surprise was in store for me. A
thing I never could have anticipated or dreamed
of was about to take place.
48 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

CHAPTER VII.



THE UNEXPECTED QUEST.








| 11s surprise was no less
than the appearance of
my old friend, Captain
Willats. ‘Two or three
days after my adven-
ture in the cave, the
marauding band made
itsreappearance. They
had evidently been en-
tirely successful. They came
. shouting and rollicking down

the narrow pass, and were

escorting a fine elderly military-
‘looking man, with grey hair. In an instant I
knew him. He was the passenger on board
the vessel I had left nearly two years previously,
the kind friend who had so often warned and
persuaded me from my evil courses. If an
angel from heaven had appeared I could not
have been more surprised. ‘This, then, was the
prisoner the brigands had sought to capture for
the sake of the ransom. He was, I found, no
Lhe Unexpected Guest. 49

longer Captain Willats, but Sir Percy Willats,
having, I supposed, succeeded to the title during
the interval, or else having been created a
baronet for some special service.

He evidently did not recognise me, for I was
a good deal more changed m my appearance
than he was. I was glad of this, for his
presence there added greatly to my perplexity,
and for some time I really did not know how
to act.

You see, I could have got away at any time
by means of the secret cavern; but I saw
plainly if I did the brigands would suspect that
J had escaped in order to bring the soldiers
upon them, and liberate my countryman. They
would then either have shot him at once—
which they were quite capable of domg—or
would have hurried him away to some other of
their fastnesses. Then it did not seem generous
to leave such a man as that, one who had been
so kind and considerate towards me, in the
hands of. these fierce banditti, without, at least,
some effort to aid him. I had already begun
to cogitate in my own mind as to whether I
could not help him to escape by the same
method as I had contemplated, when a message
reached me from our captain that he wanted to
see me.

I found him alone in his hut, and he im-
mediately asked me if I had scen his prisoner.

‘Yes,’ I answered, ‘I saw him as he came

E
50 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

down into the camp; but I have not seen him
since.’

‘Well,’ he said, ‘I think I may trust you.
So far you have never betrayed us;’ and then,
looking hard at me, he went off into a volley
of Italian oaths and threatenings as to what
he would do if he caught me playing him false
in anything. I have told you he was always
suspicious of me, and he could not get rid of
that feeling now, and, indeed, he never had
such cause for suspicion before. If he had
been able to look into my heart just then and
se@n what things I was contemplating, I should
* never have gone out of his room alive. Then
he told me that the prisoner could not speak
Italian, and none but myself was able to speak
English, and, in short, he wanted me to be his
interpreter or channel of communication with the
prisoner.

He then gave me a message containing the
conditions upon which he was to be set at
liberty, all of which he ordered me to impress
carefully and positively on the unfortunate
captive. He was to write a letter immediately
to his friends, wherever they might be, in-
forming them of his condition, but giving no
clue to the place where he was concealed, and
naming the amount of money which was de-
manded as his ransom. And full instructions
were to be added by me as to the mode by
which the answer should reach him.
The Unexpected Guest. 51

When I went to see the prisoner I found
him confined in a small hut, close to that
which formed my dormitory. He had suffered
no injury, but he was naturally downcast and
anxious.

I was thankful for the necessity which had
made me the messenger, and for the whim of
the bandit, which had enabled me to have an
interview with him alone.

When I told my kind old friend who ‘I was,
he was overwhelmed with astonishment and
grief. ‘You, Jack, you,’ he said, ‘turned robber
and_assassin P’

‘No, sir, not assassin, I replied; ee
God, I have never killed a man yet.’

‘Thank God, indeed,’ said he, ‘it is strange
to me that you care to thank God for anything.’

‘ Alas, sir,’ said J, ‘I know how wicked I
have been; I can only thank God that He has
not left me to smk deeper into wickedness.’

‘What do you do here, then?’ he asked,
sternly.

‘I am here now ene my will, though in
my headstrong folly I came here by my own
choice,’ I replied.

‘You must tell me what all this means,’
said he; ‘I do not understand it |’

‘ Will you let me come and talk to you another
time, sir?’ said 1; ‘all I can say now is, that
you must trust me to be your friend, whatever
I may seem.’
52 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

‘Tl trust you, Jack; I always told you, I
was sure you would come right some day. What
brings you here now P’

I then proceeded to lay before him my com-
mission. I told him it went hard with me to
see him there, and to be the bearer of such a
message ; but that it would be best for him to
obey the orders exactly, and that I must not
appear too friendly with him, nor he with me,
J added, that I was not without hope of render-
ing him valuable help.

He at once saw the reasonableness of these
suggestions, and having carefully written the
letter, I duly placed it in the hand of the chief,
by whom it was forwarded according to his
usual custom. All such negotiations we had
been accustomed to carry out with such secrecy
that no one yet had ever been able to penetrate
into his plans.

While the band was waiting for the reply,
Sir Perey Willats was allowed a good deal of
liberty. The place was looked upon as so ab-
solutely secure, that the captain deemed bolts
and bars and fetters utterly unnecessary. And
the prisoner could thus wander about the small
level space of the valley, almost as he would.
I knew, however, that a watch was really kept
on all his movements, and that it would not be
safe to make such an attempt as I contemplated
until the men began to relax their vigilance.

But I made use of my time to haye many a
The Unewpected Guest. 53

quiet chat with my friend. This was not diff-
cult, because as I only could talk intelligibly to
him; the men, while they could not understand
what we said, perceived how natural it was that
we compatriots should converse together.

However jealous and suspicious the chief was,
his feelings were not shared by the bandits
generally. I had been a jovial companion all
along, and was really a favourite with most of
them. noe

You may be sure that I told my old friend
of my illness, of my uneasy conscience, and of
my dear little Bible which had done so much
to awaken me to a sense of my sinfulness.
And Itold him also how I felt afraid to pray,
nor did I see how to pacify my conscience, or to
get rid of the load of guilt which lay like a
burden upon me. And then he talked to me
about Christ, about the Divine mercy. He
asked me for my Bible, and opened it as I had
done at the parable of the prodigal son. ‘Why,
said he, ‘here, Jack, is the very thing you want.
And then he read.the parable to me, and as he
read it, it seemed almost like the voice of God
bidding me come back to my father.

‘But,’ said I, ‘do you mean that God is
just like that Father ?’

‘It isn’t what Z mean, Jack, that matters
one whit: it is what Christ means. Can
He mean anything else? How do you think
your father would have acted, if you had gone
54 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

back to him years ago, and told him you were
sorry for all the wrong you had done to him,
and in the sight of God, don’t you think he
would have welcomed you home again P’

‘Poor, dear father,’ I answered, with tears
in my eyes; ‘I know he would.’

And then he said, ‘Go into some quiet place
among the trees, and tell God just that, and He
will welcome you and receive you.’

And another time, I remember, we were
talking about what Christ had done for us. It
was after I had confided to him the plan I had
formed for escape; and I was puzzled to under-
stand how Christ could have been ‘a ransom’
for us, as He had said He was. And he made
it very plain to me in this way.

‘You see, Jack, the position I am in. I
can’t get away from this place. I am in peril
of my life here until I can get ransomed by my
friends. They will have to raise five thousand
pounds before I can have my liberty, unless you
can carry out your hazardous project. Now
supposing, Jack, that we succeed in getting
down the mountain, and in doing so you fall
and are killed, or the brigands pursue us and
you are shot, ‘while I get off safely and find
liberty and home. Don’t you see that you will
_ have given your life as my ransom? ‘The five
thousand pounds will never be paid, but your
life will be the price of my safety.

‘Now, you know, I am no clergyman, but it
The Unexpected Guest. 55

seems to me that that is just what Christ has
done. You can’t get rid of your sins by paying
any penalty for them. Your punishment would
not destroy your guilt; no ransom you could
raise would deliver you, but Christ takes you
out of your sins, gives you liberty and life, and
in doing that He gives His own life. Is not
that a ransom for you ?’

‘Ah! it begins to be plain to me now,’ I
said. ‘If that is what God means by the
Gospel I can trust Him’

“Yes, and that 7s what God means. It was
the father who put the thought in the prodigal’s
heart to come back and to leave his sins, and he
did that because he was ready to accept him
when he returned. Do you think that your
Heavenly Father who, by the blessed Spirit, put
that desirein your heart, did not mean to satisfy
it afterwards or to accept you, when you left your
sins and threw yourself on His merey? Why,
that’s just the message Christ came to bring,
and He brought it at the cost of His own life.’

Ah, my lads, I began to be happy then. As
soon as I saw that I could pray, I could praise
and rejoice too; and up there, in that robbers’
stronghold, I found Christ, and gave myself to
Him. And I thank God He has never let me
go back from that day to this.
56 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE ESCAPE,

> uINGs took an unexpected turn,
and threatened to defeat my.
. plans entirely. For our chief
2 heard from some of his con-
: federates elsewhere that the
; government had taken up the
question of their seizure of
‘ Sir Percy, and were about to
' send soldiers to explore the
mountains and apprehend the
brigands.
This put every one into a
terrible rage, and again my
services were called into requisition to compel
the captive to write again to his friends. This
time he was ordered to say that unless the
money was forthcoming by a certain day, or if a
single soldier was seen in the neighbourhood of
their hold he would certainly be shot, and to
beg the government to desist for his sake from
their plans. All this was done, and the letter
sent as before.
Meanwhile it was determined to render the
captivity of their prisoner more rigorous. He










ae i.
ie



a








The Escape. 57

was ordered to remain in the hut day and night,
and only the plainest and scanties; diet was
permitted. Men were put on guard at the
doors, who were ordered to permit none to enter
except by special order of the captain.

This made me decide to run all risks, and
by some means or other, liberate my friend,
and, if possible, mysclf at the same time. I
knew what a risk we both ran, for the men
were utterly reckless and always revengeful,
and I had seen men shot, more than once, by
the leader with his own hand, for disobeying his
orders. But religion, my boys, never made a
man less brave, and I have always been
courageous enough, and now had a new in-
spiration, a new motive and purpose which
made me more daring, I think, than ever.

First of all, however, I took an opportunity,
one evening, of exploring the tunnel again
and found it in the same condition, except
that, as the stream had shrunk considerably,
there was more room to creep along than
formerly.

The difficulty then was to communicate with
Sir Percy, and arrange the time and mode of
escape. I was obliged to wait until my turn
came to be on guard at the door of his hut,
and here chance, or I should say, Providence
came to my help. My companion on guard
was a young man who had taken a great fancy
to me, and whom I had nursed when he was
58 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

wounded, in return for which he had nursed
me. He was a good-natured young fellow,
much less of a savage than most of the band.
So when we had mounted guard, and all was
quiet, I told him I wanted to go in and speak
to our prisoner, and see if J could make him
any more comfortable, for ‘after all,’ I said
‘he is a countryman of mine. My com-
panion made no objection, and I had a long
talk with the captive, and made him under-
stand all my plans. First of all, I showed him
how to remove some bars which lay across the
window of the hut, and pomted out that he
could easily get free of his little prison that
way, while the guardsmen were sitting, as they
did every night, against his door. For, after
all, the guard was nota strict one. If he had
climbed out, he would, as they supposed, be no
nearer liberty, and the arrangements had been
made far more for the sake of inflicting dis-
comfort upon him, and of intimidating him,
than for the sake of safety. That, they
thought, was absolutely secured.

I then handed him a bundle of clothes I had
previously deposited outside his window, with
which he was to disguise himself, and I gave
him a signal by which he would know that I
was prepared to meet him. We had several
dogs in the camp, and I was clever in imitating
things, and he was to listen,,for a peculiar bark
and growl on the left hand of his window,
The Escape. 59

where there was a clump of bushes; and as
soon as he heard that to spring ot, and run
into the bushes.

The next question was when this was to be
attempted. It must be on a dark night, and
as the moon would have almost vanished after
midnight that week, that seemed a favourable
time, as all that side of the camp would be in
deep shadow.

As to the patrols, I told him he must leave
that part of the business to me. I knew that
these men were by no means pleased with the
duty of mounting guard at the door of the
hut night after night, and that they generally
took with them a bottle or two of wine to
solace them. My plan was to wait until
certain men, who I knew were specially fond
of the bottle were on guard, and then, when
they were drowsy and perhaps even fast asleep,
to make my attempt.

A few nights after that on which I had had
the interview with the captive, two of the
roughest of our band took their turn at the
duty of patrolling in front of the hut-door.
I watched them—myself unseen—until every-
one around had turned in for the night, and
silence reigned over the camp. Then the men
sat down beneath a tree close at hand, and
taking out a bottle, passed it from one to the
other. I could hear their voices, as they
talked in a half whisper, grow sleepier and
60 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

sleepier, until it was evident both had suc-
cumbed to the effect of the strong wine, and
were fast asleep.

I then slipped on a countryman’s blouse over
my coat, changed my hat for one more common
among the peasants, and silently walked to my
post, behind the hut. I listened for some time,
and hearing no noise, ventured at last to bark
in the manner I had agreed upon. The sound
was answered by a low whistle, and in a few
moments Sir Percy was at my side. He had
had no time to don the disguise I had provided
for him, so carrying the bundle, we made our
way amidst the trees towards the cave.

It was now so dark that we could hardly see
the ground at our feet, and in a whisper I told
my companion we must get into the mouth of
the cavern, and wait till the first gleam of day-
light, for it would be impossible to descend
upon the other side in the darkness. A better
idea struck him, however. When he noticed
into what a hole we had to descend to reach
the cave’s mouth, and how thickly overgrown
the place was with foliage, he suggested that
we should strike a light, and by its help grope
our way at all events to the other end, where
we might wait in safety for the morning.
Happily he had a tinder-box and some candles,
and with some trouble, crouching under the
rocky roof, we managed to get a light, and then
each taking a small piece of candle, we care-
The Eseape. 61

fully and painfully worked our way out of the
cavern to the edge of the waterfall.

We were quite safe, and breathed out a
thanksgiving to God for the deliverance. We
dared not, however, speak above a whisper, for
I knew that a look-out was kept on the top of
the rock, and though the falling stream would
probably have drowned our voices, yet it was
best to be on the safe side. We had not long
to wait. It was a good deal past midnight
when we started, and at that season of the year
the daylight came very early.

There was still one danger. The scout on
the top of. the rock might catch sight of our
figures descending the gully. It was only a
chance, but it was one we must, if possible,
elude.
I remembered that the watch was always
changed at sunrise, and that, at least, when I
had been on duty, the new-comer having
announced his arrival as he drew near the foot
of the rope-ladder—the man at the top would
very often descend first, and the two would
perhaps talk together awhile, before the new
comer climbed into his post. If I could only
hear the signal, and time our descent when the
change was being made, we should probably be
unobserved. As I was telling my companion
my ideas about the matter, we saw the Hast
flush with gold, and soon after, I heard faintly
the well-known cry.
62 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

‘Now is the moment,’ I exclaimed, and we at
once began to climb down the gully through
which the stream was fallmg. We got a good
many bruises, and, of course, were drenched
with water, but we got safely to a point where
a great rock shut off the view from above, and
halting, drew a long breath.

We had escaped !

But the question was, would there be a pur-
suit? It was not likely that the absence of the
prisoner would be observed before the morning
meal, which would be taken to the hut at the
usual time. I might indeed be missed before
that by some of my companions, but that would
create no surprise for a while. We might cer-
tainly calculate on four hours’ start, and then,
when the discovery was made, our pursuers
would have to travel two or three miles farther
than we, for the regular track down the moun-
tain was a long way round.

We were about fifteen miles from the sea-
coast village to which I thought we had better
direct our steps. We chose that, first because
the people were not so friendly to the brigands,
nor in collusion with them, as were many of the
inhabitants of the smaller and nearer villages,
and secondly, because the banditti seldom went
in that direction.

We marched rapidly on, and not venturing
into any inn upon the road, contented ourselves
with such provision as we had managed to bring
The Escape. 68

with us. In about five hours we had covered
the distance, and tramped into the village at
ten o’clock in the morning.

My plan was to hire a fishing-boat and sail
for Palermo, and this plan we were able to
carry out without any difficulty. The sight of
a gold piece or tivo smoothed the negotiations,
and before evening of that day we were running
into the harbour of Palermo.

And now, lads, I: have almost done my. story.
My kind old friend and companion was among
his friends as soon as we set foot in the town,
and great was the rejoicing over his escape.
As for me, I was féted and petted, and became
quite a popular character until, one evening, a
tall, i-looking fellow was caught by one of the
gendarmes presenting a pistol at my head as
I passed.

The raseal confessed that he was sontelerals
with some brigands who had sworn to have
my life. The consequences of this was that
both I and my companion took passage In an
English vessel which lay at the port, and lost
no time in getting back to safer quarters.

Now, I am not going to give you all the
story of my life after this, my lads, especially
as 1 see little Hester here is asleep already.
But you may like to know that it was Sir
Percy Willats who got me my commission as
. lieutenant in the navy, and that I rose to
the position of captain. I was sent home
64 Adventures of Jack Pomeroy.

invalided a good many years ago, disabled for a
time by an ugly wound, and here I am to-day,
thank God, sound and hearty, with many to
love me and many to love.

And, best of all, I have a Heavenly Father,
who brought me back, prodigal as I was, to His
heart, and has guided and blessed me all my
days, and when all storms here are over, I[
know I shall sail right into the port of heaven,
and I'll wait there to weleome you, my boys;
mind you do your duty; obey your Captain,
sail by the chart of the Bible, and it will all be
well.”

By this time all trace of the storm had
passed away. The moon was high and bright,
and so, hurrying our things into the boat,
with grandfather again at the tiller, we sped
across the bay, and got safely home before
midnight, little Hester sleeping all the way.

I have written down this story of my grand-
father’s from memory; but I don’t think I
have left anything out, though I daresay I
have not. given, always, the old gentleman’s
exact words. My brother Ted says it is all
right, so I hope the boys who read it will
like the reading as much as we did the
telling, and that it will do them as much
good as I think it has-done to us.



KNIGHT, PRINTER, MIDDLE STREET, ALDERSGATE, E.C,






































































































































The Book of Books.

Springfield Stories.

Titile Dot. :

John Thompson’s Nursery.

Lwo Ways to begin ESCs :

4 Ethel Ripon,

Little Gooseberry.

Fanny Ashley.

The Gamekeeper’s Daehien

Fred Kenny, ;

Old Humphrey's Study-Table.

) Jenny’s Waterproof.

The Holy Welt.

The Travelling Sixpence.

The Three Flowers. *

Lost and Rescued:

Lightbearers and Beacons.

Little Lottie. :

Phe Dog of St. Bernard.

fsane Gould the Waggoner,

Uncle Rupert's Stories for
Boys. —

Dreaming and Doing. ese

Many Ways of Being weer

Rachel Rivers.

; Lessong out of School.





























































































































Ps Lo ae ee pose pene :