Cousin Lucy's Conversations

“Yes,” said Miss Anne, “here is plenty of room for us to stand.”

They found a good place to stand, with the water of the stream before them, and the great wall, which the bridge rested upon, behind them. There were also some large, smooth stones lying there, which they could sit down upon. A very few minutes after they had fixed themselves in this place of shelter, the rain began to come down in torrents. The thunder rolled and reverberated from one part of the heavens to another, and once or twice Lucy saw a faint flash of lightning.

Lucy was very much amused at the curious effect produced by the drops of rain falling upon the water. They covered the water all over with little bubbles. She kept calling upon Miss Anne to see; but Miss Anne looked anxious and afraid. By and by, the rain began to come down through the bridge, and they had to move a little to keep from getting wet. But they succeeded in getting a dry place, and keeping pretty comfortable.

“But what shall we do,” said Lucy, “if it rains all night? We can’t stay here all night.”

“Thunder showers don’t last long,” said Miss Anne. “I presume it will be pleasant by and by, only we shall get our feet wet going home; for the roads will be very wet, and full of pools of water.”

Just then they heard the noise of wheels in the road, as if a chaise or carriage of some sort were coming along towards them. The horse travelled very fast, and soon came upon the bridge, and went along over it, passing directly above their heads with great speed, and with a noise which sounded louder to them than any clap of thunder which they had heard. Lucy was sure that they would break through, and come down upon their heads; and even Miss Anne was a little frightened. They little knew who it was in the chaise. It was Royal going to find them, to bring them home. He thought it probable that they had gone into the old, ruined buildings, to be sheltered from the rain, and that he should find them there.

After looking there for them in vain, he came back, and he happened to come to the bridge just as Miss Anne and Lucy were coming out from under it. They were very glad to see him. The shower was over. The sun had come out; the grass and trees were glittering with the reflection of the bright light from the drops of rain; and there were two great rainbows in the east, one bright, and the other rather faint. Royal said that he would have the faint rainbow, and Lucy might have the bright one for hers. Lucy’s rainbow lasted until some time after they got home.

CONVERSATION XIV

DANGER

Lucy often had singular adventures with Royal and her father; but one, which interested her as much as any, was an adventure she once met with in crossing a river. The circumstances were these: —

They were on a journey; Lucy and Royal were travelling with their father and mother.

One evening, after they had reached the end of the journey for the day, the party stopped in a village, built upon an eminence, which overlooked a broad and very fertile-looking valley. It consisted of extensive intervals, level and green, and spotted with elms, and with a river winding through them, until its course was lost among the trees, a few miles below. After tea, Royal wanted to go down, across the intervals, to the bank of the river, to see the water.

“O yes,” said Lucy, “and let me go too, father.”

“O no,” said Royal, “you must not go.”

“Why not?” said Lucy.

“Because,” said Royal, “we may find a boat there, and want to take a sail in it; and you couldn’t go.”

“Why not?” said Lucy.

“Because,” said Royal, “you wouldn’t dare to go.”

“Yes I should,” said Lucy.

“No,” said Royal, “you don’t dare to sleep in a room alone at night, in a hotel.”

“But I think she will not be afraid to go in the boat,” said her father. “At any rate, we will let her go with us.”

Lucy then went to get her bonnet; and when they were all ready, she and Royal went out together; their father followed immediately afterwards. Their mother, being fatigued, preferred to remain at home.

From the principal street of the village, they passed out, through a pair of bars, into a cart road, which led through the mowing fields down towards the intervals.

They walked on together, until they came down to the intervals, which were level fields of grass and flowers, very beautiful, and extending on each side of them very far. The road gradually grew narrower, until at length it became a mere path, which finally conducted them to the bank of the river. Royal and Lucy stood upon the bank, and looked down into the water.

The bank was quite high and steep, formed of earth, which seemed to be, from time to time, caving into the water. It was green to the very brink, and some large masses of turf lay down below at the water’s edge, and partly in the water, where they had apparently fallen from above. The shore on the opposite side of the river was, however, very different. It was a low, sandy beach, with the water rippling along the pebbles, which lay upon the margin of it.

“O father,” said Royal, “I wish we could get over to that beach.”

“Yes,” said Lucy, “and then we could get down and throw stones into the water.”

“If we had a boat,” said Royal, “we could get across.”

“O no,” said their father, “this river is too shallow for a boat.”

“How do you know, father?” said Royal.

“Why, I can see the bottom all the way; and then I know by the rapidity of the current, that it must be quite shallow.”

Just then they observed some men coming down towards them, on the bank of the river. Royal’s father asked them, when they came up to where he was standing, if there were any boats on the river.

“Yes,” said the men, “there is a small boat just above here, which you can have if you want. Only bring it safe back again.”

“I am very much obliged to you,” said Lucy’s father; “are there any oars?”

“There are some paddles,” replied one of the men. “They’re hid in the bushes, just opposite the boat. There is a padlock on the boat, and it looks as if it was locked, but it is not. You can take the padlock right off.”

The men then went on their way down the river, and Lucy and Royal ran along the bank to see if they could find the boat. Their father followed them more slowly. Presently, however, they all came to the place where the boat was lying.

It was a very small boat indeed. It was drawn up partly upon the bank, which was here not quite so steep as where the children had first stood, but was yet considerably precipitous. The boat was fastened, by a chain, to the root of a large elm-tree, which was growing upon the bank, the roots having been laid bare by the action of the water. There was a padlock passing through a link of the chain in such a way as to give the boat the appearance of being fastened; but Lucy’s father found that the padlock would open easily, without any unlocking, and so they soon got the boat at liberty.

Royal then went to look around among the grass and bushes near, to see if he could find the paddles. Presently he called out, “Here they are!” and in a few minutes he brought them to his father.

“Now, Lucy,” said her father, “do you want to get in and sail across the river?”

“Isn’t there any danger?” said Lucy.

“Yes,” said her father, “I think there is considerable danger.”

“What! that we shall get drowned?” exclaimed Lucy.

“No,” replied her father; “only that we shall get upset.”

“Well, father,” said Lucy, “if we get upset, we shall certainly be drowned.”

“O no,” replied her father; “the water isn’t deep enough to drown us anywhere, if we stand upright upon the bottom. And then, besides, there is no danger that we shall be upset, unless where it is very shallow indeed. The current may sweep us away down the stream, so that we shall lose command of the boat, and then, if we strike a large stone, or a sunken log, the boat might fill or go over; but, then, in the places where the current is so rapid, the water is nowhere more than knee deep. Now you may go with us or not, just as you please.”

“Royal, what would you do?” said Lucy.

“O, I’d go,” said Royal, “by all means.”

“Would you, father?” asked Lucy.

“Yes,” said her father, “unless you are very much afraid.”

Lucy said she was a little afraid, but not much; and she cautiously stepped into the boat. Royal got in after her, and when the two children had taken their seats, their father followed them, and took his place in the stern, with one of the paddles. Royal had the other. The stern is the hinder part of a boat. The forward part is called the bows. There was a chain attached to the bows of the boat, by which it had been fastened to the shore.