Gordon Stables

“ Nearer and nearer loom the black rocks. Can they weather them? All that brave ship can do the Gurnet is doing. She is sailing as close to the wind as gull or frigate-bird. All that brave men can think of to save her has been done.
Again and again they imagine that they have passed the worst; again and again whale-back rocks rise ominously further ahead.
The captain, and even Sturdy, are now in despair, and the last command is given,—
"Stand by to man and lower boats!"
In such a case this would be the sailor's last resort. In such a sea it would be all but hopeless. ”

“ Mind, he had told his messmates a thousand times over, was not matter in motion, as some shallow-minded philosophers would try to make out. The soul was as high above the merely material as Sirius was beyond the earth. The mind made use of matter only as a carpenter made use of a tool.
He went on shore, carrying his camera himself. He would not permit even Jack Mackenzie to accompany him to-day. For to-day his pictures would probably be little more than mere experiments. Even science must advance by gradual steps and slow. ”

“ Lieutenant Sturdy was in all respects a true sailor, and a warrior at that. It is, indeed, a blessing for our country that our navy—which is still the best in the world, though far inferior, indeed, to what it ought to be—is manned by thousands of hearts as brave as his.
Fear the British sailor does not know—even death has few terrors for him; because Jack is really a thinking man, and he counts his chances, and he knows, too, that he has only once to die. ”

“ Had not Colin Campbell with his brigade of heroes come in the nick of time, defeat, it seems to me, would have been ours.
If the Russians made mistakes, so did we. For there was an utter absence of concerted action, no unity of purpose, nor were the regiments in action supported as they should have been.
Ah! we shall hug the glory of Alma to our hearts all our lives nevertheless; for our gallant fellows—English, Irish, and Welsh, as well as Scots—were, in a manner of speaking, Johnnie Raws (I say it in no disrespectful way) —good soldiers, and clever in peace and on parade. ”

“ Slowly and sadly these troops marched; so weak and sickly did they appear, that scarce could they carry their knapsacks. It was but little wonder. The whole air had the odour of a charnel-house.
They found their way to the Highlanders' camp at last; and rushing out from his tent-door, the first to bid Jack welcome was his cousin Llewellyn. He had just come off duty, and had not had time to divest himself of his accoutrements.
"Duty," he said, smiling a little sadly; "why, Jack, it's all duty just at present. It is duty all day long and most of the night, and I'm never out of my war-paint. ”

“ Away down the beautiful Mediterranean sailed the Gurnet on the wings of a spanking breeze. The weather was everything that could be desired, and every stitch of canvas that could be carried was set. After the first few days, even Sturdy got used to the desecrating innovation of chairs upon the quarter-deck. But it had seemed odd and dreadful at first. Yet, than Sister Mary and Maggie Mackenzie, no more interesting or pretty persons had surely ever sat on the deck of a man-o'-war. ”

“ Having in a former book described the scenery, the tree-scapes, and mountains and glens in Jamaica, and the beautiful ocean around—beautiful even in the grandeur of its storms—I have no desire to repeat, but I must say that Jack Mackenzie lost no opportunity of going on shore with Dr. Reikie. A day with him in the woods and wilds, if it were merely bird, beetle, or butterfly hunting, was a picnic never to be forgotten; and our young hero learned something every time, and was soon convinced that natural history is the most pleasant of all earthly studies. ”

“ As soon as it was known in Britain that the Russians had retreated from the Danube, and that their forces would in all likelihood be poured into the Crimea to reinforce that great stronghold, every scrap of news from the seat of war was welcomed with the greatest enthusiasm. Every one, too, seemed to be listening breathlessly and in silence for the first shot to be fired. It was a silence, all made sure, that would soon be broken by the pæans of victory. Our soldiers near Varna were not idle. True, they were waiting for embarkation, and what a wearisome wait it was! ”

“ To listen and to look on while the rich enjoy themselves—oh yes, these are the privileges of the very poor! But somehow on the present occasion little Jack Mackenzie was doing more than simply listening and looking. Quite unintentionally, remember. He was associating himself with all the games and pleasure inside the room. He was no longer a thinly-clothed, bare-footed laddie, shivering in the winter's snow; he was one of that prettily-dressed crowd of beautiful children playing around the Christmas tree. ”

“ The emperor probably died half heart-broken: the victories not only of our troops and those of the French in the Crimea, but of the Turks, who in February drove the Russians from the gates of Eupatoria, had told upon his health; even the winter, with its hardships, its diseases, its death, had not annihilated our armies, and hope itself seemed to desert the heart of the great Czar. Heigh-ho! death is no respecter of persons; but even in the last moments of his life, Nicholas found strength to send a message to his troops. ”

“ Yes, I said kindly neighbours; for the poor to the poor are ever kind.
This was the sort of neighbourhood in which Jack Mackenzie had hitherto spent most of his young days. And hard indeed his life had been, pinched for food, ragged in clothes, and often cold as well as hungry. Jack had never been to school in his life; but his mother, though in poverty now, had seen far better days, and right well she knew the advantage of a good education in enabling either boy or man to do battle with the world, and so she spent half her time in teaching her two children. ”

“ Colin's horse is again shot now, and gently slides down beneath him—dead. Poor horse! But once more our hero is mounted.
Onwards and onwards we advance, vomiting forth fire and smoke. Our great stature, our determined visages, our kilts and waving plumes, we learn afterwards from the wounded Russians, struck a strange terror to their inmost hearts. The two regiments effect this; but when still another—the 79th—comes bounding onwards, the columns of the enemy give way, and all along the hillsides rise our cheers of victory, mingled with the wailing of the defeated foe. ”

“ Yes, Jack, and Uncle Tom and I went to see the Malonies. Poor Peter is just the same, only he no longer plays on the street, for, through uncle's influence, he has adopted teaching music as a profession. The Malonies haven't altered a bit, and your old cat is still first favourite at the fireside. And Mrs. Malony told me tell you she prayed for you every morning and night of her life, and made Malony himself do the same under penalty of feeling the weight of the potato-masher in case of forgetting. ”

“ Llewellyn took the liberty of saying. "Does Lord Raglan—"
"Hush, my young friend, hush!" said Sir Colin. "Lord Raglan is bold enough to have gone on even last night, but Marshal St. Arnaud thinks the armies are too tired."
"Too tired!" cried Grant. "Confound the fellow, let him speak for his own troops. They may be tired, tired looking on—it was all they did; but we fought, and will fight again."
"Yes, true; and if I were commander-in-chief, St. Arnaud should not rule me. I'd leave him to rest. But, my dear fellows, we must obey; obedience is a duty—when expedient." ”

“ In a very short time Cardigan and his brave brigade were in the thick of it—death on every side, death in front, shattering shells, roaring shot overhead, and saddles emptied every second; horses and riders falling together, horses galloping riderless into the still more awful fire that poured upon them when they neared the twelve guns. The valley was strewed with the dead and the wounded—the latter, whether horses or men, sometimes rising, but to fall dead next moment. ”

“ The din of battle—the shouts of rage or agony, the clash of arms, and the roar of artillery—deafens us. The air is filled with smoke and flame. At times we are in touch with our companies, and charging two deep against the four-deep masses of the grey-clad foe in front of us; but as often as not do we find ourselves in no line at all, only fighting in daring groups. We in the Light Division, though at present we know it not, are supported by the 95th, one of Codrington's regiments. ”

“ It would have been difficult to say which looked in the sorrier plight, Jack's marines or Llewellyn's Highlanders. Both had high cheek-bones now, telling of want of sleep and scanty fare; but many had cheeks that were touched with a hectic flush, eyes all too bright, and the ringing cough that spoke of fever within. Death had already marked them for his victims. But Death had been so busy of late that he hardly knew where to turn.
The Highlanders' legs were red and bleeding round and above the knees. When a kilt gets wet, the greater part of the moisture sinks to the lower part ”

“ They had brought the canary, and he began to sing the very next morning. And no wonder; for everything around was sweet and white and clean, and honeysuckle waved its dark-green foliage around the window, while afar off were the grand old purple hills, with many a glen and wood between.
The cottage home was near to the sea too, for flocks of gulls and rooks together could be seen out in the fields yonder.
"You feel better to-day, mother?"
"Yes, dearie; I feel I shall get well now. But, child, I dread to think of the future."
"Ah! that is only because you are ill, you know. ”

“ He was leaning over the bulwarks, gazing towards the great looming Rock, when a hand was placed on his shoulder, and he looked quickly up to find it was Sturdy's.
"Am I doing right?" said Jack. "You see, I'm not up to keeping watch yet. Should I keep constantly tramping up and down?"
Sturdy laughed.
"You'd soon have Auld Reikie using language if you did. It is while lying at anchor like this that sailors sleep most lightly, and Reikie is nothing if not a sailor. Perhaps if you did much of the tramping business, he'd come up the hatch and shy a boot at you." ”

“ When he went on board again, he told his adventures to his messmates.
"I say, little 'un," said Gribble, the assistant-paymaster, "you're getting on. I thought I was a bit of a liar myself, but— Steward, another cup o' tea."
"Well," said Jack, in a disheartened kind of way, "I don't see the value of truthfulness if one isn't to be believed."
"Bravo, Jack!" cried Dr. Reikie. "I believe you. What you have told us is doubtless true. The clever feat is scientifically possible; but, alas! to talk science to Gribble there is like throwing pearls before—"
"Before what, Mister Learned Scot?" ”

“ But it is just at this moment that Sir Colin hears the voice of some staff officer of the Coldstreams advising the retreat of that fine regiment. The odds, he thought, were far too great.
"The brigade of the Guards," he cried, "will be cut to pieces. They should retire and recover their formation."
Then comes Sir Colin's answer, uttered in the wildness of angry passion, and sounding far and near over the field. "Better, sir," he shouts, "that every soldier in Her Majesty's Guards should lie dead upon the field, than that they should for a single moment turn their backs upon the foe!" ”

“ Our poor fellows were positively sent off as empty-handed as if going to a grand parade or soldiers' picnic, and indeed but for individual courage, and good luck, the invasion would have ended in national disaster and disgrace, for us as well as for our brave allies the French.
I have no desire to dispel the romance that surrounds as with a halo the noble and necessary art of war. But I think every young fellow should know that to be a real soldier it is necessary for him to be not only a fighting man and a brave man in the field, but a perfect camp's-man also ”

“ Well, my own opinion is that the next best thing to fighting an enemy is to respect him, and I am quite sure that if we—the Russians and the British—had known more of each other in those old days, we would have loved each other a little more, even while cutting each other's throats. This reads a little paradoxical, does it not? But if my theory is carried a little further, how then? Why, we should have no bloody wars at all. For the more nations know each other, the more they sympathize with each other; sympathy makes us charitable, even to our neighbours' shortcomings ”

“ Jack bent down to smooth an old grimalkin that snoozed upon the rug.
"Malony wasn't so very terrible, though," he said; "and I suppose, grandma, if nobody was a smithy-John, nobody's horses would have any shoes to wear."
"True, my dear, quite true. As the potter makes his wares, some to honour and some to dishonour, so are we too made, and we should do our duty in the station of life which God has appointed us to fill." ”