Ned Land

“ It was a very bright to-morrow in Ned's imagination, as he lay down to rest; for then he was to accompany Jim and Sam, and was to see the fort, and old Peter and Major Morris, and perhaps little Susie too; and the new plan of Jim's was the object of their errand. If the day in Ned's imagination was brighter than the one which actually dawned upon them, it must have been a beauty indeed. The sky, the water, and the land opened in loveliness ”

“ What about it, Ned?"
"If you boys will promise not to leave the boat," Ned said, "I'll go ashore and try to find out what is going on. This island lies on the rim of the China Sea, and that boat may be from the land of the Celestials!"
"Bringing arms to put Uncle Sam to the bad!" exclaimed Frank. "I'd like to pull their pigtails!"
The boys promised not to leave the Manhattan, and Ned rowed ashore and struck into the jungle. There was now an uproar of chattering all over the island, it seemed, and he walked swiftly under cover of the racket. ”

“ No, there's a light now on the left shore. It's either Nugget or Clay with a lantern."
"Paddle over and bring him back with you," directed Ned. "If he tries to come himself he'll go through the break. Be sure to keep away above the dam though, and when you return don't let my lantern mislead you, because I intend to wade along the breastwork and have a look at that hole. If you head for a dozen feet this side of the light you'll likely land where you are now."
Randy promised obedience, and departed in haste. Ned watched him anxiously until he was out of sight. ”

“ Again expressing their gratitude to the man for his repeated kindness, Ned and Jo stretched themselves upon the flinty floor, and quickly glided into the land of dreams. Slumber, indeed, they all needed, for the most athletic and hard [Pg 199] ened frame, the toughest and most enduring system, must have time in which to recuperate the exhausted energies. Five minutes from the time Ned Clinton spoke the last words to the settler, the latter was the only one within the cavern who possessed his senses. ”

“ There should be none to sow nor reap, if the land were deserted.”
“Oh ay, ’tis best some should love it,” saith Ned. “But how they so should, that is it passeth me.”
“’Tis a strange matter,” saith Father, “that we men should be all of us unable to guess how other men can affect that we love not. I dare be bound that Wat should say what passed him was that any man which might dwell on the land should take to the sea.” ”

“ Aronnax," replied the Canadian, "your arguments are rotten at the foundation. You speak in the future, 'We shall be there! we shall be here!' I speak in the present, 'We are here, and we must profit by it.'
Ned Land's logic pressed me hard, and I felt myself beaten on that ground. ”

“ Already Ned had begun to readjust some of his ideas in regard to the North. It was no longer easy to believe that his father had exaggerated its beauty and its appeal, its desolation and its vastness. It was a strange thing for a man used to cities to go day upon day without seeing scarcely a village beside the sea, a single human being other than those of his own party. Here was one place, it seemed, that the hand of man had touched but lightly if at all. ”

“ The crimson of the setting sun was already beginning to flush along the forest floors, and Ned, as he looked over the country below him, felt his heart grow sick at the thought that if he returned as he came he could not reach the hut before dark.
Was there no other way—no short cut? Ned rather thought that there was, and determined to try it. Instead of going up and down every gully on the face of the range, he would make for the edge of the divide and follow it round until he reached a point opposite to his camp, then he would descend, taking his chance of finding an easy way down. ”

“ He had an extensive practice both in the village and surrounding country, and his time was very much occupied; and as Ned grew up he proved a source of constant anxiety to his father, who, being unable to keep him under his own eye, at length decided to send him to reside with some relatives in a farming district some twenty miles distant from his home. Ned's disposition was a singular compound of good and evil, and his conduct depended in a great measure, upon the companions he associated with. ”

“ For the first time in his life he was thrown wholly upon his own resources, standing or falling by his own worth. Should he fall insensible in the snow there were none to seek him and bring him into shelter. If he should go astray and miss the cabins there was no one to set him on the right path again. He was meeting the wilderness alone, and face to face.
Cooking his meals, cutting the fuel and building the fires that kept him warm, meeting the storm in its fury and fighting a lone fight from the gray of dawn to the day's gray close, Ned made the long circuit of his trap line. ”

“ Some lads would have felt lonely and have pined under the monotony of such a life; but Ned was not one of the brooding kind. The country all round the academy was beautiful, being in the heart of Devonshire, and within sight of Dartmoor hills. What money he required, in reason, his guardian freely sent, and as Ned had lived here ever since he could remember, his needs were not extravagant, with such Spartan tastes as he had. ”

“ After this, he applied himself to picking of Pockets; when he increased in Strength, he attempted greater Things, such as House-breaking, &c. But after he had run a short Race, he had the Misfortune of ending his Days at Tyburn, in Company with Stephen Bunce, and the celebrated Jack Hall the Chimney-Sweeper.
But to return to Ned, when he came to Man’s Estate, at his eldest Brother’s Desire, he went to Sea with him, and so continued for three or four Years, and then parted; and Ned work’d in a Rigging-House in Boston in New-England, for a while. ”

“ This did not surprise him, for the nature of the Indian leads him to be secretive in all he does; and many a time has his most destructive work been done without the sufferer catching a glimpse of him. 12
The conclusion of Ned was that a party of warriors were in the immediate neighborhood, and that, as an inevitable certainty, he and Blossom were at their mercy. If they chose to send in a shower of arrows, or fire the guns which some of them were likely to own, nothing could save the two lads. ”

“ As the vivid light faded away Ned ran back to the buttonwood tree, and watched the blurred shape of the boat as it came down the channel. He breathed a sigh of relief when it passed out from the islands and continued on through the gloom, for his first thought had been that some danger menaced the camp.
Why a man should voluntarily expose himself to such a pitiless storm, and at such an hour of the night, was a mystery too deep for Ned's comprehension. It was certain, at all events, that the stranger was abroad for no good purpose. ”

“ You see Ned’s not come home in the ‘Ione,’ and that’s a disappointment, I’ll own. That he is all right I have no doubt, somewhere out in Africa among some Arabs who got hold of him while performing his duty—you may be sure Ned would be always doing that—and he hasn’t yet been able to make his way down to the coast, or at all events to get on board an English ship. He’ll do so by-and-by though. You two must not fret about him in the meantime. I know what Ned’s made of; he has a fine constitution, and is not likely to succumb to the climate ”

“ Some fantastic tales still linger about it appearing on dusky nights and sailing swiftly along the shore, but they are idle stories to which no one with intelligence pays any attention. Ned never gave the whole thing much credit until a remarkable circumstance brought it forcefully to his mind.
“Near his little ranch there is a large old estate which belongs to a once noble family of mixed Spanish and Mexican blood, and although they keep pretty much to themselves, out of a lofty sense of pride, they have been rather friendly to Ned, in their stately and exacting way. ”

“ I have seen many persons who thought themselves quite in their senses, more foolish and less useful than Ned. Ned does an errand very correctly; he brings home the marketing as promptly as you could do it. He flies a kite for little Sam Snow till its tail is lost in the clouds, and the boys are lost in astonishment; he makes little boats for the school-children to sail in the pond; he carves wooden whistles; nobody can make a better horsewhip out of common materials; he picks up all the runaway babies in the neighborhood and carries them safely home to their mothers ”

“ Few words were passed by Ned. He mounted his famous mare “Starlight,” and, followed by Tim, galloped away towards the village of Darlington.
“Tim, are you brave?” said Wildfire Ned, grinning, as they rode along side by side.
“Brave, master Ned, why of course I am. I’d face the very devil if I had any one to back me. I always feel safe when I’m with you.”
“Well, do you know what I’m going to do?”
“No, master.”
“You know Bob Bertram?”
“The old farmer’s son, sir? Yes, sir; and a fine good-hearted young fellow he is as ever was born.” ”

“ He dismissed his reflections until a more favorable time, and placing the lantern on the sand turned to Nugget, who was in a pitiable state of fright.
"Are you hurt any, old fellow?" asked Ned, "or only a little stunned?"
"Oh, I don't know, I don't know," moaned Nugget. "What awful place are we in, Ned? It seems like a dream. I hardly remember what happened. And where are Clay and Randy?"
"I hope they are safe," replied Ned evasively. "In fact, I really think they are, Nugget. They landed some distance below us, and no doubt found a place to climb out before the flood caught them." ”

“ You don't belong to the Pentreaths, you see; but they were a wild race--Betty Cam, as you reminded me! Think of her! Why, Ned, when I see at night that hateful place all lit up with electric light and shining far, far out to sea, I feel as if we were doing it all over again! Luring ships to the rocks!"
"My dear Nell, what an imagination you've got!" expostulated her cousin.
She pulled herself up. "Have I? But it is so useless. And it seems to get worse and worse since Mr. Hirsch came in. He is at the Keep now, arranging for a light railway. And oh, Ned! ”

“ The uncertain light of the moon annoyed him, and prevented his learning what would have been quickly detected by Jo Stinger.
When the moon shone with unobstructed light, Ned could follow the outlines of the Wyandot warrior stretched out in death on the clearing in front: when the clouds drifted over its face, everything was swallowed in darkness.
In the mood of young Preston, a person sometimes shows a singular disposition to observe trifling details and incidents. ”

“ But the Motor Boys had no further part in it. They remained in the village where they had met the little scientist, as a guard, until the Germans were so far away as to render them harmless.
“And to think you found the girls all by yourself!” exclaimed Ned, as they were talking over the events after the first day of the capture of the French town.
“Well, yes, I did manage to,” said the professor, “though I never expected, when I started out for a butterfly that morning, that I’d end up with meeting the girls I so much wanted to see.” ”

“ All things remain as they were,—the eternal silence, the wild creatures absorbed in their occupations; the trees never lifting their bowed heads from their burdens of snow. Ned did not dream that mortal eyes would ever rest upon his form again, vanishing without trace except for the axe that had fallen at the edge of the crevice and the imprint of his snowshoes on the trail behind. There was no reason in heaven or earth for doubting but that this ivory glacier would be his sepulcher forever.
In that little instant the scope of his mind was incredibly vast. ”

“ Of course it must be admitted that at times there did come, now and then, a bit of a scrimmage, but Ned was "quite fit" for his size and weight any day; and after all, "sure it was only a bit of fun," as he was known to say, "an' a body must have a bit of a fight sometimes." Besides, being an Irish boy, he dearly loved a "shindy," and Winnipeg's wide streets provided ample room in which to dodge a too powerful enemy. But for all his teasing the big boys never bullied Ned, for all of them loved his bright, intelligent face and manly ways. ”

“ There was a small loft above for storage purposes, but no real upper floor. After they had stowed their things away and had made themselves comfortable Ned took them around the ranch and showed them the place in detail.
As his chief interest was centered in the mines he did not raise cattle, but he had one man to take care of his horses and generally help about the place. There was also an Indian cook, who was blackened by the sun and wind until his skin glowed with a dull color. Ned explained that the man who kept the horses and the barns was a mestizo. ”

“ I think the best way is to do just as we have been doing—make [81] no map or sketch of where we’re heading for. In fact we can’t, for we’ve got to prospect around ourselves to find Snake Island.”
“Then we’ve got to be on our guard against Noddy,” suggested Ned.
“All the while I’m afraid, since he’s taken to trailing after us,” resumed Jerry. “I’d like to know who that fellow was with him. He looks like a sleek rascal.”
“Like Bill Berry, only different,” was Ned’s opinion. “I wonder where Bill is?”
“Oh, probably hanging around somewhere,” came from Bob. “He and Noddy generally travel together.” ”