Michael Penguyne

Chapter I

A.S the sun rose over the Lizard, the southernmost point of old England, his rays fell on the tanned Bails of a fleet of boats bounding lightly across the heaving waves before a fresh westerly breeze. The distant shore, presenting a line of tall cliff's, towards which the boats were steering, still lay in the deepest shade.

Each boat was laden with a large heap of nets and several baskets filled with brightly-shining fish.

In the stern of one, tiller in hand, sat a stronglybuilt man, whose deeply-furrowed countenance and grizzled hair showed that he had been for many a year a toiler on the ocean. By his side was a boy of about twelve years of age, dressed in flushing coat

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4 michaeXj penguyne ; or.

and sou'wester, busily employed with a marlinespike, in splicing an eye to a rope's-end.

The elder fisherman, now looking up at his sails, now stooping down to get a glance beneath them at the shore, ai.d then turning his head towards the south-west, where heavy clouds were gathering fast, meanwhile cast an approving look at the boy.

** Ye are turning in that eye smartly and well Michael," he said. " Whatever you do, try and do it in that fashion. It has been my wish to teach you what is right as well as I know it. Trj' not only to please man, my boy, but to lovo and

serve God, whose eye is always on you. Don't forget the golden rule either : ' Do to others as you would they should do to you,' "

" I have always wished to understand what you have told me, and tried to obey you, father," said the hoj,

** You have been a good lad, Michael, and have more than repaid me for any trouble you may have caused me. You are getting a big boy now, though, and it 's time that you should know certain matters about yourself which r»o one else is so well able to tell you as I am."

The boy looked up from his work, wondering what Paul Trefusis was going to say.

FISHEn LIFE ON THE CORNISH COAST. 5

** You know, lad, that you are called Michael Penguj^ne, and that my name ifi Paul Trefusis. Plas it never crossed your mind that though I have always treated you as a son — and you have ever behaved towards me as a good and dutiful son should behave — that you were not really my own child?"

" To say the truth, I have never thought about it, father," answered the boy, looking up frankly in the old man's face. " I am oftener called Trefusis than Penguyne, so I fancied that Penguyne was another name tacked on to Michael, and that Trefusis was just as much my name as yours. And oh ! father, I would rather be your child than the son of anybody else."

" There is no harm in wishing that, Michael ; but it's as well that you should know the real state of the case, and as I cannot say what may happen to me, I do not Avish to put oif telling you any longer. I am not as strong and young as I once was, and maybe God will think fit to take me away before I have reached the threescore years and ten which He allows some to live. We should not put oflf doing to another time what can be done now, and so you see I wish to say what has been on my mind to tell you for many a day past, though I

6 MICHAKL PENGUYNE ; OR,

have not liked to say it, lest it should in any waj grieve you. You promise me, Michael, you won't let it do that ? You know how much I and granny and Nelly love you, and will go on loving you as much as ever."

** I know 3'ou do, father, and so do granny and Nelly ; I am sure they love me," said the boy gazing earnestly into Paul's face, with wonder and a shade of sorrow depicted on his own countenance.

"That's true," said Paul. "But about what I was going to say to you.

"My wife, who is gone to heaven, Nelly's mother, and I, never had another child but her. Your father, Michael, as true-hearted a seaman as ever stepped, had been my friend and shipmate for many a long year. We were bred together, and had belonged to the same boat fishing off this coast till we were grown men, when at last we took it into our heads to wish to visit foreign climes, and so we went to sea together. After knocking about for some years, and going to all parts of the world, we returned home, and both fell in love, and married. Your mother was an orphan, without kith or kin, that your father could hear of — a good, pretty girl she was, and worthy of him.

FISHEK LIFE ON THE CORNISH COAST. 7

*' We made up our minds that we would stay on shore and follow our old calling and look after our wives and families. We had saved some money, but it did not go as far as we thought it would, and we agreed that if we could make just one more trip to sea, we should gain enough for what we wanted.

**you were about two years old, and my Nelly was just born.

** We went to Falmouth, where ships often put in, wanting hands, and masters are ready to pay good wages to obtain them. We hadn't been there a day, when we engaged on board a ship bound out to the West Indies. As she was not likely to be long absent, this just suited us. Your father got a berth as third mate, for he was the best scholar, and I shipped as boatswain.

" We made the voyage out, and had just reached the chops of the Channel, coming back, bound for Bristol, and hoping in a few days to be home again with our wives, when thick weather came on, and a heavy gale of wind sprang up. It blew harder and harder. Whether or not the captain was out of his reckoning I cannot say, but I suspect he was. Before long, our sails were blown away, and our foremast went bv the board. We did our best to keep the ship off the shore, for all know well that it is about as dangerous a one as is to be found round England.

" The night was dark as pitch, the gale still in* creasing.

" ' Paul/ said your father to me as we were standing together, 'you and 1 may never see another sun rise; but still one of us may escape. You remember the promise we made each other.'

" 'Yes, Michael,* I said, ' that I do, and hope to keep it.'

'' The promise was that if one should be lost and the other saved, he who escaped should look after the wife and family of the one who was lost.

" I had scarcely answered him when the look-out forward shouted * Breakers ahead ! ' and before the ship's course could be altered, down she came, crashing on the rocks. It was all up with the craft; the seas came dashing over her, and many pf those on deck were washed away. The unfortunate passengers rushed up from below, and in an instant were swept overboard.

*' The captain ordered the remaining masts to be cut away, to ease the ship ; but it did no good, and just as the last fell she broke in two, and all on board were cast into the water, I found myself

FISIIEl^ LIFE ON THE CORNISH COAST. 9

clinging with your father to one of the masts. The head of the mast was resting on a rock. We made our way along it ; I believed that others were following; but just as w^e reached the rock the mast was carried away, and he and I found that we alone had escaped.

** The seas rose up foaming around us, and every moment we expected to be washed away. Though we knew many were perishing close around us we had no means of helping them. All we could do was to cling on and try and save our own lives.

'* 'I hope we shall get back home yet, Michael,' I said, wishing to cheer your father, for he was more down-hearted than usual.

*' * I hope so, Paul, but I don't know; God's will be done, whatever that will is, Paul, you will meet me in heaven, I hope,' he answered, for he was a Christian man. ' If I am taken, you wilt look after Mary and my boy,' he added. Again I promised him, and I knew to a certainty that he would look after my Nelly, should he bo saved and I drowned.

*' AVhen the morning came at last scarcely a timber or plank of the wreck was to be seen. What hope of escape had either of us ? The foaming waters raged around, and we were hall

10 MICHAEL FENGUYNE ; OU,

perished with cold and hunger. On looking about I found a small spar washed up on the rock, and, fastening our handkerchiefs together, we rigged out a flag, but there was little chance cf a boat putting off in such weather and coming near enough to see it. We now knew that we were not far off the Land's End, on one of two rocks called The Sisters, with the village of Senum abreast of us.

*' Your father and I looked in each other's faces ; we felt that there was little hope that we should ever see our wives and infants again. Still we spoke of the promise we had made each other — not that there was any need of that, for we neither of us were likely to forget it.

** The spring tides were coming on, and though we had escaped as yet, the sea might before long break over the rock and curry us away. Even if it did not we must die of hunger and thirst, should no craft come to our rescue.

** We kept our eyes fixed on the distant shore; they ached with the strain we put on them, as we tried to make out whether any boat was being

launched to come off to us.

*' A whole day passed — another night came on. We did not expect to see the san rise again.

LIFE ON THE CORNISH COAST. 11

Already the seas as they struck the rock sent the foam flying over us, and again and again washed up close to where we were sitting.

** Notwithstanding our fears, daylight once more broke upon us, but what with cold and hunger we were well-nigh dead.

** Your father was a stronger man than I fancied myself, and yet he now seemed most broken down. He could scarcely stand to wave our flag.

** The day wore on, the wind veered a few points to the nor'ard, and the sun burst out now and then from among the clouds, and, just as we were giving up all hope, his light fell on the sails of a boat which had just before put off from the shore. She breasted the waves bravely. Was she, though, coming towards us ? We could not have been seen so far ofl*. Still on she came, the wind allowing her to be close-hauled to steer towards the rock. The tide meantime was rapidly rising. If she did not reach us soon, we knew too well that the sea would come foaming over the rock and carry us away.

" I stood up and waved our flag. Still the boat stood on ; the spray was beating in heavy showers over her, and it was as much as she could do to look up to her canvas. Sometimes as I watched a ( her I feared that the brave fellows who were coming to our rescue would share the fate which was likely

to befall us. She neared the rock. I tried to cheer up your father.

" * In five minutes we shall be safe on board, Michael,' I said.

'* * Much may happen in five minutes, Paul; but 3^ou will not forget my Mary and little boy,* he answered.

No fear of that,* I said ; * but you will be at home to look after them yourself.'

** I tried to cheer as the boat came close to the rock, but mv voice failed me

" The sails were lowered and she pulled in. A rope was hove, and I caught it. I was about, to make it fast round your father.

** 'You go first, Paul,' ho said. 'If you reach the boat I will try to follow, but there is no use for me to try now ; I should be drowned before I got half way.*

** Still I tried to secure the rope lound nim, but he resisted all my efi*orts. At last I saw that I must go, or we should both be lost, and I hoped to

get the boat in nearer and to return with a second rope to help him.

*' I made the rope fast round my waist and plunged in. I had hard work to reach the boat ;

I did not know how weak I was. At last I was

hauled on board, and was singing out for a rope,

when the people in the boat uttered a cry, and

looking up I saw a huge sea come rolling along.

Over the rock it swept, taking off your poor father.

I leapt overboard with the rope still round my

waist, in the hopes of catching him, but in a

moment he was hidden from my sight, and, more

dead than alive, I was again hauled on board.

" The crew of the boat pulled away from the rock ; they knew that all hopes of saving my friend

were gone. Sail was made, and we stood for the

shore.

** The people at the village attended me kindly, but many days passed before I was able to move.

*' As soon as I had got strength enough, with a sad heart I set out homewards. How could I face your poor mother, and tell her that her husband was gone? I would send my own dear wife, I thought, to break the news to her

*' As I reached my own door I heard a child's cry ; it was that of my little Nelly, and gi^anny's voice trying to soothe her.

" I peeped in at the window. There sat granny, with the child on her knee, but my wife was not there. She has gone to market, I thought. Still my heart sank within me. I gained courage to go in.

" ' Where is Nelly ? ' I asked, as granny, with the baby in her arms, rose to meet me.

** * Here is the only Nelly you have got, my poor Paul,' she said, giving me the child.

*' I felt as if my heart would break. I could not bring myself to ask how or w^hen my wife had died. Granny told me, however, for she knew it must bo told, and the sooner it was over the better. She

had been taken with a fever soon after I had left home.

** It ^\^s long before I recovered myself.

** * I must go and tell the sad news I bring to poor Mary,' I said.

" Granny shook her head.

" ' She is very bad, it will go well nigh to kill her outright,' she observed.

•* I would have got granny to go, but I wanted to tell your poor mother of my promise to your father, and, though it made my heartache, I determined to go myself.

'* I found her, with you by her side,

** * Here is father,' you cried out, but your mother looked up, and seemed to know in a moment what had happened.

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Where is Michael ? ' she asked.

** * You know, Mary, your husband and I promised to look after each other's children, if one was taken and the other left ; and I mean to keep my promise to look after you and your little boy.'

*' Your mother knew, by what I said, that your father was gone.

** * God's will be done,' she muimured; * He knows what is best — I hope soon to be with him.'

'* Before the month was out we carried youi poor mother to her grave, and I took you to live with granny and Nelly,

** There, Michael, you know all 1 can tell you about yourself. I have had hard times now and then, but I have done my duty to you ; and I say again, Michael, you have always been a good and dutiful boy, and not a fault have I had to find with you."

** Thank you, father, for saying that; and you will still let me call you father, for I cannot bring myself to believe that I am not really your son."

" That I will, Michael ; a son you have always been to me, and my son I wish you to remain. And, Michael, as I have watched over you, so I want you to watch over my little ^elly. Should I be called away, be a brother and true friend to her, for I know not to what dangers she may be exposed. Granny is old, and her years on earth may be few, and when she is gone, Michael, Nelly will have no one to look to bat you. She has no kith nor kin, that I know of, able or willing to take care of her. Her mother's brother and only sister went to Australia years ago, and no news has ever come of them since, and my brothers found their graves in the deep sea, so that Nelly will be alone in the world. That is the only thing

that troubles me, and often makes me feel sad when we are away at night, and the wind blows strong and the sea runs high, and I think of the many I have known who have lost their lives in stouter boats than mine. But God is merciful; He has promised to take care of the widow and orphan, and He will keep His word. I know that, and so I again look up and try to drive all mistrustful thoughts of His goodness from my mind." " Father, while I have life I will take care of Nelly, and pray for her, and, if needs be, fight for

her," exclaimed Michael.

He spoke earnestly and with all sincerity, for he intended, God willing, to keep his word.

nSHER LIFE ON THE CORNISH COAST. 17

Chapter II

The fleet of fishing-boats as they approached the coast steered in diiferent directions, some keeping towards Kynance and Landewednach, while Paul Trefusis shaped his course for MuUyan Cove, towards the north, passing close round the lofty Gull Eock, which stands in solitary grandeur far

away from the shore, braving the fierce waves as they roll in from the broad Atlantic.

Asparagus Island and Lion Eock opened out to view, while the red and green sides of the precipitous serpentine cliffs could now be distinguished, assuming various fantastic shapes : one shaped into a complete arch, another the form of a gigantic steeple, with several caves penetrating deep into the cliff, on a level with the narrow belt of yellow sand.

Young Michael, though accustomed from his childhood to the wild and romantic scenery, had never passed that way without looking at it with an eye of interest, and wondering how those cliifs

B and ro sks came to assume the curious forms they

wore.

The little ^' Wild Duck," for that was the name

Paul Trefusis had given his boat, continued her course, flying before the fast increasing gale close in-shore, to avoid the strong tide which swept away to the southward, till, rounding a point, she entered the mouth of a narrow inlet which afforded shelter to a few boats and small craft. It was a wild, almost savage -looking place, though extremely picturesque. On either side were rugged and broken clififs, in some parts rising sheer out of the water to the gorse-covered downs above, in others broken in terraces and ledges, affording space for a few fishermen's cottages and huts, which were seen perched here and there, looking down on the tranquil water of the harbour.

The inlet made a sharp bend a short distance from its mouth, so that, as Paul's boat proceeded upwards, the viev/ of the sea being completely shut out, it bore the appearance of a lake. At the further end a stream of water came rushing down over the summit of the cliffs, dashing from ledge to ledge, now breaking into masses of foam, now descending perpendicularly many feet, now running n ri aloni? a rapid incline, and servimr to turn a small flour-mill built a short way up on the side of the

cliflf above the harbour.

Steep as were the cliffs, a zigzag road had been

cut in them, leading from the downs above almost to the mouth of the harbour, where a rock which rose directly out of the water formed a natural quay, on which the fishing-boats could land their cargoes. Beyond this the road was rough and steep, and fitted only for people on foot, or donkeys with their panniers, to go up and down. Art had done little to the place.

The little ** Wild Duck,'* a few moments before tossed and tumbled by the angry seas, now glided smoothly along for a few hundred yards, when the sails were lowered, and she floated up to a dock between two rocks. Hence, a rough pathway led from one of the cottages perched on the side of the cliff. At a distance it could scarcely have been distinguished from the cliff itself> Its walls were composed of large blocks of unhewn serpentine, masses of clay filling up the interstices, while it was roofed with a thick dark thatch, tightly fastened down with ropes, and still further secured by slabs of stone to prevent its being carried away by the fierce blasts which are ^yont to sweep up and down the ravine iu mnter*

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There was space enough on either side of the cottage for a small garden, which appeared to he

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carefully cultivated, and was enclosed by a stone wall. At the upper part of the pathway a flight of Bteps, roughly hewn in the rock, led to the cottage door.

The door opened as soon as Paul's boat rounded ihe point, and a young girl with a small creel or fish basket at her back was seen lightly tripping down the pathway, followed by an old woman, who, though she supported her steps with a staff, also carried a creel of the ordinary size. She wore a large broad-brimmed black hat, and a gaily-coloured calico jacket over her winsey skirt ; an apron, and shoes with metal buckles, completing the ordinary costume of a fish-wife of that district. Little Nelly was dressed very like her grandmother, except that her feet were bare, and that she had a necklace of small shells round her throat. Her face was pretty and intelligent, her well-browned cheeks gloAved with the hue of health, her eyes were large and grey, and her black hair, drawn up off her forehead, hung in neat plaits tied with ribbons behind her back. Nelly Trefusis was indeed a good specimen of a young fisher-girl.

She tripped lightly down the pathway, springing to the top of the outermost rock just before her father's boat glided by it, and in an instant stepping nimbly on board, she threw herself into his arms and bestowed a kiss on his weather-beaten brow.

Michael had leaped on shore to fend off the boat, so that he lost the greeting she would have given him.

*' You have had a good haul with the nets to-night, father," she said, looking into the baskets ; " Granny and I can scarce carry half of them to market, and unless Abel Mawgan the hawker comes in time to buy them, you and Michael will have work to do to salt them down."

" It is well that we should have had a good haul, Nelly, for dirty weather is coming on, and it may be many a day before we are able to cast our nets again," answered Paul, looking up affectionately at his child, while he began with a well- practised hand to stow the boat's sail.

Nelly meantime was filling her creel with fish, that she might lessen the weight of the baskets which her father and Michael had to lift on shore. As soon as it was full she stepped back on the rock, giving a kiss to Michael as she passed him. The baskets were soon landed, and the diunc-'ss

22 MICHAEIi PENGUYNE ; Oil,

creel being filled, she and Nelly ascended the liill, followed by Paul and Michael, who, carrying the baskets between them, brought up the remainder of the fish.

Breakfast, welcome to those who had been toiling all night, had been placed ready on the table, and leaving 'Paul and his boy to discuss it, Polly Lanreath, as the old dame was generally called, and her little granddaughter, set off on their long journey over the downs to dispose of their fish at Helston, or at the villages and the few gentlemen's houses they passed on their way.

It was a long distance foi* the old woman and girl to go, but they went willingly whenever fish had been caught, for they depended on its sale for their livelihood, and neither Paul nor Michael could

have undertaken the duty, nor would they have sold the fish so well as the dame and Nelly, who were welcomed whenever they appeared. Their customers knew that they could depend on their word when they mentioned the very hour when the fish were landed.

The old dame's tongue wagged cheerfully as she walked along with Nelly by her side, and she often beguiled the way with tales and anecdotes of bygone days, and ancient Cornish legends which few but herself remembered. Nelly listened with eager ears, and stored away in her memory all she heard, and often when they got back in the evening she would beg her granny to recount again for the benefit of her father and Michael the stories she had told in the morning.

She had a cheerful greeting, too, for all she met ; for some she had a quiet joke ; for the giddy and careless a word of warning, which came with good effect from one whom all respected. At the cottages of the poor she was always a welcome visitor^ while at the houses of the more wealthy she was treated with courtesy and kindness ; and many a housewife who might have been doubtful about buying fish that day, when the dame and her gi'anddaughter arrived, made up her mind to assist in lightening Nelly's creel by selecting some of its contents.

The dame, as her own load decreased, would always insist on taking some of her granddaughter's, deeming that the little maiden had enough to do to trot on so many miles by her eide, without having to carry a burden on her back in addition. Nellv would declare that she did not feel the weight, but the sturdy old dame generally gained her point, though she might consent to replenish Nelly's basket before entering the town, for some of their customers preferred the fish which the bright little damsel offered them for sale to those in her grandmother's creel.

Thus, though their daily toil was severe, and carried on under summer's sun, or autumn's gales, and winter's rain and sleet, they themselves were ever cheerful and contented, and seldom failed to return home with empty creels and well - tilled purses.

Paul Trefusis might thus have been able to lay by a store for the time w^hen the dame could no longer trudge over the country as she had hitherto done, and he unable to put off with nets or lines to catch fish ; but often for weeks together the gales of that stormy coast prevented him from venturing to sea, and the vegetables and potatoes produced in his garden, and the few fish he and Michael could catch in the harbour, were insufficient to support their little household, so that at the end of each year Paul found himself no richer than at the beginning.

While Nelly and her grandmother and the other Momen of the village were employed in selling the fish, the men had plenty of occupation during the day in drying and mending their nets, and repairing their boats, while some time was required to obtain the necessary sleep of which their nightly toil had deprived them. Those toilers of the sea were seldom idle. When bad weather prevented them from going far from the coast, they fished with lines, or laid down their lobster-pots among the rocks close in-shore, while occasionally a few fish were to be caught in the waters of their little harbour. Most of them also cultivated patches of ground on the sides of the valley which opened out at the further end of the gorge, but, except potatoes, their fields aff'orded but precarious crops.