"And trained for!" Denys said.
"And worked for," said Lynette.
"And enlisted for!" shouted Aylwin.
We were by this time all very hot and red in the face, and our tea was unfinished on the table.
Peggy, hearing our shouting, put her head in at the door.
"I misses your governess!" she said drily.
The boys seized hold of her.
"Peggy, have you heard the news?"
"That the dratted Kaiser be shootin' down women and children! Even though they be foreigners, it is shockin'!"
"Has he begun that?" I said, quite horrified. "Why, Peggy, you know more than we do!"
"'Tis in the paper to-day. The kitching be quite full of all the news!"
"Go and fetch us a paper, Peggy!"
"Indeed, I couldn't lay hands on one, Master Denys."
"I'll go and ask Gruffy for his!"
Puff was off in a minute, and we did not stop him. He always loves an excuse for getting to grandfather.
"Well," said Denys, flinging himself down upon his chair again, and cutting himself a huge slice out of a currant loaf, "we must eat to keep up our strength for our Empire. Grizzy, another cup of tea; and now let us seriously consider the situation."
"I am considering it!" I exclaimed. "And, Lynette, do you remember Captain Rogers's charge to us girls? 'Inspire men, help men to do right'!"
"Grizzy's eyes are starting out of her head!" said Denys, laughing. "Trust her for keeping us up to the mark!"
"You aren't men yet!" said Lynette scoffingly. "And there are other men in the world beside you."
"Yes," I said, trying to speak quietly, though my heart was almost trying to come out of my body, "and that's what I mean, Lynette. Every citizen in the Empire ought to enlist as a soldier, every man in the place here, and if they don't understand it, or don't want to go, you and I will have to go round, and make them!"
Lynette clapped her hands delightedly. "So we will, Grisel! It will be ripping! We'll begin to-morrow."
The boys said nothing for a few moments. They both seemed to be thinking hard, and then Denys pushed back his chair and stood up. He had finished his tea.
"Ahem!" said Lynette mischievously.
Denys ignored her.
"It seems to me," he said, in his very grand and business-like tone, "that we shall have to be looking up the fellows who joined our League. They're bound to hold to their pledge, and there were a good few older than me. They're quite old enough now to join."
"I should think they would do it without any looking up," I said; "and you can't go back to Lincolnshire, Denys."
"No, you old duffer," said Aylwin, "but the post goes there, doesn't it?"
Denys nodded.
"Yes, that's what I mean. And we'd better not lose a post. I should like our old members to be the very first to enlist."
So Aylwin rushed off for pen and ink, but I besought the boys to wait till the tea-table was cleared, as I know how they flourish the ink about when they're composing. And I rang the bell, and then Puff came up, actually with the paper!
We were all so interested and horrified to read the awful things that were going on that we forgot all about the letters for quite a long time. And then we remembered, and Denys began to compose, and we helped him. This is what he wrote, after he had torn up quite half a dozen first attempts:
TO OUR MEMBERS OF THE EMPIRE LEAGUE
"One King, one Flag, one Fleet, one Empire!"
The Day has come. The hour is here.
The King calls! The Empire needs you.
Have you enlisted? If not, do it to-day.
Thank God for your opportunity.
HOLD FAST
TO YOUR PLEDGE
Oh, Motherland, we pledge to thee
Head, heart, and hand through the years to be.
DEAR MEMBER AND COMRADE,—
Write to me at once and tell me if you have enlisted. The enemy
is cruel and strong. I know you won't be a coward or a rotter. I'm
going if I can before I'm seventeen.
Yours in the King's Service.
DENYS MARJORIBANKS.
GOD SAVE THE KING!
We copied quite a dozen of these, and then Denys hunted up an old roll-call of his, and we got the names of all the big boys who used to join us, and addressed envelopes to them. It took a shilling of our money for the stamps, but we divided it between us, and then Denys slipped down into the hall and got the letters in the postbag, just before it was taken to the post.
Then we had to go to bed, for it was late, and we were all rather tired with the awfulness and the excitement and the glory of a big war in front of us.
CHAPTER XI
THE FIRST RECRUIT
I CAN'T write much, for I never have any time. But I must tell about Pat.
He came over to us the very first day after we heard we were at war.
"Isn't this grand!" were his first words.
We had only just finished breakfast and were still in the schoolroom.
"It's rather awful!" I said.
"Shan't we smash that old Kaiser!" said Pat. "And there's no more school for me. I'm off to join an Oirish regiment if I can."
"But they won't take you, will they? And haven't you to go to Woolwich or Sandhurst first?"
"Do you think I'm going to grind at books again? No, I'll enlist as a private and work my way up."
"And what does your aunt say?"
"She has set down her slender little foot and says 'No,' but she's neither father nor mother, and for once she'll have to give way."
"She is taking the place of your father and mother," I said. "You won't break her heart, Pat, by running away from her?"
"Faix, an' I won't, ye soft-hearted gossoon! She'll rear her head in glory when once I'm off!"
"Oh!" said Denys. "Why shouldn't I go? You're only a year older, and I'm quite as tall. How are you going to manage, Pat?"
"Well, ye see, I have a cousin at Dublin, a captain in the Royal Irish Fusiliers. I've just sent a wire to him. He'll run it for me, and make it smooth for the aunt!"
"Oh, I do hope you'll go!" cried Lynette and me both together. "We mean to go down to the village at once and make all the men we see enlist straight away!"
"I say, do you think your cousin could fix it for me somehow?" said Denys.
"What does your old grandsire say?" said Pat, with a twinkle in his eyes. "He could work it if any one could. He's an old soldier."
"Oh, come on out!" cried Aylwin. "I'm out of the running, but I must do something. I should think getting recruits is the best thing to work at now!"
As we all trooped out of the garden, grandfather looked out of his window and called to us.
Denys ran up.
"Anything that I can do?"
"Yes, ride into the town and get a paper and the latest news," said grandfather.
Denys was delighted. He and Aylwin have been riding just lately with one of the grooms. Grandfather told them they might, and actually bought another horse. And then Pat declared he would go with him. So then Lynette and I thought we would like to get the trap out and drive off there too, and Aylwin was quite willing to come with us.
Pat went on to hire a horse from the little inn not far off. He knew grandfather would not let him have one of his horses, as he generally meets with some accident. He says himself he's the unluckiest chap in the world.
In a very little time we got ready and set off. Of course Puff would come too. It was a very hot morning, but there was a breeze coming in from the sea. And we all felt rather jolly in spite of the war. I'm afraid we do love anything exciting, and of course we quite expected we should have a big naval battle somewhere first, and smash up all the German ships, and then have a battle on land somewhere and smash up all the Germans and take the Kaiser prisoner!
We could talk of nothing else.
Aylwin drove fast and furiously, but of course Pat and Denys soon got out of sight, and we stopped once to speak to some men who were talking about the war.
They laughed when we asked them if they were going to enlist, and said in their broad Scotch:
"We'll wait a wee bit, till the Keeser comes over to our shore."
And when we found we could make nothing of them, we drove on.
We got to the town at last, and Aylwin soon got hold of a paper.
But there wasn't much more news, except a lot of talk about what was going to happen. The Belgians were fighting bravely and keeping the Germans at bay. And then presently we saw Denys, and he rode up to us with rather a red face.
"Pat has gone and done it!" he said. "Isn't he splendid? He saw a fellow he knew, who had just enlisted at the town hall, and he dragged him off, and it's done and no one can undo it."
"Oh, what will Miss Douglas say?" I cried. "I feel sorry he has done it in such a hurry. I thought he wanted to be in an Irish regiment!"
"Well, this is one; that's what made him do it. They're recruiting for one of the battalions in the Irish Rifles. I could have joined too if I had told a lie about my age."
I felt very glad he had not, for though I would love Denys to be a soldier, I shouldn't love him to get into the Army by telling a lie.
And presently Pat came riding towards us with a flushed, triumphant face.
We should like to have cheered him, only we were in the streets of a town. He was very excited, and said he must gallop home to tell his aunt. He tore off, and I said to Aylwin that I was sure he would do something to his horse before he got home.
Sure enough, we heard afterwards he had tried to leap a gate instead of going through it, and he was thrown, and his right arm so badly sprained that Miss Douglas sent for the doctor, and he had to keep it in a sling, and couldn't join his regiment. And Miss Douglas made a great fuss at first, but at last gave way, only she managed to get him transferred to the cousin's regiment in Ireland, and he promised to look after him, and if there was a chance of his getting a commission, he would help him to get it.
And a fortnight after, Pat came to see us and wish us good-bye. The boys were on the beach, and I would have been there too, but Aylwin had torn a large hole in his jersey, and he wanted to wear it, so I was mending it for him in the schoolroom. I'm afraid I was cobbling it, for I was in a great hurry to join them. They were going to talk to the fishermen about the war, and I was longing to help in the talk.
Pat burst into the room as he always did.
"An' shure it's the little mother by herself!" he cried. "Where are the flock?"
"On the beach. Oh, do stop a minute, Pat. I've nearly finished this, and then I'll come with you. Do tell me what you've been doing!"
"I leave by the night boat this very evening," he said, swinging himself up to the table, where he sat and looked at me with his bright, twinkling eyes.
"How splendid! And are you going straight over with the first lot of soldiers?"
"Arrah! You are verdant! Why, they're trainin' and whacking me into shape for a month or two, and then there'll be practice at the butts, and the bayonet charge, and goodness knows what else beside. I'll be bullied by drill-sergeants, and captains, and majors, and won't be able to call me soul me own! But thank the stars I can shoot, and ride, and do a bit of drill."
"But the time will soon pass, Pat, and whatever you have to do will be for your king and country. Oh, I would give worlds to be you! It's too bad that I should be a girl. I somehow never thought it would come so soon. I can't believe it yet. The newspapers take one's breath away. You'll come and say good-bye before you go to the front!"
"I shall be in Ireland, me dear ould counthry! And the d—deuce knows—well, dickens—if you don't like that—when I'll be back here. 'Tis scant notice soldiers will get when they're wanted. But I'll send you my address, Grisel, and you'll write one of your mothery letters to cheer me up and keep me going straight!"
"I will write, Pat, and you won't gamble, or smoke too much, or swear, will you? You will be a brave, upright Britisher, and remember that God comes first, and then your king and country, and yourself last!"
"Sure, meself is just as modest as a violet," said Pat, twinkling all over; "it will be the uniform and muscle will do what's wanted; the poor Pat will be nowheres! I shan't forget you 'Hold Fasts'!"
"I wish you'd 'hold fast' yourself, Pat!"
"But what on earth to? I promise you I'll take a grip of my rifle and bayonet. I wasn't brought up to traditions of mottoes and pious precepts like the lot of you!"
"You can hold fast to God's own hand, Pat, that's the only thing in heaven and earth that will never give way. Miss Garton has taught me that."
I didn't mind talking to Pat seriously, for he seemed to like it.
"Ah," he said, heaving a sigh, "I'm only a plain earth-worm. I can't cotton to all those invisible things that you believe."
"But you won't learn about them, or read them, Pat. Wait a moment!"
I dashed out of the room, and seized hold of a little old Testament of father's. He used to take it in his pocket to read to the poor people in the village. I did love it, but I felt that if Pat would take it, he ought to have it.
"Look here, Pat," I said, "if you go out to France to fight, you ought to know about these things. Suppose you were to be shot! Will you take this and promise to read it, if you only read one verse every day?"
Pat took the Testament, looked at it, then at me.
"It has your father's name in it. You must write mine in, or I shall be keeping another person's property."
So I got a pen and ink and wrote his name in it, and above his name, I wrote the verse which Miss Garton had given me:
"I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine
hand, and will keep thee."
He put it into his pocket and patted it. "It will be my mascot," he said. "Testaments always stop bullets, don't they?"
"Oh, Pat, don't!" I cried. "Do be serious for once! Do promise me you will read it."
"All serene! Sure, my honey, I'll promise anything to keep the tears away from those grey eyes of yours, and bring the smile to your lips. And you'll be having Pat returning one day covered with medals and glory, and he won't forget the little book which is lying in his pocket so snug."
I could say no more. My mending was done, so I ran and got my hat, and Pat and I overtook the others, who were holding quite a Parliament with the fishermen.
They were awfully glad to see Pat, only he couldn't stay long, and when he solemnly shook hands with us one by one, and wished us good-bye, I felt a lump coming up in my throat. He was so gay and handsome and boyish! I couldn't at the last moment bear to think of him fighting like a fury, though I wanted him so much to go.
He wrung my hand till I nearly screamed with the pain.
"I'm going away a boy," he said, "but I'm coming back a man, and then I'll marry Grisel, if she'll have me!"
The boys shouted with laughter.
"Long-legged Granny Grisel! Why, what good would she do you?"
"She'd mend me up—clothes, body, and soul," said Pat, "and she'd infuse warmth and spirit into me heart, and drag me after her through Heaven's Gate itself!"
And then he bounded away, and that was the last we saw of him. But I prayed hard that night to God that He would lead him, and teach him to serve God first.
It was that evening that we began to discuss the war.
"It's very strange and worrying," I said; "I never thought it would be so difficult. I did not think there would be two sides to it."
"What's the row?" asked Denys.
"Well, it's like this. Think of men killing each other, not one man killing one man, but hundreds killing hundreds! It's wicked and cruel and awful! But then think of our Cause, and our Motherland, and our King; why, then it's great and good and glorious to do it! We're fighting for the Right, for our homes, for our Empire! First I think one thing and then another, and I get quite muddled and desperate over it all. What can the angels think when they look down? What does God think?"
"People said we should never have war again, we were too civilised for such brutal methods of settling differences," said Denys thoughtfully, "but of course every nation has been preparing and getting ready for it except ourselves."
"I remember Captain Rogers saying," said Aylwin, "that the scientific machinery of war had got to such a pitch that it would make nations very afraid of starting it. He said a big war might mean the extermination of races!"
"Oh, what long words!" gasped Lynette. "I wish we could see Captain Rogers again. How he will wish he was able to fight!"
"But you don't see my difficulty," I said. "Is war a glory or a curse?"
"Oh, it's both," said Denys, a little impatiently. "Don't cut up things into such bits, Grizzy; that's so like a woman. One minute you'll be girding on the warriors' swords and waving banners above their heads, and the next crying quarts of tears at the thought of the men they're going to kill!"
"Yes, that's just it," I said; "and it's the same puzzle over sport and shooting. It's most exciting following the hounds, but when it means a poor desperate tired-out fox being torn to bits, it's awful, and it's like that with shooting. The pheasants need not have their lives taken when they're so happy in the woods, and the dear little soft rabbits do nobody any harm."
"Oh, dry up!" said Aylwin. "If you're going to funk war when it comes, you aren't a member of our Empire League!"
"Funk it!" I cried. "I glory in it! I should love to see you go off to the front to-morrow. I'd go myself to-day if I could get a chance. It's no good talking to boys. They never can understand things!"
"Girls are too soft-hearted," said Denys, "and too small-minded! In war you don't think of the man you may be up against, but of what you're fighting for! If I was in the fighting line now, I would be seeing the massacre of the Belgian women and children, and the crushing of all the poor weak nations, and the trampling down by the iron, arrogant foot of Germany. She's played a dastardly coward's part, making friends with us, coming over to spy out all our weaknesses, and pretending to like us when she knew she hated us, and meant to do for us the first chance she got. And we're fighting for our country, our race, our own homes and women and children!"
"When Denys gets on Empire talk," said Lynette, "he's grand. He ought to be in Parliament!"
"Oh, I know, I know!" I cried, feeling ashamed that I ever questioned our right to fight. "I mustn't imagine too much the killing part. And I hope God will give us the victory very soon, and let it all be over!"
"Why, we haven't properly begun yet!" shouted the boys.
I said no more, but when I went to bed, I prayed for Pat, and I asked God to teach him out of father's Testament what he didn't know, and ought to understand. And now we spend all our days talking about the war to everybody, and trying to get them to enlist. And Aunt Isobel has bought a lot of khaki wool, and Lynette and I are beginning to knit scarves and mittens.
The holidays are flying, but they're strange holidays. We don't go out and amuse ourselves all day long by the sea, as we meant to do. The war seems to have altered everything. Yesterday we heard at last from Lincolnshire. Only one of the twelve boys we wrote to answered, but he wrote for all the rest, and nine of them are enlisting. They had begun to do it before Denys wrote. We are delighted. Two of them are under size, and one of them is not strong enough. It was Tom Bradley who wrote, and he ended his letter like this:
"Our parson tells of us we be a war party that the King will be proud
of and we says we was teached our dooty to our flag by Master Denys!"
Denys was awfully proud and pleased when he read that, and Aylwin says it isn't fair he should always get the glory and honour of that League when we all worked for it and belonged to it. But I say that nothing matters as long as they know their duty and do it.
And to-day we saw another thing that interested us. Gervas Carrington, whom we used to know, has got his commission. It was in the newspaper. He's older than Denys, but it makes Denys wild to think he must go back to school again, and he has determined to have one more talk with grandfather about it.
I do wish something could be done.
As Denys says, he was born into the world quite two years too late.
CHAPTER XII
AUNT GRISEL'S HOSPITAL
TO-DAY was awfully hot. The boys always have their bathe in the sea before breakfast, and sometimes Lynette and I go with them, but we were lazy this morning and did not go. The schoolroom was like an oven; we hardly ever stay in it. And after breakfast, Lynette and I tucked our bathing gowns and towels under our arms and walked across the lawn, when Aunt Isobel called us.
"Where are the boys? Your grandfather wants to speak to Denys."
"They're on the beach," I said. "We're going to them. Shall I tell Denys?"
"Of course. He must come at once."
We raced off. Denys pulled a long face when I gave him the message.
"Is he going to jaw about anything?"
"Perhaps it's about your going into the Army," suggested Lynette.
"No such luck."
But Denys walked off, and he did not come back for a good hour.
Then he walked up with his head in the air, and a peculiar smile on his lips. I knew that smile well. It was when he was awfully pleased, and was trying to hide it.
Lynette and I had had our bathe; we were sitting on a rock letting our hair dry before we tied it up.
"Get it off your chest, old man!" said Aylwin.
"No more school for me!" said Denys.
We exclaimed at that.
"I shall be at Woolwich in a month, I hope."
"Oh, do tell us! How can you be?"
"Grandfather has worked it. There is going to be a rather easy exam. for public school-boys. They want them to enter Woolwich at once, and though I'm not in a proper public school, grandfather has got me included. And I'm going to town to-morrow."
We gasped, and then we gave a ringing cheer.
It seemed too good to be true.
"You're sure to pass the exam. all right," I said. "Oh, Denys, how splendid! How quickly it has come to you!"
"Not quick enough to please me," said Denys. "The war may be over before I'm ready for it, even yet. But I shall be in the artillery. I've always wanted to be a gunner."
We stood looking at him, hardly able to believe it. Somehow he seemed to have altered already. I think the very idea of it made him feel older. He is so straight and tall and handsome, I imagined him in uniform; how proud we should be of him!
And then I thought of his clothes. I knew some of his socks wanted mending, and I had been so accustomed to look after his clothes that I told the others I must go in at once.
Denys came with me.
"You're pleased, Grisel?" he said very quietly.
"You know I am."
"Aunt Isobel isn't."
"I wonder why not!"
As we came up to the house, we saw Aunt Isobel sitting with grandfather in the shady verandah outside the study. Aunt Isobel called to me, and we both went up.
I told her why I had come, and she smiled a little.
"Sometimes you are quite a little old woman, Grisel. Peggy and I are going to do all that is necessary, and I am going up to town myself with Denys to get all he wants."
"But can't I do anything? I should like to help!" And then I couldn't help turning to grandfather. "We're all so delighted, grandfather. It's splendid! We were longing that it could be managed."
Grandfather's eyes twinkled.
"Your aunt here thinks that I shall be sending him to his death!"
I was sobered a little.
Then Aunt Isobel looked at me.
"He is too young, Grisel; he has no constitution."
Denys threw out his chest.
"I'm as strong as a donkey!" he said. "And I'm not going to the front to-morrow, worse luck!"
"Denys is quite, quite fit to go," I said earnestly. "He has trained and taught all of us, and a lot of village boys and girls, to be patriotic. We simply get burning hot right to our hearts when we think of fighting and dying for our country! It's so terrible to be only girls, and have to take a back place, but even back places can do some good, and we mean to do what we can!"
Grandfather held out his hand to me.
I was speaking rather excitedly, I could not help it, for I felt so.
"Come here," he said to me; "I'm glad I have such a fiery little granddaughter. It is a misfortune that two of you are girls, but I hope all three of my grandsons will carry on the annals of their race. We have always been soldiers, and have always acquitted ourselves satisfactorily in the field."
"I wonder, grandfather," I said a little shyly, "if you would let Lynette and me learn to shoot. The Germans may invade England, may they not? It might be useful then."
"No, no, I want no Amazons here. Sit at home and work and pray for the absent ones, that is all we want our girls and women to do."
Aunt Isobel had walked into the house with Denys.
"Do you think we shall beat the Germans easily, grandfather?" I asked.
"No, I don't," and grandfather became snappy again. "We're not ready for them. We've been like the ostrich, hiding our heads in the sand, and it will take an earthquake to shake up and wake up some of our leaders to the exigencies of the situation."
"Lynette and I are trying to shake up some of the fishermen. We can talk as well as the boys. But they laugh at us. I wish you could get somebody to come and tell them about the war, grandfather."
He stared at me.
"Eh? Yes, yes, a very good idea. I'm not quite in my dotage. I'll give 'em a rounding up myself."
Grandfather had never talked so kindly to me before. Lynette and I always feel that he considers us a great bother. He began to ask me now about our Empire League in Lincolnshire, and I told him with pride of the boys who had enlisted. And then I recited the whole of Kipling's song beginning "Land of our Birth." And I told him of our pledge. I said it over to him:
"I promise and vow that to the end of my life I will be a loyal subject
of our gracious King and a faithful citizen of our Empire.
"Oh, Motherland! we pledge to thee
Head, heart, and hand through the years to be!"
"So help me, God. Amen."
"Our heads and hearts are quite as good as the boys'," I said. "Lynette and I would die in a minute for our Motherland if we could, but it's our hands that are different."
I turned mine over as I spoke.
"Of course we're not so strong as the boys; we've got a good bit of muscle, but we're no good if they begin to wrestle with us, and I know of course women soldiers would be a poor lot by the side of the men. But women have served their country, haven't they? And if only the Germans will give us a chance, Lynette and I will show them that we're not chicken-hearted."
Grandfather laughed out, then he looked grave.
"Germans are making short work of women in Belgium," he said. "We must never let them invade our shores, child!"
And then he turned back to his newspaper, and I slipped away.
*****
There was a great bustle getting Denys off, and we missed him awfully. Holidays without Denys seemed as bad as a cart without a horse. And when Denys is away, Aylwin puts on extra swagger, and then Lynette snubs him, and there is generally war between them.
But the week passed, and then he came back. But it wasn't till quite the end of the holidays that we knew he had passed, and was safe for Woolwich.
Aylwin went back to school very down in the mouth. Denys and he have always done everything together, and it seems rather unfair on him that now there should be such a difference between them.
And then came Denys's last night with us before he went to Woolwich; and I slipped into his bedroom just before we went to bed.
He laughed at me when he saw me come in.
"You've come to have some last words, haven't you? Well, go ahead!"
"Oh," I said, sitting down by his bed, and drawing a long sigh, "I'm so glad it isn't Aylwin going. I feel so sure of you."
"Do you?" Rather a funny look crossed Denys's face. "I'm not so sure of myself, Grizzy!"
"Perhaps that will be better still," I said. "But you and I long ago,—when we took the knight's motto, 'Semper fidelis! Semper paratus!'—knew that we couldn't do everything in our own strength."
"I have got my H.F. to remind me," said Denys, putting his hand on his left wrist.
"Yes, but may I tell you what has helped me, Denys? And I think that father would know how difficult it is to hold fast to all he taught us 'always.' We forget so. And you may have many more temptations in the Army than you do at school. But Miss Garton showed me that if God has taken hold of us, we have to hold fast to His Hand, and then we shan't have any tumbles, but be led straight along. She gave me a text about it:
"'I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine
hand, and will keep thee.'
"You and I have both been called, Denys, so that God has got hold of us, and if we don't break away from Him, but just hold fast every day—"
"Yes," said Denys, with a grave nod. Then he turned to his chest of drawers and took hold of his Bible.
"Look here, Grisel, just you write that text on the first leaf here. I like it. And when you write to me, you needn't preach as long a sermon as you've done to-night, but just put in a postscript 'H.F.' and I shall know what you mean."
So I wrote the verse in Denys's Bible, just as I had done in Pat's Testament, and we didn't say any more. And the next morning he left us.
Now Miss Garton has come back, and Lynette and Puff and I are all doing lessons together. But the war goes on, and is altering everything. To begin with, it has stirred up grandfather, and he is much kinder and more sociable to us now. He tells me a lot about the war, and about some of his fighting days. And the other evening he actually went down to the Village Hall and gave them a lecture on the war—on how it started, and what we have got to do, and what will happen if we don't do it. And he said at the end:
"England has no idea of the big job in front of her, and of the gigantic and continuous efforts she will have to make; and if we don't all do our part, disaster will come upon us."
And twelve men came up after and enlisted for the war. I cried with excitement, for Miss Garton took Lynette and me to hear the lecture.
We're knitting as hard as we can—Lynette and me, and even Puff is knitting comforters. And Miss Garton reads some of the papers to us while we work, and we have a great map of Europe in the schoolroom on the wall, and we follow it all every day. I like hearing it all, but it's so awful!
Hospitals are being got ready all over England, and Miss Garton says nobody knows how long the war will last, so she means to train Lynette and me in every way that she can. And she is teaching us what she has learnt at ambulance classes herself, and we practise bandaging up Puff's arms and legs. At first, he liked it, but now he doesn't; so we work on his feelings first, and talk to him about his duty to King and country, and when he gets tired of that, we bribe him with sweets. Even then sometimes, he runs away, and hides from us when he sees us coming.
Last Saturday I went over to see my godmother. She was knitting as usual, but this time she had khaki wool. I had a lot to talk about. I love talking to her. It's just like talking to Lynette; she understands so.
"It seems sometimes too wonderful and too awful to be true," I said to her when we talked about the war. "When we trained ourselves for it in Lincolnshire, we never thought it would come so soon. That was our one lament, that it wouldn't come in our life-time. I feel it's very very tantalising even now. You see we're just too young to be really of use. I should like Denys and Aylwin and Puff all at the war, and Lynette and me hospital nurses as close to the front as we could get. It seems such waste of time to be doing lessons—practising on the piano, and learning arithmetic, when all the rest of the world is fighting and working as hard as it can."
"You restless, hot-blooded child!" said Aunt Grisel. "I am quietly sitting at home, but it doesn't follow that I'm not taking my part. I don't think I should be much good at nursing."
"Oh, I wish, I wish I was you!" I said.
"What would you do if you were?"
"I'd turn this beautiful old house into a big hospital, like some of those rich people have done in England. Miss Garton read it out to us."
"You had better propose that to your grandfather."
"I have, but Aunt Isobel squashed me at once."
"She would."
And Aunt Grisel gave a little chuckle.
"Go on, Grisel, you'd turn my house into a hospital; what else? I suppose you would like me to do it. And I should be an outcast myself. Where should I go?"
"Oh, you could stay, and go round and see the sick soldiers when they came and write letters for them. It would be lovely, Aunt Grisel! And then you could ask me and Lynette over sometimes, and we would bring them flowers and talk to them and hear a little. Do you think you might possibly be able to do it? It would be simply too lovely if you could?"
I dropped my knitting in my excitement.
Then Aunt Grisel got up.
"Well, come over the house, and see if it could be done. Come along."
I wondered if she were in fun or earnest. But it is one of the things I love about her, she does things so quickly. We say that grown-up people never do, it's because they think so much, I suppose. We hardly ever think out a thing before we do it.
"Now," she said, "I'll show you the whole house, Grisel, and you shall say what you think about it."
I could have hugged her!
When we got upstairs, I looked up and down the long corridor; there were big, sunny rooms on one side, and several of the rooms led into one another.
"Wouldn't these make lovely wards?" I said. "I used to go into a hospital near Lincoln. It was a small one, and they had rooms leading into each other like this. And then how nice it would be for the wounded soldiers to walk up and down this corridor, and go out upon that broad stone balcony at the end."
"But they would want kitchens and bathrooms, and surgeries, and goodness knows what else! And these are my best rooms."
"I would give my very best to the soldiers," I said.
Lady Grisel looked at me and laughed. "I believe you would, but I'm a selfish old woman, and you're an enthusiastic, romantic child."
Then I went on, and we planned out where a lift could come up from the kitchen at one end of the corridor, and where another bathroom could be made, and we even counted the beds that might be put in each room, and the little bedrooms for the nurses, and a little sitting-room for them when they were off duty, and another small room for the doctor to consult, and at last Aunt Grisel said that I had tired her out, so we went downstairs to the big drawing-room.
When my time came to leave her, I said: "Thank you for the fun we had planning out a hospital."
"Ah!" she said, shaking her head at me. "It may be fun to you, but it is not to me."
When I came home I thought no more about it, but to-day, to my astonishment and great delight, I got this letter:
"MY DEAR, ROMANTIC GODDAUGHTER,
"You are responsible for it all, and I feel like the hen who was
invited to put her head inside the fox's mouth to see his gold tooth.
The War Office wired to-day to accept my offer to put up convalescent
soldiers. And I have only a fortnight or so to prepare for them. I'm
wiring for nurses, and beds, and blankets, and for carpenters and
workmen by the score, and if I tear out the few grey hairs I have left,
in my agony of soul, it is you I have to thank for it. The least you
can do is to come over and help me. If I had not an old friend who is
going to run it for me, I should be at my wit's end. She is arriving
to-morrow. I expect you over next Saturday to join in the fray.
"Your distracted godmother,
"GRISEL."
I showed this letter to grandfather.
He seemed quite amused at it.
"It will give Grisel something to think of besides her own comfort. I suppose Lydia Fawcett will run it for her."
"Who is she, grandfather?"
"A very handsome woman," said grandfather, with a twinkle in his eye. "She's been matron at some London hospital, and then had to leave it on account of ill-health. I wish I had her energy!"
Lynette and I are very interested in this new hospital. To think that we should soon have soldiers who have actually been fighting close to us seems too good to be true.
Lynette longs to go with me to Aunt Grisel's next Saturday, and begs me to get an invitation for her. But I don't feel I can. Perhaps Aunt Grisel may send a message to her.
I answered the letter; I said:
"MY DEAREST GODMOTHER,
"I felt inclined to dance when I read your letter, and I'm longing for
next Saturday to come. I hope it is not a great trouble to you. Shall
we make some bed-socks for them? How many will you have? I am so glad
you have a friend to help you. I wish I could be with you altogether,
but as Lynette says, lessons always stop fun. Lynette would like to
help too. Can we do anything now for you?
"With my best love,
"Your loving
"GRISEL."
And now I am just counting the hours till Saturday.
CHAPTER XIII
OUR SEARCH
WELL—Saturday came, and when Aunt Grisel's car came over for me there was a note inside, asking Lynette too; so she was delighted.
When we got there, we were introduced to Miss Fawcett. She was very tall, with grey hair rolled up off her forehead and beautiful big blue eyes, and she had a jolly comfortable smile that you were not afraid of.
She set us to work at once. We went upstairs to the linen-room, and she told us how to make bandages out of some old linen sheets. Aunt Grisel came in and helped us. She pretended she was quite overcome with her house being turned topsy-turvy, but I think she rather liked it, and then she showed us a side-wing of the house which was just as sunny as the front of it, and which Miss Fawcett thought would suit the soldiers much better, because it was shut off from the rest of the house by a thick baize door.
"It's like our wing at grandfather's," I said.
"Yes, it is, and it was the children's wing when my husband was a boy," said Aunt Grisel. "I am glad I haven't to turn out all my best furniture. It is so cumbersome that it would have been difficult to find rooms big enough for it in other parts of the house."
Workmen seemed busy in every direction, and Miss Fawcett was directing them all.
When we sat down to lunch she said:
"And who is the originator of this hospital scheme?"
Aunt Grisel waved her hand towards me, and I felt my cheeks getting extremely red and hot.
"I only wish I could be one of the nurses," I said.
And Lynette joined in:
"I would rather clean the rooms than nurse; don't you think our lessons might be stopped till after the war is over?"
"Your time will come, girls," Miss Fawcett said. "Don't hurry to grow up too soon. I think your help may be more wanted a few years later than it is now. A good many of us may be worn out by that time, and the young will have to take our places. You can train yourselves now for all emergencies."
"I love emergencies," said Lynette. "What kind do you think will come?"
"Just the kind we don't expect," said Miss Fawcett, laughing. "Learn all you can now. Languages will help you, so will habits of order and neatness and thoroughness. Be able to turn your hand to anything, from making a poultice to cooking light puddings for invalids. The wounded will be with us for several years yet, I am afraid."
"Don't you think," said Lynette, turning to Aunt Grisel, "that we may possibly get a lot of wounded sailors here? You see, we are almost opposite the Kiel Canal, and we must have a naval battle before long."
"The German Fleet won't come out. It dare not," said Aunt Grisel. "No, we shall get nerve cases from France, I should think, and those who want thorough rest and quiet. London is not a good place for nerves."
"Oh," said Lynette, "but I hope proper wounded soldiers will come to you. I shan't care to see any of those others."
"They are often the most to be pitied," said Miss Fawcett. "When you young people grow older, you will realise that nerves are a very serious matter."
After lunch, we went upstairs and helped Aunt Grisel to empty some drawers and cupboards in the rooms that were being got ready for the soldiers. Such funny old things we turned out. Old-fashioned children's frocks, and baby's feeding-bottles, and a box of lead soldiers, and books and papers and letters, and wax flowers, and samplers, and pincushions, and dear little boxes of all shapes and sizes. Lynette and I exclaimed so often at what we found that Aunt Grisel told us we could take anything away that we took a fancy to. It was very good of her. And when we got home, we unpacked a large box of odds and ends which we had been allowed to bring away, and gave Puff a lot of them.
Aunt Grisel promised to let us know when her first soldiers came, and then Miss Fawcett asked us if we would make some scrap-books for them, and we have started doing it. She said there was nothing that invalids liked better than looking at pictures.
Miss Garton helps us, and really, with our knitting and lessons and ambulance work, and now these scrap-books, we are as busy as we can be.
There has been great talk lately in the newspapers about spies in our midst, especially along the sea-coasts. And some visitors of grandfather's told him that one had been caught not so far off from us only a few days ago. It is all very exciting, but everything is that now. What with the air-ships and Zeppelins and torpedoes and submarines, and the awful bombs and shells, and this wicked wicked gas that the enemy is just beginning to use, I don't see how any of our soldiers have a chance of coming back to us safely. And I'm beginning to think that war is not glorious after all!
Lynette and I talk a lot together about these spies. They say submarines are helped to get their oil by traitors on our coasts, who flash lights to them, where the oil is hid, and then they come and get it. There's an old coastguardsman who loves to talk about it; he says he'd ferret a spy out a hundred miles off, and he's thankful that none are in our part. His name is David Grier, and he smells a good deal of whisky. Lynette says he drinks too much to be a good coastguardsman. He lives in a dear little house on the cliff by himself, and he has been there for nearly twenty years, they say.
Grandfather says Government is going to have a proper up-to-date guard all round our coast soon, but they take a long time to settle anything. I suppose they have such a terrible lot to think of, that they can't get through. I think my brain would burst, if I was in the Government now.
Miss Garton is rather sad about her brother, who is going to the front some time next week. She is going home from Saturday to Tuesday to wish him good-bye, and we shall have all Monday and Tuesday for holidays as well as Saturday. It will be very jolly. And Lynette and I mean to do some coastguarding on our own. We think it quite necessary. And we can manage a boat quite well now. Both of us can row, and Aunt Isobel doesn't mind us going out alone when the sea is smooth, if we're very careful. On Saturday we're going over to Aunt Grisel. She hasn't got her soldiers yet, but we're getting ready for them.
When Lynette and I go to bed at night, we always look-out of our windows, and watch for a flash-light. We see a good many lights from distant lighthouses, and sometimes we see a lantern bobbing along.
That is David going his rounds.
We were talking about it last night, and Lynette suddenly said:
"Grisel, do you know where would be a splendid place for a spy to hide oil?"
"On the island," I said thoughtfully; "I've thought of that."
"Yes, on the other side of the island in those caves. You see, if any one flashed a light from there, we shouldn't see it. They could flash it low down through those holes in the cliff, or they could burn a coloured light."
"I wonder if David goes round there?" I said.
"Oh, don't mention it to him. Don't tell any one. Just fancy, Grisel, if you and I could catch a spy or a traitor at work, wouldn't it be ripping! That would be doing work for one's country with a vengeance. Let us keep it secret from every one, and just watch ourselves with all our main and might!"
"Yes," I cried, "we'll row across there and have a good search when Miss Garton goes. On Monday we'll do it."
"What should we do if we found a man there?" Lynette questioned. "Could we shoot him?"
"Oh no, nobody is shot without a trial. We should just have to creep away without his seeing us and send the police to him."
"But I should like to do something to him. It's a pity we don't know how to make bombs. We could leave one to blow him up, and the oil too. It would save a lot of trouble!"
"Oh, Lynette, how can you!"
"I feel I could do anything to make such a traitor meet with his deserts!" said Lynette grandly.
We are quite anxious now for Monday to come. I would really like to do something for my country, and so would Lynette.
*****
This poor old diary.
We're living in such exciting times that I don't feel inclined to sit down and write. I haven't the time, to begin with. But it's a wet day to-day, and, after all that has happened, I really think I ought to set it down for the sake of our great-grandchildren who will talk about their grandmother's remembering the Great War.
I must go back to the Monday when Miss Garton was away from us. First on Sunday night, Lynette and I were staring out of our windows when we thought we saw a twinkling light in the direction of the island. It might have been fancy, but we both saw it at the same moment. It went out at once. But it gave us distinct hope that something might be going on there. And Monday morning we were busy preparing things. We didn't tell a soul. Aunt Isobel was driving out to see Aunt Grisel, and grandfather was going with her. It seemed to leave the coast clear for us. There was Puff certainly, but he was always happy playing by himself.
Lynette insisted on us taking some rope with us. "To tie him up, if we find him," she said.
I took some food, and some ends of candle, and four boxes of matches. You can't have too many matches for those caves, and then I remembered that Denys had left his beautiful little electric torch behind him. It was in his room, so I took it with joy. We took some paper with us too, in case we should want a fire.
And then Lynette wanted to take a couple of old pistols that were hung up in our upstair passage. But I thought she had better not.
"It would frighten any one if they saw us with pistols," she said. "They wouldn't know they weren't loaded."
"We shouldn't stand a chance if we started fighting them, or trying to frighten them," I said. "We're really only going to spy out the land."
"I shall be frightfully disappointed if nobody's there," Lynette said.
We determined to start for the island directly after our early dinner. It was a bright sunny day, and the sea was like a mill-pond. Everything was in our favour. The tide had been going out for some time. I knew it was only when it was high tide that the currents were dangerous, and we calculated that we should be back before that.
We put all our things in the boat, and I put some biscuits and some apples in it too, for I thought we might get hungry. But we found that we should have to get some one to push the boat into the water for us, because the tide was low. Davey, who has taught us all to steer and row, has left us to enlist, but I ran up to the stable and got two of the stable lads to come down and help us.
We told them we were going out for a row, and they thought nothing of it.
Then Lynette and I both took an oar, and rowed steadily in the direction of the cave island, where Pat and the boys had been all night. It wasn't very hard rowing. We were both silent; for, now we had started, it seemed a bigger thing than when we had just talked it over. And the island seemed farther off than we had thought. We thought we should never reach it.
We did come to the beach at last, and we rowed fast and furiously then, driving our boat right up on the shingle like the boys do. Lynette jumped out like lightning and tied the boat-rope round one of the stakes that was there for the purpose. The seagulls flew round our heads shrieking, as if to complain at being disturbed. Otherwise, it seemed very still and silent.
And a lonely kind of feeling came over me. I would not have told Lynette, but I didn't feel as if I wanted to go into the dark caves and search there. And then I was ashamed of myself; for we had always declared we should never be afraid of anything, if it concerned our King and country. And this was real important duty, what Lynette and I were doing. Then we took out two baskets in which we had packed our things; and we came to the first entrance to the cave.
"Now," I said as I lighted my candle. "I'll go first as I'm the eldest, and remember, Lynette, we mustn't speak a word, but keep our ears and eyes well open and very busy."
Lynette nodded.
"Isn't it thrilling?" she said. "Oh, I do hope we shall find somebody or something."
But for a long time we found nothing at all. There was a big passage that went right through the cliff and out at the extreme end of the island, and we went along this, and searched two or three little kinds of rooms that went off it; we had been over so often with the boys that we knew the caves quite well. Then suddenly, as we were coming towards the light again, Lynette threw up her head and whispered excitedly:
"I smell tobacco smoke!"
I stopped still and sniffed.
"Well," I whispered, "boys and men do come over here, you know, for seagulls' eggs."
I certainly smelt smoke. Somebody had been smoking along here.
The next thing we found was a pipe.
Lynette stumbled against it. She put it in her pocket. "We may find this a most important piece of evidence," she said grandly.
Then we came to an inner cave just before the outlet that led to the beach again. Here there was something else. A lot of rotten old boards stood up on end, and formed a kind of door to it. And there was an old barrel that used not to be there, and the seaweed that was on it did not belong to it, it had either been put there or had been washed up by the tide. We were quick to notice all this.
Yet even when my heart was beginning to thump with suspense, Lynette whispered in a pleased sort of way:
"Curiouser, and curiouser!"
"We must take away one of these boards," I said, "and see what is behind."
So we tugged and pulled, and it was real hard work, but the thought of what "might" be there gave us the will and the strength to move them. We got two away, and then with our electric torch we crept through.
Then indeed we stood and stared at each other. It seemed like a dream. For there were tins and great barrels packed up against the wall. Dead seaweed covered them, but we soon pulled that off. There was no mistake about it—we had found the oil! We put our fingers round the cork of one and smelt them. They smelt of motor-oil! I think, though we had imagined a lot, we never really thought we should find it.
"What are we to do now?" I said, for I really felt, quite helpless.
"We must go on and find out some more," said Lynette.
"No," I said; "I think we had better fly back as quickly as possible, and send the police and coastguards."
"But who has brought it here?" said Lynette.
I was just going to reply when we heard a man cough, and the cough was not very far away. Instantly I pulled hold of Lynette, and we crouched down behind the barrel. I put out my torch at the same moment. I really, honestly never felt more frightened in my whole life than I did then. My heart was thumping against my ribs, and I heard Lynette breathing very quickly.
"He'll kill us," she whispered, "and drown our bodies, and nobody will ever know!"
She wasn't exactly comforting.
I knew that when he saw the boards had been moved, all would be up; and then I peeped out over the barrel. In the distance we could see the opening of the cave and the sun shining upon the sea. There was silence, and then a strong whiff of tobacco reached us; in another moment, a man's figure blocked the opening. But his back was towards us, and he was looking out to sea. He just looked an ordinary fisherman in big seaboots and a blue jersey and a knitted cap. He was smoking a pipe. We felt we hardly dare breathe, but we were thankful that, so far, he did not know of our being on the island.
"He'll find our boat, and then he'll hunt for us," said Lynette. "Oh, Grisel, I do wish we hadn't come. I do wish we were safe home again."
I tried to brace myself up.
"Look here, Lynette, the longer we wait here the worse it will be. We must get back at once before he finds us out, and tell the coastguards. This is our chance of serving our country. We mustn't be cowards. We will wait a moment to see if he will go, and the moment he does, we must creep out and dash along the passage back to our boat."
"He'll run after us and catch us!" cried Lynette. "And then I shall die of fright."
"Nonsense! We can pretend we know nothing. After all, we have as much right on this island as he has."
We watched him breathlessly. Once we thought he was going to turn round and come towards us, but presently he walked away along the beach.
Then we crept out of our hiding-place, but I daren't light the torch. We took hold of each other's hands and ran along the broad passage as fast as we could. Twice we stumbled, and once Lynette grazed her knee against a bit of rock. It seemed years to us till we saw the light appearing in front of us.
Half dazed with fright and with the darkness, we dashed out into the sunshine—and then, to our unutterable horror, we met that burly man face to face!
CHAPTER XIV
THE FIND
WE had no time to scream. He seized hold of both of us, and then, it was very strange—all my fright went, and I knew I must keep my head very very clear, and not funk a little tiny bit.
He was a stranger to us, but he wasn't a German, that I was thankful for, and he didn't look any different from the fishermen close to us, who were always kind to us.
"Where be ye from noo?" he said angrily.
"We often come over here in our boat," I said, trying to speak carelessly; "who are you? We've never seen you before?"
"What may ye be doin' in yon passage?" he demanded.
"Playing about in it," I said, and as I spoke I looked warningly at Lynette.
It's all very well to take a rope out to tie up a big man like this, and accuse him to his face of being a traitor, but when you're actually in his power, you know you can't do these things!