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Updated: June 6, 2025
There had never been so much as a talk of extending the railway line to Northbourne, which was a quaint little fishing village tucked away under the shelter of a long stretch of downs.
'Happen he've got hold of a fresh travel-book. Then Ned's thoughts easily slipped off to the subject of other 'travel-books' devoured by Alick and retailed to himself. He pictured vividly, as the 'Roarer' swished through the dark waters, a far different scene to that of the quiet Northbourne bay.
The ceaseless tussel he had to induce these refractory vegetables to make a fair show was one of the minor crosses of the old man's life. Of the two Carnegys, Alick was the least reasonable, if the word reasonable could be applied to either of 'them young limbs, as Northbourne privately called the captain's boys.
Still, on the whole, Binks, harassed as he was by the dogs, was apt to thank his stars that Splutters and Shutters were not actually boys; such boys, for instance, as those of the captain at the Bunk across the bay, who were a sore handful, as any one could see for themselves, without the prompt testimony of all Northbourne to that effect.
Up to this the course had been clear with no spectators, but now came along from the direction of Northbourne an invalid on the arm of an attendant, and behind them a boy on a bicycle. The bicycle was an inspiration. It was also yellow painted, and bore a carrier in front blazoned with the name of a Northbourne Italian Warehouseman.
The Fletchers, three generations of whom manned the fishing-trawler, were decent folk, with a keen eye to the main-chance, or what some people consider to be such namely, making as much money as possible. The sky had clouded over somewhat, and it was darkish as the 'Aurora' known locally as the 'Roarer' the chief of the Northbourne fishing-boats, put out for the night's work.
The railway touched the London road at Houghton Admiral, a station some nine miles up the line. That was the position. Should he take the London road and board a train at Houghton Admiral, or take the road to Northbourne and get a train from there? The three ways lay before him like the three Fates, and he determined on the London road. However, Man proposes and God disposes.
You must allow, too, that he was in the right, Alick, and we were wrong. Clear-sighted Geoff never hesitated to render justice to others. But Alick was different. Baffled and furious, he slouched away, hatching secret revenge upon the old man who had so determinedly baulked his will. Ned Dempster was certainly the sharpest of all the boys in Northbourne.
Ned Dempster was also out of the way, he being absent with the fishing-boats; for the bay was alive with the shoals of mackerel, over which intense excitement simmered throughout Northbourne. 'Yes, I has got a holiday, miss! was Alick's grim rejoinder. 'A pretty long one too, I expect. Then he added in a curt, sharp tone, as though to stop further questions, 'Now, look here, Queenie!
Yes, the young tutor is now restored to health and strength. The fine Northbourne air, the restfulness of country life, and God's goodness, have combined to set up Philip Price as a robust man. He had been ailing so long in the old days, that he had got well-nigh accustomed to being a semi-invalid.
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