Rover raced, slipping and sliding, down the slope, plunging in with an impetus that sent him souse in head and ears under the surface; but, he soon re-appeared to view and, swimming out to where the stick floated, gripped it valiantly and made his way back to the sh.o.r.e, holding it in his mouth crosswise.

Now, however, poor Rover experienced more trouble in climbing out than he had probably antic.i.p.ated; for, it being deep water at the foot of the ramparts and the stones being slippery, as the animal got his fore-paws on the stonework and tried to raise his hind legs, back he would slip again into the sea.

"Poor fellow!" said Bob. "Why, he can't get up. I will go and help him."

So saying, he began to clamber down the slope.

"Stop, boy, stop!" cried the Captain excitedly. "You will fall in!"

"Come back, Bob, come back!" screamed Nellie and her aunt together.

"Come back!"

But, hardly able to keep his footing, it was out of Bob's power either to arrest his rapid descent of the downward slope or to retrace his steps.

The very cries of warning, indeed, of those above brought about the result they sought to prevent; for, looking up and waving his hand to rea.s.sure them, Bob all at once lost his footing, rolling over and plunging into the water right on top of Rover, his yell of dismay being echoed by a howl of pain from the dog.

CHAPTER FOUR.

d.i.c.k TO THE RESCUE.

"Gracious heavens! The boy will be drowned!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, wringing her hands frantically and rushing forward at once; while Nellie, equally excited, burst into tears, clinging to her aunt's side.

"Oh, what shall I say to his mother? He's lost; he's lost!"

"No, he isn't--not a bit of it; no more drowned than I am," cried the Captain, laying his hand on Mrs Gilmour's arm, and putting both her and Nellie back, to prevent any rash impulse on their part. "You just keep as cool as the young rascal must be now! I'll fish him out in another minute, if you'll leave me alone; and, he'll be none the worse, barring a wetting."

With these words, the spry old gentleman, who was more active than many a younger man, began making his way cautiously down the treacherous slope of the rampart, aided by his trusty malacca cane, poking his stick between the niches of the stonework to act as a stay, and so prevent his slipping on too fast.

But, quick as he was in his movements, hardly had he made a dozen sliding steps down the decline, the action of the whole scene being almost instantaneous, when he felt, rather than saw, some one else glide swiftly past him still more expeditiously; and then, there was another heavy plunge in the water below, where Bob and Rover were struggling for dear life.

"Bless my soul!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the Captain, halting abruptly with the a.s.sistance of his sheet anchor, the malacca cane, as he half turned round. "The woman's never such a fool!"

He thought it was Mrs Gilmour.

But, he was mistaken.

d.i.c.k had antic.i.p.ated them both.

Bob's unlucky slip and cry of alarm as he fell into the sea, his aunt's exclamation of terror, the Captain's movement to the rescue, and the grateful d.i.c.k's perilous jump, for it was almost a leap from the top of the castle wall, were all, as has been already pointed out, the work of a moment; the chain of incidents taking much longer to describe than to happen.

So, there, before you could cry 'Jack Robinson,' as the Captain afterwards said, two boys, instead of one, were struggling with the dog in the water; and of all these three, to heighten the excitement of the scene, Rover alone was able to swim!

Bob, of course, had plunged in unwittingly, while d.i.c.k's only thought was to help one from whom he had received such unexpected kindness; the lad not having reflected for an instant on the danger of the task he was undertaking.

Now, therefore, although on reaching the water the grateful boy succeeded in carrying out his object of catching hold of Bob, both immediately sank under the surface.

They came up the next moment locked together, spluttering and splattering for breath and holding up their hands for aid, an action which naturally sent them down again; the tide meanwhile sweeping them away from the sh.o.r.e.

Rover was master of the situation--that is, he and the Captain, who by this time had scrambled down to the last ledge of the rampart, and took in the position of affairs at a glance.

"Hi, Rover, good dog, fetch them out!" cried the old sailor, at the same moment throwing off his coat and preparing to go into the sea, too, if need be. "Fetch 'em out!"

But, there was no necessity for this appeal to Rover, who did not require any orders or directions as to his duty.

The dog, like the Captain, was quite aware of the perilous position of his young master, and had already determined in his own mind what was best to be done under such circ.u.mstances.

Master Bob having come down flop on top of him as he was trying to clamber out, had in the first instance somewhat obscured his faculties; and the subsequent appearance of d.i.c.k on the scene, as he was just recovering from this douche, did not tend to make matters clearer to the retriever, whose eyes and ears were full of water, besides being moreover tired out by his previous exertions.

Any hesitation poor Rover might have felt, though, barely lasted an instant; for, the sight of two figures battling for life in the sea there under his very nose, and the knowledge that one of these was his young master, brought in an instant all his sagacious instincts into play.

He did not need the Captain or anybody else to tell him what to do. Not he!

Giving his head a quick shake to clear his eyes and uttering a short, sharp bark, as if to say, 'Hold on, my boys, I'm coming to help you!'

the dog appeared to scramble through the water by a series of leaps, rather than to swim, towards the spot where the two unfortunates were struggling.

Reaching the pair, he at once gripped Bob's collar in his powerful teeth and proceeded to tow him to land, d.i.c.k hanging on behind; and Rover's muzzle was already turned sh.o.r.ewards, dragging his double burthen astern ere the Captain's cry of encouragement came to his ears, although on hearing it the n.o.ble animal redoubled his efforts.

It was, however, a terrible ordeal; nay, almost a hopeless one!

Had the boys been conscious, Rover would have had comparatively easy work of it, as then one of them might have held on to his collar and the other to his tail, and he could have pulled them both out without much trouble; as it was, now, they clung so frantically to each other and to him that they r.e.t.a.r.ded in lieu of a.s.sisting his gallant attempt to save them.

But, help was at hand.

Just as the Captain called out, a couple of coastguardsmen were coming round the corner of the castle on their beat towards the east pier; and, hearing his shout to Rover, they stopped.

"Hullo!" cried one of the men, observing that Mrs Gilmour was in a state of great agitation, with Nellie sobbing beside her and the Captain at the bottom of the sloping rampart in the act of taking off his coat--"Anything wrong, mum?"

Mrs Gilmour's heart was so full that she could not speak at once, and the man who addressed her jumped to a wrong conclusion from the absence of any explanation at the moment.

"Oh, I see, mum, he's a-going to commit sooacide? We'll soon spoil his little game, mum. Bear a hand, Bill, will ye?"

So saying, the speaker and his comrade, with a catlike ease that came naturally to them from their practice at sea, where they had a rolling deck beneath their feet much more difficult to traverse than the slippery slope they were now on, had reached the spot where the coatless old sailor stood almost as these words were uttered, leaping down the steep descent in a sort of 'hop-skip-and-jump' fashion.

"None o' that!" exclaimed the elder of the two men who had previously spoken, grasping hold of one of the Captain's arms while his mate, or 'Bill,' caught hold of the other. "A-going to make away with yourself, eh? Not if we knows it, sir!"

At the same instant, however, Captain Dresser turned round with a face on which the animated expression produced by his determination to try and rescue the boys was mingled with a puzzled look of astonishment at being tackled in this unceremonious manner when on the very point of action.

His black eyes twinkled and his bushy eyebrows moved up and down at a fine rate as he looked up indignantly to see who had dared to lay hand on him.

"My stars!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the coastguardsman Bill, dropping hold of the Captain's arm as if it had been a hot poker, "I'm blest if it ain't the old cap'en!"

The other man also recognised him at the same time, releasing the old man equally hurriedly.

"Beg pardon, sir," he said. "Didn't know it wer' you, sir!"

But the Captain made no reply to this apology.