Ned Garth

Ned Garth, by W. H. G. Kingston

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Title: Ned Garth Made Prisoner in Africa. A Tale of the Slave Trade
Author: W. H. G. Kingston
Release Date: May 15, 2007 [EBook #21472]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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GARTH ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

Ned Garth; Made Prisoner in Africa. A Tale of the Slave Trade, by W
H G Kingston.
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NED GARTH; MADE PRISONER IN AFRICA. A TALE OF THE

SLAVE TRADE, BY W H G KINGSTON.
CHAPTER ONE.
"Can you make her out, Ned? My eyes are not so sharp as they used to
be, and I lost sight of the craft when came on."
"She has tacked, uncle; I see her masts in one, and she's standing to the
westward."
"I was afraid so; she must be a stranger, or she would have kept her
course. She'll not weather the head as she's now standing, and if it
doesn't clear and show her the land, she'll be on shore, as sure as my
name is John Pack."
The speaker was a strongly built man, dressed in a thick pea-coat
buttoned closely over his breast, the collar turned up to protect his neck.
A white, low-crowned, weather-beaten, broadish-brimmed hat covered
his head, and he held in his hand a thick stick, which he pressed firmly
on the ground as he walked, for he had been deprived of one of his legs,
its place being supplied by a wooden substitute resembling a mop
handle in shape. His appearance was decidedly nautical, and though
habited in plain clothes, he might have been known at a glance to be a
naval officer.
His companion, a boy of about fourteen years of age, though from his
height and breadth of shoulders he might have been supposed to be
older, wore a thick monkey jacket, a necessary protection against the
strong wind and dense masses of rain and mist which swept up from
the ocean.
They stood on the top of a cliff on the southern coast of England, which,
circling round from the north-west to the south-east, formed a broad
deep bay, terminated on the further side by a bluff headland, and on the
other by a rocky point, a ledge partly under water extending beyond it.
The bay was indeed a dangerous place to enter with so heavy a gale
from the south-west as was now blowing.

Lieutenant Pack and his young nephew Edward Garth were returning
home from an errand of mercy to an old fisherman who had been
severely injured by the upsetting of his boat, in a vain endeavour to go
off to a coaster in distress, which foundered in sight of land, when he
was washed on shore amid the fragments of his boat, narrowly escaping
with his life. Although the fisherman's cottage was upwards of two
miles off, the old lieutenant trudged daily over to see him, and on this
occasion had been accompanied by his nephew, carrying a basket
containing certain delicacies prepared by the kind hands of Miss Sarah
Pack, or sister Sally, as he was wont to call her. He and his nephew had
started later than usual, and the gloom of an autumn evening had
overtaken them when they were still some distance from home. He had
caught sight of the vessel, apparently a large brig, and had at once
perceived her dangerous position.
For some time he and his nephew stood watching the stranger from the
cliff.
"Here she comes again!" cried Ned.
"She made out the land sooner than I expected she would," observed
the lieutenant; "but she'll scarcely weather the point even now, unless
the wind shifts. She can't do it--she can't do it!" he cried, striking the
ground in his eagerness with his stick. "Run on, Ned, to the coast-guard
station. If you meet one of the men, tell him, in case he hasn't seen her,
that I think the vessel will be on shore before long. But if you fall in
with no one, go and let Lieutenant Hanson know what I say, and he'll
get his rockets ready, so as to be prepared to assist the crew whenever
the vessel may strike. Take care, Ned, though, not to fall over the
cliff--keep well away from it. On a dark night you cannot see the path
clearly, and in many spots, remember, it ends abruptly in places where