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| 1 | 133 | 265 | 398 | 530 |
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Not knowing what might be the consequences of irritating her friend,
and trembling with the fear of doing so, poor Nell sang him some little
ditty which she had learned in happier times, and which was so
agreeable to his ear, that on its conclusion he in the same peremptory
manner requested to be favoured with another, to which he was so
obliging as to roar a chorus to no particular tune, and with no words
at all, but which amply made up in its amazing energy for its
deficiency in other respects. The noise of this vocal performance
awakened the other man, who, staggering upon deck and shaking his
late opponent by the hand, swore that singing was his pride and joy
and chief delight, and that he desired no better entertainment. With a
third call, more imperative than either of the two former, Nell felt
obliged to comply, and this time a chorus was maintained not only by
the two men together, but also by the third man on horseback, who
being by his position debarred from a nearer participation in the
revels of the night, roared when his companions roared, and rent the
very air. In this way, with little cessation, and singing the same songs
again and again, the tired and exhausted child kept them in good
humour all that night; and many a cottager, who was roused from his
soundest sleep by the discordant chorus as it floated away upon the
wind, hid his head beneath the bed-clothes and trembled at the
sounds.
At length the morning dawned. It was no sooner light than it began to
rain heavily. As the child could not endure the intolerable vapours of
the cabin, they covered her, in return for her exertions, with some
pieces of sail-cloth and ends of tarpaulin, which sufficed to keep her
tolerably dry and to shelter her grandfather besides. As the day
advanced the rain increased. At noon it poured down more hopelessly
and heavily than ever without the faintest promise of abatement.
They had, for some time, been gradually approaching the place for
which they were bound. The water had become thicker and dirtier;
other barges, coming from it, passed them frequently; the paths of
coal-ash and huts of staring brick, marked the vicinity of some great
manufacturing town; while scattered streets and houses, and smoke
from distant furnaces, indicated that they were already in the
outskirts. Now, the clustered roofs, and piles of buildings, trembling
with the working of engines, and dimly resounding with their shrieks
and throbbings; the tall chimneys vomiting forth a black vapour,
which hung in a dense ill-favoured cloud above the housetops and
filled the air with gloom; the clank of hammers beating upon iron, the
roar of busy streets and noisy crowds, gradually augmenting until all
the various sounds blended into one and none was distinguishable for
itself, announced the termination of their journey.
The boat floated into the wharf to which it belonged. The men were
occupied directly. The child and her grandfather, after waiting in vain
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