hat could come of these
but hardship, want of victuals, wounds, and death; or else to stump
about on one leg, and hold out a hat for a penny with one arm? They felt
that it was true; they had seen enough of that; it had happened in all
their own families.

Yet such is the love of the native land and the yearning to stand in
front of it, and such is the hate of being triumphed over by fellows who
kiss one another and weep, and such is the tingling of the knuckles for
a blow when the body has been kicked in sore places, that the heart
will at last get the better of the head--or at least it used to be so
in England. Wherefore Charley Bowles was in arms already against his
country's enemies; and Harry Shanks waited for little except a clear
proclamation of prize-money; and even young Daniel was tearing at his
kedge like a lively craft riding in a brisk sea-way. He had seen Lord
Nelson, and had spoken to Lord Nelson, and that great man would have
patted him on the head--so patriotic were his sentiments--if the great
man had been a little taller.

But the one thing that kept Dan Tugwell firm to his moorings at
Springhaven was the deep hold of his steadfast heart in a love which it
knew to be hopeless. To die for his country might become a stern duty,
about which he would rather not be hurried; but to die for Miss Dolly
would be a wild delight; and how could he do it unless he were at hand?
And now there were so many young officers again, landing in boats,
coming in post-chaises, or charging down the road on horseback, that
Daniel, while touching up the finish of his boat with paint and varnish
and Venetian Red, was not so happy as an artist should be who knows how
to place the whole. Sometimes, with the paint stirred up and creaming,
and the ooze of the brush trimmed warily, through the rushes and ragwort
and sea-willow his keen, unconquerable eyes would spy the only figure
that quelled them, faraway, shown against the shining water, or shadowed
upon the flat mirror of the sand. But, alas! there was always another
figure near it, bigger, bulkier, framed with ugly angles, jerking about
with the elbow sticking out, instead of gliding gracefully. Likely
enough the lovely form, brought nearer to the eyes and heart by love,
would flit about beautifully for two sweet moments, filling with rapture
all the flashes of the sea and calm of the evening sky beyond; and then
the third moment would be hideous. For the figure of the ungainl