The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Coxswain's Bride, by R.M. Ballantyne

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Title: The Coxswain's Bride
also, Jack Frost and Sons; and, A Double Rescue

Author: R.M. Ballantyne

Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21725]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COXSWAIN'S BRIDE ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

THE COXSWAIN'S BRIDE, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.

STORY ONE, CHAPTER 1.

THE RISING TIDE--A TALE OF THE SEA.

The coxswain went by the name of Sturdy Bob among his mates. Among the
women of the village he was better known as handsome Bob, and, looking
at him, you could not help seeing that both titles were appropriate, for
our coxswain was broad and strong as well as good-looking, with that
peculiar cast of features and calm decided manner which frequently
distinguish the men who are born to lead their fellows.

Robert Massey, though quite young, was already a leader of men--not only
by nature but by profession--being coxswain of the Greyton lifeboat,
and, truly, the men who followed his lead had need to be made of good
stuff, with bold, enthusiastic, self-sacrificing spirits, for he often
led them into scenes of wild--but, hold! We must not forecast.

Well, we introduce our hero to the reader on a calm September evening,
which blazed with sunshine. The sun need not have been mentioned,
however, but for the fact that it converted the head of a fair-haired
fisher-girl, seated beside Bob, into a ball of rippling gold, and
suffused her young cheeks with a glow that rudely intensified her
natural colour.

She was the coxswain's bride-elect, and up to that date the course of
their true love had run quite smoothly in spite of adverse proverbs.

"I can't believe my luck," said Bob, gravely.

He said most things gravely, though there was not a man in Greyton who
could laugh more heartily than he at a good joke.

"What luck do you mean, Bob?" asked Nellie Carr, lifting her eyes from
the net she was mending, and fixing them on the coxswain's bronzed face
with an air of charming innocence. Then, becoming suddenly aware of
what he meant without being told, she gave vent