When Sam Twitter came to the bottom of the hill with the brake well applied he was able to check himself in time to escape the danger, and ran to where his friend lay.
For a few minutes the unfortunate youth lay as if he had been dead. Then his blood resumed its flow, and when the eyes opened he found Sam kneeling on one side of him with a smelling bottle which some lady had lent him, and a kindly-faced elderly man with an iron-grey beard kneeling on the other side and holding a cup of water to his lips.
Thats right, Stephen, look up, said Sam, who was terribly frightened, youre not much hurt, are you?
Hurt, old fellow, eh? sighed Stephen, why should I be hurt? Where am I? What has happened?
Take a sip, my young friend, it will revive you, said the man with the kindly face. You have had a narrow escape, but God has mercifully spared you. Try to move now; gentlywe must see that no bones have been broken before allowing you to rise.
By this time Welland had completely recovered, and was anxious to rise; all the more that a crowd of children surrounded him, among whom he observed several ladies and gentlemen, but he lay still until the kindly stranger had felt him all over and come to the conclusion that no serious damage had been done.
Oh! Im all right, thank you, said the youth on rising, and affecting to move as though nothing had happened, but he was constrained to catch hold of the stranger rather suddenly, and sat down on the grass by the road-side.
I do believe Ive got a shake after all, he said with a perplexed smile and sigh. But, he added, looking round with an attempt at gaiety, I suspect my poor bicycle has got a worse shake. Do look after it, Sam, and see how it is.
Twitter soon returned with a crestfallen expression. Its done for, Stephen. Im sorry to say the whole concern seems to be mashed up into a kind of wire-fencing!
Is it past mending, Sam?
Past mending by any ordinary blacksmith, certainly. No one but the maker can doctor it, and I should think it would take him a fortnight at least.
What is to be done? said Stephen, with some of his companions regret of tone. What a fool I was to take such a hillspoilt such a glorious day toofor you as well as myself, Sam. Im very sorry, but that wont mend matters.
Are you far from home, gentlemen? asked the man with the iron-grey beard, who had listened to the conversation with a look of sympathy.
Ay, much too far to walk, said Welland. Dyou happen to know how far off the nearest railway station is?
Three miles, answered the stranger, and in your condition you are quite unfit to walk that distance.
Im not so sure of that, replied the youth, with a pitiful look. I think Im game for three miles, if I had nothing to carry but myself, but I cant leave my bicycle in the ditch, you know!
Of course you cant, rejoined the stranger in a cheery tone, and I think we can help you in this difficulty. I am a London City Missionary. My name is John Seaward. We have, as you see, brought out a number of our Sunday-school children, to give them a sight of Gods beautiful earth; poor things, theyve been used to bricks, mortar, and stone all their lives hitherto. Now, if you choose to spend the remainder of the day with us, we will be happy to give you and the injured bicycle a place in our vans till we reach a cabstand or a railway station. What say you? It will give much pleasure to me and the teachers.
Welland glanced at his friend. You see, Sam, theres no help for it, old boy. Youll have to return alone.
Unless your friend will also join us, said the missionary.
You are very kind, said Sam, but I cannot stay, as I have an engagement which must be kept. Never mind, Stephen. Ill just complete the trip alone, and comfort myself with the assurance that I leave you in good hands. So, good-bye, old boy.
Good-bye, Twitter, said Stephen, grasping his friends hand.
Twitter, repeated the missionary, I heard your friend call you Sam just now. Excuse my askingare you related to Samuel Twitter of Twitter, Slime, and Company, in the city?
Im his eldest son, said Sam.
Then I have much pleasure in making your acquaintance, returned the other, extending his hand, for although I have never met your father, I know your mother well. She is one of the best and most regular teachers in our Sunday-schools. Is she not, Hetty? he said, turning to a sweet-faced girl who stood near him.
Indeed she is, I was her pupil for some years, and now I teach one of her old classes, replied the girl.
I work in the neighbourhood of Whitechapel, sir, continued the missionary, and most of the children here attend the Institution in George Yard.
Well, I shall tell my mother of this unexpected meeting, said Sam, as he remounted his bicycle. Good-bye, Stephen. Dont romp too much with the children!
Adieu, Sam, and dont break your neck on the bicycle.
In a few minutes Sam Twitter and his bicycle were out of sight.
Chapter Eight.
A Great and Memorable Day
When young Stephen Welland was conducted by John Seaward the missionary into a large field dotted with trees, close to where his accident had happened, he found that the children and their guardians were busily engaged in making arrangements for the spending of an enjoyable day.
And then he also found that this was not a mere monster excursion of ordinary Sunday-schools, but one of exceedingly poor children, whose garments, faces, and general condition, told too surely that they belonged to the lowest grade in the social scale.
Yes, said the missionary, in reply to some question from Welland, the agency at George Yard, to which I have referred, has a wide-embracing influencethough but a small lump of leaven when compared with the mass of corruption around it. This is a flock of the ragged and utterly forlorn, to many of whom green fields and fresh air are absolutely new, but we have other flocks besides these.
Indeed! Well, now I look at them more carefully, I see that their garments do speak of squalid poverty. I have never before seen such a ragged crew, though I have sometimes encountered individuals of the class on the streets.
Hm! coughed the missionary with a peculiar smile. They are not so ragged as they were. Neither are they as ragged as they will be in an hour or two.
What do you mean?
I mean that these very rough little ones have to receive peculiar treatment before we can give them such an outing as they are having to-day. As you see, swings and see-saws have been put up here, toys are now being distributed, and a plentiful feast will ere long be forthcoming, through the kindness of a Christian gentleman whose heart the Lord has inclined to consider the poor, but before we could venture to move the little band, much of their ragged clothing had to be stitched up to prevent it falling off on the journey, and we had to make them move carefully on their way to the trainfor vans have brought us only part of the way. Now that they are here, our minds are somewhat relieved, but I suspect that the effect of games and romping will undo much of our handiwork. Come, let us watch them.
The youth and the missionary advanced towards a group of the children, whose souls, for the time being, were steeped in a see-saw. This instrument of delight consisted of a strong plank balanced on the trunk of a noble tree which had been recently felled, with many others, to thin the woods of the philanthropists park. It was an enormous see-saw! such as the ragged creatures had never before seenperhaps never conceived of, their experiences in such joys having been hitherto confined to small bits of broken plank placed over empty beer barrels, or back-yard fences. No fewer than eight children were able to find accommodation on it at one and the same time, besides one of the bigger boys to straddle in the centre; and it required the utmost vigilance on the part of a young man teacher at one end of the machine, and Hetty Frog at the other end, to prevent the little ragamuffins at either extremity from being forced off.