human
Too good-looking for a boy, but more fitted for a girl,
gpt
And did you go and fish?
human
Oh yes. I went back to the prison and spoke to one of our guards--a frowning, fierce-looking fellow--and I told him how ill my father was, and that he never seemed as if he could eat the prison rations, as they called them, and that I wanted to try and catch some of the little fish on the moor and cook them, and try if I could tempt him with them.
gpt
And what did he say?
human
He made my heart feel on fire at first, for he growled out `Bah! Rubbish! There, go on in.' `Savage!' I said to myself. `Just like an Englishman!'
gpt
What a brute! cried Rodd.
human
But I say, old chap, our fellows are not all like that.
gpt
No, said Morny.
human
But I hadn't done. Next minute he shouted after me, `Halt!' and when I stopped and looked round he called out, `Ahoy! Jim!' and another of the guards with his piece over his shoulder marched up to where we stood, and the man I had first spoken to turned to me and said, `Here, you tell him what you said to me.'
gpt
And did you?
human
I felt as if the words would choke me at first, but just then I seemed to see the trout hot and brown upon a dish and my father, sick and pale, looking at them longingly, and that made me speak to the other guard, who was scowling at me. And as I spoke a grim smile came over his face, and his eyes twinkled, and he showed his teeth. `All right, youngster,' he said. `Got a rod?' I shook my head. `No line? No flies?' I shook my head again and again. `All right, young 'un,' he said. `You come to me two hours before sundown; I shall be on duty then. I'll set you up with a bit of tackle. But I say, you Frenchies don't know how to throw a fly!' `I used to,' I replied, `at home, in France.' `Lor', did you?' he said. `Hear that, Billy? I never knew as a Frenchman knew how to fish. But that's all right, youngster--only my ignorance. A fisherman's a fisherman the wide world round.'
gpt
Well?
human
Well?
gpt
Go on.
human
What about?
gpt
Well, you are a chap! Don't you know I was always very fond of fishing?
human
I know you like fishing, for I saw you enjoying it that day when--
gpt
Steady!
human
I've done,
gpt
But I don't want you to have done.
human
Why, you forbade me to touch upon what you call dangerous ground.
gpt
Bah! That's another thing. I don't want you to be grateful. But of course I like to hear about you going fishing. I could almost wish that you and I could go and have a few hours together on Dartmoor now.
human
And we cannot,
gpt
No; but we might try for bonito or dolphins. But go on. I want you to tell me about how you got on. Did you go to that prison guard two hours before sundown?
human
Oh yes. He was as friendly as ever he could be, just because he found that I was fond of fishing, and lent me his rod and line and flies that he made himself, and told me the best places to go to, and he was as pleased as I was when I came back to the prison with a dozen and a half of little trout. Oh, I remember so well almost every word he said.
gpt
Well, what did he say?
human
Oh, he was a good-humoured droll fellow, though he looked so gruff, for when I showed him my fish he slapped me on the shoulder and said, `Well done, young 'un! You are one of the right sort after all.' And then he told me to take the fish into his quarters, and his missus, as he called her, would cook them for me so that I could take them to my sick father; and when I thanked him he said it was all right, and that he and his `missus' had been talking together about how bad the French captain looked, and that I had better get him a nice little dish like that as often as I could.
gpt
Here, I say, he cried,
human
Why, I have told you the story,
gpt
No, you haven't. You keep stopping short when you come to what interests me most.
human
Nonsense! You don't want me to go on telling you about catching more fish and getting them fried day after day, and about taking them up to my father.
gpt
What do you know about it? cried Rodd.
human
It's just what I do want you to tell me. Did he like them and eat them, and did they do him good? Those are the best bits.
gpt
You are a droll of boy,
human
I'm a what?
gpt
Droll of boy--_drole de garcon. C'est juste, n'est-ce pas_?
human
Oh, if you like, cried Rodd merrily;
gpt
Ah! said Morny thoughtfully.
human
The part that I remember most is feeling that somehow things are not always so black as they look, that Dartmoor was not such a dreary desert, and that the fierce frowning guards were not so hard and unpleasant as they seemed. There were times after that when I was very happy there, for my father's wound began to get better, and I found myself strong and well again. But after a time there was a new governor there, who behaved very harshly to the prisoners, and as we got well the great longing for freedom used to grow within us, and some of the men tried to escape. This made the governor more harsh and stern. We were kept more shut up--
gpt
And I suppose that made you long all the more to get free?
human
Of course, replied Morny;
gpt
You should have done it when you were out fishing,
human
Oh no. The fishing had been stopped for a long time--ever since the first attempts had been made to escape.
gpt
Oh, I see,
human
And at last the day came, continued Morny,
gpt
Look here, cried Rodd, springing up,
human
What is it, Joe?
gpt
Easy, sir! said the man softly.
human
Not too loud, he continued, from where he was seated upon the cross-trees.
gpt
I don't want to give the skipper a false alarm, else he won't believe me next time.
human
What about?
gpt
Easy, my lad! Just in a whisper like. I aren't sure, but to you I says, Land ho!
human
Whereabouts, Joe?
gpt
Ah! cried Morny, springing up.
human
Land!