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[Illustration: "Quite a little party of friends to see him off." (p.
155)]




   HIS BIG OPPORTUNITY

   BY AMY LE FEUVRE

   Author of "Probable Sons," "The Odd One,"
   "Teddy's Button," etc, etc.

   1898




Contents


Chapters

I. On the Garden Wall

II. A Song

III. Making An Opportunity

IV. An Awkward Visit

V. A Lost Donkey

VI. Rob

VII. A Walnut Story

VIII. The Bertrams' Leap

IX. Making His Leap

X. A <DW36>

XI. A Gift to the Queen

XII. Letters

XIII. Old Principle

XIV. Heroes

XV. An Unwelcome Proposal

XVI. David and Jonathan

XVII. Boy's Big Opportunity




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.



Quite a Little Party of Friends to See Him Off

Old Principle Laughed at Dudley's Notion

"Now Then, You Rascals, What Are You Doing to My Donkey?"

"He's Dead, Ben--He's Dead!"




I


ON THE GARDEN WALL

They were sitting astride on the top of the old garden wall. Below them
on the one side stretched a sweet old-fashioned English garden lying in
the blaze of an August sun. In the distance, peeping from behind a
wealth of creepers and ivy was the old stone house. It was at an hour in
the afternoon when everything seemed to be at a standstill: two or three
dogs lay on the soft green lawn fast asleep, an old gardener smoking his
pipe and sitting on the edge of a wheelbarrow seemed following their
example; and birds and insects only kept up a monotonous and drowsy
dirge.

But the two little figures clad in white cricketting flannels, were full
of life and motion as they kept up an eager and animated conversation on
their lofty seat.

"You see, Dudley, if nothing happens, we will make it happen!"

"Then it isn't an opportunity."

"Yes it is. Why if those old fellows in olden times hadn't ridden off to
look for adventures they would never have found them at home."

"But an opportunity isn't an adventure."

"Yes, it is, you stupid! An adventure is something that happens, and so
is an opportunity."

The little speaker who announced this logic so dogmatically, was a slim
delicate boy with white face, and large brown eyes, and a crop of dark
unruly curls that had a trick of defying the hair cutter's skill, and of
growing so erratically that "Master Roy's head," was pronounced quite
unmanageable.

He was not a pretty boy, and was in delicate health, constantly subject
to attacks of bronchitis and asthma, yet his spirit was undaunted, and
as his old nurse often said, "his soul was too strong for his body."

Dudley, his little cousin, who sat facing him, on the contrary, was a
true specimen of a handsome English boy. Chestnut hair and bright blue
eyes, rosy cheeks, and an upright sturdy carriage, did much to commend
him to every one's favor: yet for force of character and intellect he
came far behind Roy.

He sat now pondering Roy's words, and kicking his heels against the
wall, whilst his eyes roved over the road on the outside of the garden
and away to a dark pine wood opposite.

"Here's one coming then," he said, suddenly; "now you'll have to use
it."

"Who? What? Where?"

"It's a man; a tramp, a traveller or a highwayman, and he may be all the
lot together! It's an opportunity, isn't it?"

Roy looked down the narrow lane outside the wall, and saw the figure of
a man approaching. His face lit up with eager resolve.

"He's a stranger, Dudley; he doesn't belong to the village; we'll ask
him who he is."

"Hulloo, you fellow," shouted Dudley in his shrill boyish treble; "where
do you come from? You don't belong to this part."

The man looked up at the boys curiously.

"And who may ye be, a-wall climbin' and a breakin' over in folks'
gardens to steal their fruit?"

"Don't you cheek us," said Roy, throwing his head up, and putting on his
most autocratic air; "this is our garden and our wall, and the road
you're walking on is our private road!"

"Then don't you take to insulting passers-by, or it will be the worse
for ye!" retorted the man.

The boys were silent.

"I'm sure he isn't an opportunity," whispered Dudley.

But Roy would not be disconcerted.

"Look here," he said, adopting a conciliatory tone; "we're looking out
for an opportunity to do some one some good, and then you came along,
that's why we spoke to you. Now just tell us if we can do it to you."

"Yes," Dudley struck in: "you seem rather down, do you want anything
that we can give you?"

The man glanced up at them to see if this was boyish impudence, but the
faces bending down were earnest and grave enough, and he said with a
short laugh,--

"Oh, I reckon there be just a few things I'm in want of; but as to your
givin' of them to me that be quite a different matter. Don't suppose ye
carry about jobs ready to hand in yer pockets, nor yet my set of tools
in pawn, nor yet a pint o' beer and a good hunk of bread and meat for a
starvin' feller! May be ye could tell me the way to the nearest pub, and
stand me a drink there!"

Roy thrust his hand immediately into his pocket, and pulled out amongst
a confused mass of boys' treasures a sixpence.

"I'll give you this if it will do you good," he said, holding it up
proudly. "I've kept it a whole two days without spending it. It will
give you some beer and bread and cheese, I expect. Is there anything
else we can do for you?"

"If you go to Mr. Selby, the rector, he'll put you in the way of work,"
shouted out Dudley, as the man catching the sixpence flung down to him
slouched off with muttered thanks.

"No parsons for me," was the rejoinder.

The boys watched his figure disappear down the road, and then Roy said
reflectively,--

"Too many opportunities like that would empty our pockets."

"And I wonder if it will really do him good," said Dudley; then glancing
over into the garden, he added: "Here comes Aunt Judy, she's calling
us."

Down the winding gravel path came their aunt; a strikingly handsome
woman. She looked up at her little nephews and laughed when she came to
the wall.

"Oh, you imps, do you know I've been hunting for you everywhere! You
will have a fall like Humpty Dumpty if you choose such high perches. Now
what comfort can you find, may I ask, in such a blazing breakneck seat?
Do you find broken bottles a soft cushion?"

"We've cleared those rotten things away here," said Dudley, preparing to
clamber down; "it's our watch tower, and we've a first-rate view, you
just come up and see!"

"Thank you, I would rather not attempt the climb. What have you been
talking about? Jonathan looks as grave as a judge."

Roy looked down at his aunt without moving.

"If you won't laugh or tell granny, we'll tell you, because you never
split if you say you won't."

"All right, I promise."

"Well, you see, this morning Mr. Selby gave us this for our copy: 'As ye
have opportunity do good unto all men,' and he told us of a King
somebody--I forget who--who used to write down at the end of each day on
a slate,--if he hadn't done any good to any one,--'I've lost a day.' We
thought it would be a good plan to start this afternoon and see what we
could do. We tried on old Hal first, but he didn't seem to like it. He
was uncovering some of the frames, and so we went and uncovered all of
them, and then he said we had spoilt some of his seedlings, and nearly
went into a fit with rage. I turned the hose on him to cool him down. He
is asleep in the wheelbarrow now; we can see him from here. We really
came up here to get out of his way, his language was awful!"

"Come down, you monkey. I can't carry on a conversation with you so far
above me. Softly now. Bless the boys, how they can stick their toes into
such a wall is past my comprehension! Granny wants to see you before
your tea, so come along. And who else has been benefited by your good
deeds?"

They were walking toward the house by this time, each boy hanging on to
one of her arms. It was easy to see the affection between them.

Dudley eagerly poured out the story of the tramp, and Miss Bertram
listened sympathetically.

"Never send a man to a public house, boys--and never give him money for
beer. Perhaps he may have come down in the world through love of it. You
know I am always ready to give any one a relief ticket. That's the best
way to help such cases."

"Yes, but that would be your doing not ours."

"Money is a difficult way of helping," said Miss Bertram; "don't get
into the habit of thinking money is the only thing that will do people
good. It too often does them harm."

"Oh, I say! that's hard lines on me, when my last sixpence has gone, and
I was going to get a stunning ball old Principle has in his shop!"

Miss Bertram laughed at Roy's woe-begone little face.

"Never mind," she said, consolingly; "your intentions were good, and you
must buy your experience by mistakes as you go through life. Now go into
granny softly, both of you, and talk nicely to her. She will be one
person you can do good to, by brightening her up a little."

Dudley made a grimace at Roy; but both boys entered the house, and
crept into a cool half-darkened drawing-room on tiptoe, with hushed
voices and sober demeanor. A stern looking old lady sat upright in her
easy chair, knitting busily. She greeted the boys rather coldly.

"What have you been doing with yourselves? I sent for you some time ago.
Do you not remember that I like you to come to me every afternoon about
this hour?"

"Yes, granny," said Roy, climbing into an easy chair opposite her; "we
were coming only we didn't know it was so late: we were busy talking."

"Boys' chatter ought not to come before a grandmother's wishes."

There was silence; then Dudley struck in boldly:

"We were talking about good things, granny. It wasn't chatter. Roy and I
are going to look out for opportunities every day of our lives. Do you
think an opportunity is the same as an adventure? I don't think you have
adventures of doing good, do you?"

"Yes," asserted Roy, bobbing up and down in his chair excitedly; "King
Arthur and his knights did always. They never rode through a wood
without having an adventure, and it was always doing good, wasn't it,
granny?"

Conversation never slackened when the boys were present, and Mrs.
Bertram, though shrinking at all times from their high spirits and love
of fun, yet looked forward every day to their short visit. She was a
confirmed invalid, and rarely left the house, and her daughter Julia in
consequence took her place as mistress over the household.

Three years before, Roy and Dudley arrived within a month of each other,
to find a home with their grandmother. Roy, whose proper name was
Fitzroy, came from Canada, both his parents having died out there.
Dudley's father had died when he was a baby, but his mother had married
again in India; and upon her death which occurred not long after, his
stepfather had sent him home to his grandmother. From the first day that
they met, the boys were sworn friends; and their aunt dubbed them
"David" and "Jonathan" after having been an unseen witness of a very
solemn vow transacted between them under the shadow of the pines, only a
week after their meeting.

Roy's delicate health was a cause of great anxiety to his grandmother,
and if it had not been for Miss Bertram's wise tact and judgment, he
would have been imprisoned in one room and swathed in cotton wool most
of the year round. He had the advantage of having an old nurse who had
brought him up from his birth, and had come from Canada with him; and
she was as vigilant and experienced in managing his ailments as could be
desired. Poor little Roy, with his uncertain health, was heir to a very
large property of his father's not far away; and the responsibilities
awaiting him, and the knowledge that he would have so much power in his
hands, perhaps had the effect of making him weigh life more seriously
than would most boys of his age.

Later on after their visit to their grandmother was over, and tea had
been finished in the nursery, he wandered into his own little room, and
leaning out of his window, looked up into the clear sky above.

"I feel so small," was his wistful thought, "and heaven is so big; but
I'll do something big enough to get, 'Well done good and faithful
servant,' said to me when I die, I hope. And I'll try every day till I
do it!"




II


A SONG

"Come here, boys. I have had some new music from town, and here is a
song that you will like to listen to, I expect."

It was Miss Bertram who spoke, and her appearance in the nursery just
saved a free fight. Wet afternoons were always a sore trial to the boys:
their mornings were generally spent at the Rectory under Mr. Selby's
tuition, but their afternoons were their own, and it was hard to be kept
within four walls, and expected to make no sound to disturb their
grandmother's afternoon nap.

The old nurse was nodding in her chair, and her charges with jackets off
and rolled up shirt sleeves were advancing toward each other on tiptoe,
and muttering their threats in wrathful whispers.

"I'll show you I'm no coddle!"

"And I'll show you I'm no lazy lubber!"

At the sound of their aunt's voice they stopped; and each picked up his
jacket with some confusion, Dudley saying contentedly, "All right, old
fellow, pax now, and we'll finish it up to-morrow."

"Aunt Judy, do let us come into the drawing-room then, and hear you
sing; we're sick of this old nursery, we're too big to be kept here."

Roy spoke scornfully, but his aunt shook her head at him:

"Do you know this is the room I love