CHAPTER XXXV
SKIRTING THE BREAKERS
As the party filed out of the low dungeon door, each of them ofnecessity stepped over the prostrate body of Misfortunate Colin. Thefates that sport with destiny had offered him up a sacrifice to thewrath of his chief, in order that luckier men might go scatheless.
"It micht just as weel hae been Alister, my man!" said Bess; "for hewill be as drunk as the lave, or maybe a kennin waur! But then Alisterhas been a fortunate man a' his days--no' like that puir tyke therethat never supped meal porridge but he choked himsel' wi' the spoon!"
It was a night clear and infinite with stars when the four--Kate,Wat, Scarlett, and Bess--took up each their share of the arms andprovisions, which the last-named had provided in the shelter ofthe dike. The air was still. There was no sound save the ceaselesssoughing whisper of the mighty salt river as it rushed northward pastthe isle--the strange pervading sound of the Suck gurgling afar likethe boiling of a pot. Only at intervals and from a distance came theshouting of choruses and the loud "_Hooch!_" of some reveller yet inthe active stages of drinking long life and prosperity to the returnedchieftain.
As soon as they had passed the ridge and left the village behind them,Wat paused for a consultation.
"'Tis little use," he said, "to think of making a raft at this timeof night. Yet certain it is that we must be clear of the isle by themorning--that is, if one of us is to remain alive."
"I for ane am gaun to bide on Suliscanna!" said Mistress McAlister.
"There is but one way that I can think of," continued Wat, not heedingher; "there are two boats at the landing-place. I saw the men unloadingthem when I landed to-night. Now we could not take the larger of theseinto the tide-race, but if the tide be favorable we might seize thesmaller and pilot it through the sea-cavern, by which I came hither, tomy hiding-place on the isle of Fiara."
Jack Scarlett nodded silent assent as he listened to Wat's suggestion.The night-air had restored all his confidence, and he felt ready foranything. So on the darksome ridge overlooking the landing-place thetwo women were left to consume their souls with impatience, while Watand Scarlett, with their daggers in their hands, stole stealthily downto effect their desperate capture.
The boats lay together on the inner side of a little stone breakwater.They were not drawn up on the beach, but secured stem and stern withropes, and floated in the gentle undulation of the tide. Wat andScarlett strained their eyes into the darkness for a sight of anywatch. But spite of the stars, the night was too impenetrable for themto distinguish the presence of any human being on board.
Wat dropped into the water, having left his powder and shot, togetherwith the pistols, in the care of Scarlett. He swam a few strokes out tothe boat and listened. In the larger he could clearly distinguish thebreathing of two men. The other appeared to be entirely empty. PromptlyWat cut the cord which secured the stem, and let that boat fall awayand swing round with her head towards the shore. Then beckoningScarlett, whose figure he could discern black against the sand of thebeach, Wat stepped on board. Scarcely was he over the side when hisfoot trod on the soft body of a man. Wat was on him in a moment and hadthe fellow by the throat. But the helpless gurgle of his respiration,and the pervading smell of Hollands which disentangled itself fromevery part of his person, convinced Wat that he had nothing to fearfrom the crew of this boat.
There remained the other and larger, which was anchored farther outin the water of the little harbor. Cautiously Wat lifted the smalldouble-pronged anchor, which still held their first prize. Scarletwaded in and was helped over the side. The tide swept them slowly roundtowards the larger vessel in which Wat had heard the breathing of men.Presently their boat went groaning and wheezing against the side-planksof her companion. Wat promptly and silently secured his position withthe five-pronged boat-anchor which he had kept beside him for thepurpose.
Scarlett and he were on board in a moment, and Wat found himself inthe heat of a combat with a man who struck at him with a bar of ironas he came over the side. But the striker's companion did not move tohis assistance, and with Wat's hand at his throat and Scarlett's kneeon his breast, resistance was very brief indeed. A lantern was burninginside a small coil of ropes. This Wat folded in the cloak with whichthe sleepy-headed watch had been covering themselves in the bottom ofthe boat, and let a ray of its light fall on the faces of his captives.Both were known to him. They were the Calf and the Killer, the twoinevitable scoundrels of Haxo the Bull's retinue.
"What shall we do with these fellows?" said Wat, looking up,disgustedly.
"Sink them with the boat," said Scarlett, promptly.
Wat shook his head. They lay so still and they looked so helpless--eventhe Killer, who had struck at Wat, was now resting his head on thethwart in perfect unconsciousness.
"We must get the drunken scoundrels ashore somehow," said Wat.
"We will tie them together with the rope, turn them over the side,and haul them ashore with the slack," said Scarlett; "and if itchance to break, why, so much the better." Without another word themaster-at-arms set to work, packing the Calf and the Killer together asif they had been a couple of trussed chickens, exploring their pocketsfor plunder as he did so.
"Let the poor rascals' wallets alone, Jack!" cried Wat, indignantly.
"Nay, lad," quoth Scarlett, with imperturbable philosophy, possessinghimself as he spoke of a clasp-knife and a flagon of strong waters,"the art of forage and requisition from the enemy is of the veryessence of war, as the great Conde used often to say."
Presently Scarlett paid out the spare rope to Wat, who took it ashorewith him. The bodies dropped without a splash into the water, and Wat,aided by the current, soon brought them to land and hauled them out ofthe water on to the pebbles. Then came Scarlett with a couple of ballsof tow for plugging seams, which he thrust with gusto into their mouths.
"That will keep things safe," he said. "I trust neither of these goodgentlemen is afflicted with a cold in his head, or else he might beliable to choke, and so find himself in warmer and drier quarters athis awaking!"
But the Calf and the Killer lay like brothers in each other's arms,breathing gently and equably.
There remained but the man on the first and smaller boat. Wat climbedback to him. He had not stirred. Then Lochinvar let a single ray of theKiller's lantern fall on his face. He whistled softly at what he saw,and beckoned Scarlett. It was none other than Wise Jan Pettigrew wholay there, overcome by the potency of the spirits supplied by the Chiefof Suliscanna.
Wat now went back to the women. He found them where they had been left,and Kate hurried forward.
"You are not hurt, Wat?" she said, anxiously, taking him by the hand,"nor Scarlett?"
"No," said Wat; "but we must hasten to the boats. We have taken themboth safely."
So the two women accompanied him down to the harbor. Scarlett hadmeanwhile been getting all the useful cargo out of the larger boat, andby this time he had it piled up promiscuously about the unconsciousbody of Wise Jan.
Before Kate went aboard the elder woman clung to her and kissed her inthe darkness.
"My lassie, are ye feared?"
"Feared?" said Kate, "why should I be afraid; am I not all his? I wouldnot be feared to go to the world's end with him."
Bess Landsborough sighed as if that did not greatly improve the case,but she only said: "God keep you, my lassie, and let me see you soonagain. I declare ye hae grown to be the very light o' my e'en eversince I took ye first to my arms in the cabin o' the _Sea Unicorn_."
It was the plan of Wat and Scarlett to take both boats as far out tosea as possible, to scuttle one there, and then to make trial of thedangerous passage of the sea-cave with the smaller and more easilyhandled vessel.
The tide was now on the strong ebb, and there was a smart swirl ofcurrent setting through the narrow entrance of the harbor. Wat cut therope of the larger boat which alone secured her to the shore.
"God in heaven bless you, good friend of ours!" said Wat
, stooping tokiss the rough brave woman who had so loyally helped them, "till we canall be happy together in our own country."
"Na," she said, "fare ye weel forever; I hae to bide by Alister, myman. I shall see your faces nae mair. O, my bairn, my bairn!"
And the heartsome, snell--tongued, tender woman turned away with thetears falling fast upon the bosom of her gown.
Wat pushed off in the smaller boat, with the larger towing behind, and,being empty, standing much higher out of the water. The current caughtthem. The next moment the hiss of the ebb under their counter sank tosilence. The talking sound of the ripples along their sides ceased. Theboats were going out with the tide, and Wat had nothing to do but sitand guide them.
It was wonderful how clear it was outside, even a short distance awayfrom the loom of the land. They kept close in to the shore, and atfirst the ebb seemed to favor them, for they made way rapidly, driftingtowards the mouth of the goe by which they must enter the water-cavern,and attempt that dangerous passage through to the isle of Fiara.
By keeping close in shore they found themselves in a sort of canal ofdeep water, at least fifty feet across, beyond which the tide and theunderlying rocks strove together on the edge of the Suck, throwing upshort foam-crested waves as on a sand-bar.
Wat was now about to attempt a dangerous feat. It was manifestlyimpossible that they could tow the larger boat through the narrows ofthe goe. And yet to leave it on the beach was simply to put facilitiesfor pursuit into the hands of men inflamed to the highest degree by thethought of revenge and the anger of their chief, as well as perfectlyacquainted with every state of the tide and at home in the swirl of themultitudinous currents.
"WAT PUSHED OFF IN THE SMALLER BOAT"]
Wat had resolved to destroy the larger boat on the edge of thetide-race, so that even if she did not sink at once she would becarried far past the island of Suliscanna. He therefore put theskiff in which he and Scarlett were rowing boldly in the direction ofthe broken water of the tide-race. He well knew the danger, yet for thesake of their future safety on Fiara he resolved to risk it.
The tide fairly thundered as it tore northward, and when they drew nearto it time and again Scarlett glanced apprehensively over his shoulder.A thin, misty drizzle of spray as from a water-fall began to fall ontheir faces. Right ahead of them appeared the foam-flecked back of theSuck, like a river in spate rushing out into the smooth waters of alake. They could see the breakers ahead of them flashing palely whitein the starlight, and hear the bullers crying aloud to each other alongthe shore.
Suddenly Wat stopped rowing.
"Back water, Jack!" he cried. "I am going into the big boat asternto scuttle her. Hand me the mallet. I must loosen that Portsmouthsea-lawyer." This was a long cross-headed plug which stopped up a holein the boat's bottom, and which commonly was concealed from sight bythe planks covering the bilge at the stern.
Two blows were sufficient to make the "Portsmouth lawyer" quit hisgrip. The plug had apparently only been adjusted that day, and hadindeed never been properly driven home. But Wat was not contentwith this. He seized the axe which he found on board, and drove itvigorously through the planking of the sides, low down below thewater-line, till the salt-water came bubbling up. Then he hauled in therope by which the boat was attached to the lighter skiff in which Kateand Scarlett sat. As the prow of the scuttled boat touched the stern ofthe other, Wat stepped on board with the hatchet in his hand. Then witha sharply trenchant "chip" he severed the tow-rope, and the doomed boatinstantly fell away towards the white line of the breakers which theyhad so perilously skirted.