*CHAPTER XLIV*
*"QUO VADIS, PETRE?"*
Ere the darkness had given place to the dawn we three were lying in acopse of hazel bushes not far from the Castle of Caerlaverock within astone's throw of the sea. On leaving Nunholm we had made a detour so asto avoid the town, and struck the road to Glencaple far outside itsboundaries.
The journey, made in stealth, had been without adventure. Hector ledthe way; Mary and I followed close behind him arm in arm. We had spokenlittle; Mary and I hardly at all, for the touch of her arm in mine,tender as a caress, was more eloquent than speech; but Hector found timeto tell all he had done since the moment of my escape from the Tolbooth.
For him the intervening hours had been crowded. He had gone to the caveat the Linn to fetch the minister to marry us: but he had also devised ameans to help us back to England, and it was for this end that he hadbrought us to the place where we were.
"There was juist ae thing I failed to do, for I hadna the time," hesaid. "I intended to speir again at the widda, for I should ha'e been aprood man tae ha'e been mairried at the same time as yoursels. But thewidda maun juist bide my time. She's kept me waitin' lang enough.She'll maybe appreciate me a' the mair if I keep her waitin' in turn.Nae doot she'll miss me, for I'm comin' wi' ye as far as the Isle o'Man. Ye see this affair will mak' a terrible steer in the toon o'Dumfries; and it will be safer for me to be oot o' the road till thestorm blaws by. Forby, it will gi'e me the chance o' introducin' mymagical salve to the Island. Anthony Kerruish, the maister o' the_Sea-mew_, tells me that it is no kent there, and besides if I had aquate six months in the island I micht get on wi' that _magnum opus_ o'mine."
Mary and I were delighted to learn that he was coming with us, for wellwe knew that he could stay behind only at grave risk. As we thankedhim, with full hearts, for all he had done, he held up a deprecatinghand.
"Hoots," he said, "I've dune naething: and in ony case I took my fee o'Mistress Bryden's cheeks." He laughed quietly as he stole out of thecopse.
Dawn was breaking. The dark shadow of Criffel was turning to a ghostlygrey, and on the face of the water we could see, about half a mile away,a little barque lying at anchor. Hector lit a candle, and taking offhis bonnet passed it in front of the light twice. Then he blew thecandle out. His signal had been seen; a little answering light flashedfor a moment on the deck of the barque, and was gone. Then a man droppedinto the boat that nestled under the lee of the barque, and began topull towards the shore. As he drove the boat on to the sand we slippedout of our shelter. I took Mary in my arms, and, wading out into thetawny water, I placed her in the boat. Then I jumped in. Hector, closebehind me, flung a leg into the boat: then I heard him sigh so deeplythat I thought he had bruised himself. I turned, and saw him withdrawhis leg, and seize the boat by the prow. With a mighty shove he senther off the sand into the deep water, and stood erect gazing after her.
"Good-bye," he said, with a tremor in his voice, as he took off hisbonnet.
"Good-bye?" I exclaimed doubtingly. "What do you mean? I thought youwere coming with us?"
"So I was," he answered. "But I remembered Peter: and I'm gaun back.My work's no' feenished yet." And with that he splashed out of thewater and disappeared into the copse.
But we saw him again. When we were safely on board the barque, and theanchor was up, and the skipper and his men were setting their sails tothe breeze, Mary and I stood on the poop and looked anxiously back tothe little wood by the water-side. A figure came out of the shadows andwaved a hand. We waved back in answer, and the figure disappeared.