CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
The next morning one of the first things that saluted Aleck's eyes onmaking his way up to the look-out on the cliff, was the sloop-of-warabout a couple of miles out, sailing very slowly along, followed at ashort distance by the Revenue cutter, and the lad had not been watchingfive minutes before he became aware of the fact that Ness Dunning's workin the garden was at a standstill, that individual being laid flat uponhis chest watching the vessels' movements through a piece of pipe.
Away to the right on the cliffs, dotted about which lay Eilygugg, therewas a white speck here and a blue speck there, and a little more intentgazing proved to the lad that there was another speck upon the edge ofthe farthest cliff in view.
"Women on the look-out to give warning to the smugglers," thought Aleck,and he hurried back to see if his uncle was down, and if he were not toreturn to the cliff-top with the glass.
But the captain was just descending, and his first words were:
"That's right, my boy; let's have breakfast. By the way, did you get mypaper?"
This started the lad, who was crammed with his news, which he hurriedlymade known.
"Humph!" said the old man. "Rather a lively experience for you, my lad;but you must be careful, for I don't want to have you in trouble overhelping smugglers to escape."
"No, uncle, of course not," said Aleck; "but do you think I did wrong?"
"Certainly, my boy. This fellow--ill-conditioned fellow Megg--wasfighting against the law. He was doubtless there on some businessconnected with smuggling, and nearly got caught by the press-gang--aninstitution I do not admire, but those in authority consider it anecessity for the supply of the Navy. Keep away from all these worries,and as much as possible from Rockabie and its young ruffians."
"Yes, uncle; but I really did not seek to be amongst all that businessin Rockabie yesterday," pleaded Aleck.
"Of course not, my boy, and you need not look so penitent. The law'sthe law, of course, but I'm afraid if I had been appealed to as you werelast night I should have done the same, and given the scoundrel a goodtalking to as I brought him away. There, have no more to do with it,and keep out of sight if there are boats landed, as there most probablywill be, to make a search."
"But suppose the officers land and know me again, uncle?"
"There, there, I'm just in the midst of a tiresomely intricate chapterof my book, and don't want to have my attention taken off."
"No, uncle, of course not; but if the officers and men know me again?"
"Why, let them, my lad. You were doing no harm, and they can do younone. Now let's finish our breakfast."
"Shall I stay in, uncle?" said Aleck. "Tom Bodger slept down in theboat last night, and I wanted to take him some breakfast."
"Go and take it then, of course."
"And then stay in?"
"No, no; nonsense. Now don't bother me any more."
"I won't get into any trouble," Aleck said to himself, as he hurriedout, armed with two huge sandwiches and a mug of well-sweetened coffee,with which he got on pretty well going through the garden, hardlyspilling a drop, till he was startled by the voice of the gardener,saying, from the other side, in anticipation:
"Thankye, Master Aleck. That's very good of yer."
That startling made the lad half stop, and about a tablespoonful of thehot preparation flew out on to the path. But Aleck paid no attention,not even turning his head, but increasing his pace, with the mugtroubling him a good deal in his efforts to preserve the liquid in astate of equilibrium in a rapidly descending and very slippery anduneven rocky path.
"I daresay you'd like it," muttered Aleck, as he hurried on, followeddirectly after by:
"I'm over here, Master Aleck."
"Thank you for the information, Ness, but they say none are so deaf asthose who will not hear."
At the next zigzag of the path he was out of sight and hearing, and afew minutes later close upon the niche devoted to his boat, with the bigsandwiches complete, and quite three parts of the coffee in the mug.
"Sorry to have been so long, Tom," he cried, breathlessly, "but hereyou--"
Aleck was going to say _are_, but he felt that it would not be correct,for Tom was not there, nor anywhere within sight down the narrowwaterway in the direction of the sea. He had left tokens of hispresence in the shape of tidy touches, for the boat tackle had all beentaken out and stowed away in the overhanging cavernous part, and theboat lay ready for any amount of necessary repairs, for, in spite of thesailor's declaration the previous evening, she had been leaking to suchan extent during the night since she had been tied up, that she was onequarter full of water.
"Why, he ought to have stopped to mend the hole properly. Seen themen-o'-war coming, I suppose, and gone back to Rockabie so as not to befound if the sailors come searching here. But how stupid! What am I todo with this coffee and bacon?"
A moment was sufficient for his decision, and he turned and hurriedback, made straight for the tool-house, where he placed the mug on thebench, with the sandwiches carefully balanced across. Then, carefullykeeping out of the gardener's sight till the last minute, he turned downa path which led him near, and then, putting his hands to his lips, heshouted:
"Ness!"
"Yes, Master Aleck," came directly from where the man was making believeto have been busy for hours.
"I've put some coffee and something to eat in the tool-shed," bellowedAleck. "Let him think what he likes," he muttered, as he ran backindoors, obtained the glass, and was off again to make for the cliff andwatch the proceedings of the men-o'-war.
Their proceedings seemed to be nil, for both vessels were hove to, andafter watching them for a few minutes by means of the glass, Aleckclosed it, and hung about, undecided what to do.
A minute later he had made up his mind, for the cave in which thesmugglers' boats lay drawn up attracted him, and he was level with thecottages and preparing to descend when it occurred to him that he hadbetter not go, for if Eben had been suspicious of his visit and ready tothink him guilty of giving information to the press-gang people andRevenue men, it was quite possible that others there might be the same,while doubtless the women who had lost son, husband, or father duringthe past night would be in no pleasant temper to encounter.
So instead of descending, Aleck went on in the direction of the greatgap in the cliff where he had had so exciting an encounter with thesmuggler, intending to make for the shelf again so as to sit down andwatch the sloop and cutter, but only to find when he reached the place,that the view in that direction was cut off by towering rocks.
Consequently he climbed back, went round the head of the deep combe, andcrept round to the other side, mounted to the top, and then stoodlooking down into another of the great rifts in the coast-line, onewhich had perpendicular sides, the haunt of wild fowl, going sheer downto the water, which here came several hundred yards right into the land.
There were plenty of capital places here where a strong-headed personcould go and perch and excite no more notice than a sea-bird. They werewhat ordinary inshore folk would have called "terribly dangerous," butsuch an idea never occurred to Aleck, who selected one of the mostrisky, in a spot where the vast wall where he stood was gashed by agreat crack, which allowed of a descent of some thirty feet to a broadledge littered by the preenings of the sea-birds, which seemed, thoughnone were present, to have made it their home.
It was a delightful spot for anyone who could climb to it withoutgrowing giddy; but there was no going farther, for the angle of theledge was quite straight, and when the lad peered over he was lookingstraight into the gurgling, foaming and fretting water a hundred feetbelow.
"What a boat cove that would have made," he thought, "if there were notso many sharp rocks rising from the bottom! I shouldn't like to try andtake my kittiwake in there, big as it is."
The gloomy place, with its black shadowy niches and caves at the surfaceof the water, had a strange fascination for him. In fact, with itssolemn t
wilight and irregular crag, arch and hollow, it looked quite anideal entrance to some mermaid city such as is described by the poetswho deal in fable.
But there were the two little men-o'-war to watch, and Aleck drew back astep or two from the edge to select a comfortable seat, where the colourof the rock which rose up behind was likely to assimilate with hisgarments and not throw him up as a plainly-seen watcher if a telescopewere directed shoreward from one of the vessels.
"I wonder whether the smugglers ever come here," thought Aleck, as helooked at the face of the rock in a spot that just suited his purpose;and then he laughed to himself and felt no doubt at all, for there, justlevel with his face, and about eighteen inches within a crack in therock, a shabby old horn lanthorn was wedged, and just below it was atinder-box and a square wide-mouthed bottle, well corked, evidently toprotect its contents from the spray which would come rushing up frombelow in a storm, the contents being so many thin slips of wood, whosesharply-pointed ends had been dipped in molten brimstone.
"One of their look-outs," he said to himself, as he turned again to sitdown, but only to start and crouch upon his knees in surprise; for closeup to the rock wall, half hidden by a tuft of sea-pink and grey seaholly, was a very old ragged black silk neckerchief, folded and creasedas if lately torn off, and bearing strange rusty dark stains, dry andunpleasant-looking, and with very little consideration Aleck settled inhis own mind that, if it were not the kerchief Tom had torn from hisneck to wind round the smuggler's wound, it was as like it as could be.
It did not look a nice thing to take up and handle, but the lad bentlower, before rising up to say, decisively:
"It must be, I'm sure, for I almost seem to know the holes. Then Ebenmust have been here this morning watching for the press-gang people."
Another thought flashed across the lad's brain directly:
"Perhaps he's close by somewhere, watching me."
This thought produced a very uncomfortable feeling, and Aleck wasdivided between two forces which pulled different ways. One was to--asTom Bodger called it--look out for squalls, the other to sit down quitecalm and unconcerned to watch the vessels.
"I can't help it if Eben does fancy I'm watching his proceedings; hemust feel that I should be longing to know what is going on. No, afterlast night I'm sure he won't think I should make signals to the ships.Why should I? There's nothing to signal about."
He focussed and re-focussed the glass, and held its larger end towardsthe sloop and placed one eye at the little orifice; but the left wouldnot close and the right would not look at the sloop, but persisted inrolling about in every direction in search of Eben, who, the boy feltcertain now, must be crouching back in one of the rugged clefts watchingevery movement he made.
Aleck did the best he could to look calm and unconcerned, but anyone whohad seen him from near at hand would have pronounced it as being adismal failure.
Then all at once he started. Down went the glass, and he craned forwardtowards the edge of the shelf to look down, for all at once there was ahoarse rumbling sound and a tremendous plash and crash as if a mass ofrock had fallen from somewhere beneath him right into the rock-strewngully below.
He could not resist the desire to lie down upon his breast and edgehimself forward till his face was over the edge and he could look rightdown into the water, which was all in motion, swaying and eddying,foaming round the half-submerged blocks of weed-hung stone, and behavinggenerally according to its custom as the tide went and came, for thesechasms displayed little change, the water being very deep and neverleaving any part of the bottom bare.
There was nothing fresh to see, and after a time the lad drew back, toresume his old attitude with the glass to his eye.
But he had hardly settled down again before he experienced a slightquivering sensation, as if the cliff had suddenly received a blow, whiledirectly after there was a deep roar as of stones falling along somevast slope. Then once more silence, with the water whispering andgurgling far below.
"Part of the cliff given way," thought Aleck, as he called to mindplaces here and there where masses of the rocky rampart which guardedthe western shores had evidently fallen, and about which he had heardtraditionary stories. But these falls had taken place in far distanttimes. No one that he had heard speak of them could go farther backthan chronicling the event as something of which "my grandfather heeredtell."
Aleck thought no more of the sounds and went on watching the twovessels, till suddenly they seemed to be doing something in the way ofaction. A boat was lowered from each, and the lad's glass was powerfulenough to enable him to make out the faces of the officers in thestern-sheets, one of whom was the midshipman who had charge of the boatat Rockabie pier.
Aleck watched the boats rowing shoreward and separating after a time,one of the sloop's making for the Eilygugg cove, the other rowing in thedirection of the gap which led up to the depression in which lay theDen.
Feeling that he would like to be at home if the boat entered theirprivate chasm, as the lad dubbed it, he turned back along the cliff andreached the garden so as to descend to the mooring-place just in time tosee the cutter's boat framed in the opening, the dark rocks round andabove, and the little craft floating upon a background of opalescent seaand sky.
"They can't have come right in," thought Aleck, and after a time he madefor the cliff again to get near the edge and look down, in time to seethat both boats were being rowed back to their respective vessels.
An hour after they were slowly gliding away in the direction ofRockabie, their examination having been of the most perfunctory kind.