CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
Comfortably settled down at the Den as Aleck's guest and made mostwelcome, the middy felt not the slightest inclination to stir; but allthrough life there is to all of us the call of duty, and the lad wasready to recommence his, and eager to report to headquarters hisdiscovery of the notorious smugglers' cave.
Enquiries at Rockabie proved that the sloop and cutter had both sailed,so a letter had to convey some of the information--"a despatch," theyoung officer called it; and after it was sent he constituted himselfguardian of the smugglers' treasure and headed a little expedition,composed of Aleck and Tom Bodger, to examine the land way down into thecave, which they approached by a rope provided by Tom, who said hedidn't "keer" about jumping down from that there shelf, because his legswere so stiff.
Then a descent was made by the sloping zigzag paths, till the corner wasreached, about half way down, where the way was blocked.
"Only fancy," said Aleck. "How we did fight to get out from below, andit's all as simple as can be from up here."
And so it was, for three stones had been drawn down the slope, onepartly over the other and the other fitting nicely to either, but onlyrequiring a little effort to pull them back, _after_--
Yes, it was after one smaller wedge-shaped piece had been lifted out byTom Bodger, this wedge being like a key stone or bolt to hold the othersin place so tightly that it was impossible so shift them from below.
Tom Bodger had just removed the last stone into a big recess, which hadprobably been formed by the smugglers to hold them, when the middyturned round sharply upon a dark figure which had, unseen before, beenfollowing them.
"Hallo!" he cried. "Who are you?"
"It's me, sir--Dunning, sir--the captain's gardener, sir. Come to see,sir, if I could be of any help."
"No," cried Aleck, sharply, "you've come to play the spy, you deceitfulold rascal."
"Oh, Master Aleck, sir!" whined the man, "how can you say such a thing?"
"Because I know you by heart. You've been hand and glove with thesmugglers all through."
"Master Aleck, sir!"
"That will do," cried the lad, indignantly. "I've never told my unclewhat I've seen or heard, but I must now, and you know what to expect."
"Master Aleck!"
"That's it, is it?" said the middy. "He's one of the gang, and ofcourse I shall make him a prisoner as soon as we get out. Here, you,Bodger, I order you in the King's name to take that man prisoner."
"Ay, ay, sir," cried Tom, and he made a move towards the gardener.
But it was ineffective, for the man suddenly thrust out a foot andhooked one of the pensioner's wooden legs off the stone floor of theslope, giving him a sharp thrust in the chest at the same time.
There is a game called skittles, or, more properly, ninepins, in whichif you strike one of the pins deftly it carries on the blow to the next,which follows suit, and so on, till the blow given to number one hasresulted in all nine being laid low.
"Jes' like ninepins, Master Aleck," said Tom, "only there's nobbut threeon us. I beg your pardon, sir; I couldn't help it."
"No, no, no, no, no!" roared Aleck, each utterance being a part of ahearty laugh, for the gardener had knocked Tom over, Tom had upset him,and the blow he carried on to the midshipman had sent the latter rollingdown the slope, to come raging up as soon as he could gain his feet andclimb back.
"What are you laughing at?" he shouted.
"It was so comic," panted Aleck, wiping his eyes.
"Shall I go arter him, sir?" said Tom.
"No, no. He is half way to the top by now."
"Yes, yes," cried the middy; "and look sharp, or perhaps he'll be tryingto shut us up again."
"Not he," said Aleck; "he won't stop till he is safe. I don't believewe shall see the lazy old scoundrel again."
Aleck's words proved to be true.
Later on he and his party made their way up to the smugglers' cottages,to find them deserted by everyone save Eben Megg's wife, with threepretty little dark-eyed children.
The woman looked frightened, and burst into tears as she recognised theyoung officer, who began at her at once.
"You're a nice woman, you are," he said. "What have you got to say foryourself for keeping me a prisoner below there?"
"I--I only did what I was told, sir," faltered the woman.
"Were you told to fasten us down there to starve?" cried the middy.
"Fasten?--to starve? Were you left down there, sir, when my Eben wasknocked down and carried away?"
"Of course we were."
"I didn't know, sir," sobbed the woman. "If I had, though I was in suchtrouble, I'd have come and brought you all I could, same as I didbefore, sir. Indeed I would."
"Humph!" grunted the middy. "Well, you did feed me as well as youcould. So you've lost your husband, then?"
The woman tried to answer, but only sobbed more loudly.
"There, don't cry," said the middy, more gently. "We shall make anhonest man of him."
"And what's to become of my poor weans, Master Aleck? We shall all beturned out of the cottage."
"I don't think you will," said Aleck. "I daresay uncle won't let anyoneinterfere with you."
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There were busy days during the next week, with men from the sloop andcutter, brought back by the middy's "despatch," going up and down thezigzag like so many ants, bringing up the principal treasures of thecave, the sailors working with all their might over the greatest haulthey had ever made, and chuckling over the amount of prize money theywould have to draw.
There was a fair amount of work done and much recovering of valuablegear during two days of the next spring tide, when Aleck and hiscompanion were rowed in one of the sloop's boats along a narrow channelof deep water right up the cavern. They were poled in, and found somuch to interest them that they stayed too long and were nearly shut inonce more, for the tide rose fast, and the men had to lie down in theboat and work her out with their hands, and then a wave came in andlifted her, jamming the gunwale against the slimy rock and weeds,threatening a more terrible imprisonment still; but just as matters werevery serious and the lives of the party in imminent danger, the watersank a few inches and enabled the men to thrust the boat on intodaylight.
That was the last time a boat entered that cave, for during a terrificstorm in the ensuing winter the waves must have loosened and torn upsome of the supporting stones of the archway, letting down hundreds oftons of rock in a land slide, so that where the cave had lain like asecret, the waves played regularly at high water, working more and moreat every tide to lay bare the gloomy recesses to the light of day.
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Aleck saw no more of Willie Wrighton, midshipman, for two years, andthen he came on a visit to the Den.
The next morning the two young men went for a stroll along the cliffs tohave a look at the rocky chaos which had once formed the cave.
As they came near they caught sight of a solitary figure down towardswhere the archway submerged had lain, and Aleck made put that it was abig, well-built man-o'-war's man.
"Is that one of your fellows, sailor?" said Aleck, with the appellationhe had used when they were prisoners together.
"Yes, he came over with me from Rockabie. Capital fellow he is too.Don't you know him again?"
"No," said Aleck, shading his eyes. "Yes, I do. How he is changed!Why, Eben Megg, I hardly knew you again without your beard."
"Glad to see you, Master Aleck," said the man, warmly. "Mr Wrightonhere was good enough to bring me along with him to see the old place.I'm coming to make a long stay, sir, as soon as we're paid off, and--and--there, I arn't good at talking--about them things," continued theman, huskily, "but God bless you and the captain, sir, for all you'vedone for my poor wife and bairns."
"Oh, nonsense! Don't talk about it, Eben," said Aleck, husk
ily; "but, Isay, young man, you nearly made an end of us by not coming back afteryou'd shut us in. What did you do it for--to kill us?"
"To kill you both, sir? Not me! I on'y wanted to make sure of you foran hour or two till I'd been home and scraped a few things together totake away with me. When I come back the cutter's lads dropped upon me,and I showed fight till a crack on the head knocked all the say out ofme for about a fortnit. When I could speak they told me you'd both beenfound."
"Ahoy!" cried the middy, excitedly. "Here comes your rase chap, oldwooden pegs. I'd nearly forgotten him. Does he live here?"
"Oh, yes, he's our gardener and odd man; been with us ever since Dunningran away. Capital gardener he makes, sailor--digs a patch and thenwalks down it, making holes with his wooden legs to drop in the potatoesor cabbage plants, before standing on one leg and covering in the earthwith the other. Hallo, Tom, what is it?"
"Sarvant, sir," said Tom, pulling his forelock, man-o'-war fashion, tothe young officer. "Been showing Eben Megg how the cave was busted up,sir, in the storm. I beg pardon, sir; I've been scouring and swabbingout the boat 'smorning in case you and the luff-tenant wanted to go fora sail."
"To be sure," cried Aleck, eagerly. "Here, we'll go for a run toRockabie and back, Eben; come and take the helm and show Mr Wrightonhow the smugglers could run a boat close in among the rocks. You know;the same as you did that night."
"Ay, ay, sir. Come along, Tom. Shall we go round to the Den gully andfetch her, sir? We could run in up the channel below here, and pick youup? Bodger says the channel's quite clear."
"Do you think you could find your way in, Eben?" said Aleck, with amerry look.
"Find my way in, sir? Ay, sir, if it was black as ink, or with my eyesshut."
THE END.
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