THE DAY: MORNING
The appointment of a regular light-keeper at Scarthey, intended to
release Rene and old Margery from their exile, had been delayed so as
to suit the arrangement which was to leave for a time the island
domain of Sir Adrian at the disposal of Captain Jack. Meanwhile
Moggie's presence greatly mitigated the severity of her husband's
separation from his master.
On his side the sailor was in radiant spirits. All worked as he could
wish, and Sir Adrian's marriage, besides being a source of unselfish
satisfaction, was, with regard to his own prospects, an unexpected
help; for, his expedition concluded, he would now be able in the most
natural manner to make his appearance at Pulwick, an honoured guest of
the master, under the pride of his own name. And for the rest, hope
unfolded warm-coloured visions indeed.
During the weeks which had elapsed since Sir Adrian's departure,
Captain Jack's visits to the island had been fitful and more or less
secret--He always came and left at night. But as it was understood
that the place was his to be used and enjoyed as he thought best,
neither his sudden appearances with the usual heavy travelling-bag,
nor his long absences excited any disturbance in the arcadian life led
by Rene between his buxom young wife and the old mother--as the
good-humoured husband now termed the scolding dame.
A little sleeping closet had been prepared and allotted to the use of
the peripatetic guest in one of the disused rooms when Rene's own
accommodation under the light tower had been enlarged for the new
requirements of his matrimonial status. And so Monsieur the Captain
(in Rene's inveterate outlandish phraseology) found his liberty of
action complete. Both the women's curiosity was allayed, and all
tendency to prying into the young stranger's mysterious purposes amid
their seclusion condemned beforehand, by Rene's statement: that
Monsieur the Captain was a trusted friend of the master--one indeed
(and here the informant thought fit to stretch a point, if but
slightly) to whom the Lord of Pulwick was indebted, in bygone days,
for life and freedom.
Except when weather-bound, a state of things which at that time of
year occurred not unfrequently, Rene journeyed daily as far as the
Hall, ostensibly to report progress and take possible orders, but
really to gratify himself with the knowledge that all was well with
the master.
About the breakfast hour, upon this 15th of March, as Sir Adrian was
discussing with the bailiff sundry matters of importance to the
estate, a tap came to the door, which he recognised at once as the
Frenchman's own long accustomed mode of self-announcement.
Since he had assumed the reins of government, the whilom recluse had
discovered that the management of such a wide property was indeed no
sinecure; and moreover--as his brother, who certainly understood such
matters in a thoroughly practical manner, had warned him--that a
person of his own philosophical, over-benevolent and abstracted turn
of mind, was singularly ill-fitted for the task. But a strong sense of
duty and a determination to act by it will carry a man a long way. He
had little time for dreaming and this was perhaps a providential
dispensation, for Sir Adrian's musings had now lost much of the grave
placidity born of his long, peaceful residence in his Thelema of
Scarthey. The task was long and arduous; on sundry occasions he was
forced to consult his predecessor on the arcana of landed estate
government, which he did with much simplicity, thereby giving Mr.
Landale, not only inwardly mocking satisfaction, but several
opportunities for the display of his self-effacing loyalty and
superior capacities.
The business of this day was of sufficiently grave moment to make
interruption unwelcome--being nothing less than requests from a number
of tenants to the "Good Sir Adrian," "the real master come to his own
again"--for a substantial reduction of rent; a step towards which the
master's heart inclined, but which his sober reason condemned as
preposterous. But Rene's countenance, as he entered, betrayed news of
such import that Sir Adrian instantly adjourned the matter on hand,
and, when the bailiff had retired, anxiously turned to the new-comer,
who stood in the doorway mopping his steaming brow.
"Well, Renny," said he, "what is wrong? Nothing about your wife--?"
"No, your honour," answered the man, "your honour is very good.
Nothing wrong with our Moggie. But the captain.... I ran all the way
from the Shearmans."
"No accident there, I hope."
"I fear there is, your honour. The captain--he has been attacked this
morning."
"Not wounded--!" exclaimed Sir Adrian. "Not dead, Renny?"
"Oh no, your honour, well. But he has, I fear, killed one of the
men ... the revenue men--"
Then, seeing his master start aghast, he went on rapidly;
"At least he is very bad--but what for did he come to make the spy
upon our island? We have left him at the Shearmans--the mother
Shearman will nurse him. But the captain, your honour"--the speaker
lowered his voice to a whisper and advanced a step, looking
round--"that is the worst of all, the captain has turned mad, I
believe--Instead of going off with his ship and his crew, (they are
safe out to sea, as they should be) he remains at Scarthey. Yes--in
your honour's rooms. He is walking up and down and clutching his hair
and talking to himself, like a possessed. And when I respectfully
begged him to consider that it was of the last folly his having rested
instead of saving himself, I might as well have tried to reason a
mule. And so, knowing that your honour would never forgive me if
misfortune arrived, I never drew breath till I reached here to tell
you. If his honour would come himself he might be able to make Mr. his
friend hear reason--Your honour will run no risk, for it is only
natural that you should go to the peel after what has occurred--but if
you cannot get Mr. the captain to depart this night, there will arrive
to us misfortune--it is I who tell you so."
"I will go back with you, at once," said Sir Adrian, rising much
perturbed. "Wait here while I speak to Lady Landale."
Molly was standing by the great log fire in the hall, yawning fit to
dislocate her pretty jaws, and teasing the inert form of old Jim, as
he basked before the flame, with the tip of her pretty foot. She
allowed her eyes to rest vaguely upon her husband as he approached,
but neither interrupted her idle occupation nor endeavoured to
suppress the yawn that again distended her rosy lips.
He looked at her for a moment in silence; then laying a hand upon her
shoulder, said gently: "My child, I am called back to Scarthey and
must leave instantly. You--you will be careful of yourself--amuse
yourself during my absence--it may be for two or three days."
Lady Landale raised her black brows with a fine air of interrogation,
and then gazed down at the old dog till the lashes swept her cheek,
while a mocking dimple just peeped from the corner of her mouth and
was gone again. "Oh yes," she answered drily, "I shall take endless
care of myself and amuse myself wildly. You need have no fear of
that."
Sir Adrian sighed, and his hand fell listless from her shoulder.
"Good-bye, then," he said, and stooped it seemed hesitatingly to lay
his lips between the little dark tendrils of hair that danced upon her
forehead. But with a sudden movement she twitched her face away.
"Despite all the varied delights which bind me to Pulwick," she
remarked carelessly, "the charms of Sophia and Rupert's company, and
all the other _amusements_--I have a fancy to visit your old owl's
nest again--so we need not waste sentiment upon a tender parting, need
we?"
Sir Adrian's cheek flushed, and with a sudden light in his eyes he
glanced at her quickly; but his countenance faded into instant
melancholy again, at sight of her curling lip and cold amused gaze.
"Will you not have me?" she asked.
"If you will come--you will be welcome--as welcome," his voice shook a
little, "as my wife must always be wherever I am."
"Ah--oh," yawned Lady Landale, "(excuse me pray--it's becoming quite
an infirmity) so that is settled. I hope it will storm to-night, that
the wind will blow and howl--and then I snuggle in the feather bed in
that queer old room and try and fancy I am happy Molly de Savenaye
again."
Adrian's lip quivered; yet in a second or two he spoke lightly. "I do
not want to hurry you, but I have to leave at once." Then struck by a
sudden thought, by that longing to bring pleasure to others which was
always working in him, "Why not let Madeleine come with you too?" he
asked, "she could share your room, and--it would be a pleasure to her
I think." He sighed as he thought of the trouble in store for the
lovers.
Lady Landale grew red to the roots of her hair and shot a look of
withering scorn at her husband's unconscious face. "It would be
charming," she said, sarcastically, "but after all I don't know that I
care to go so much--oh, don't stare at me like that, for goodness'
sake! A woman may change her mind, I suppose--at least, in a trifle
here and there if she can't as regards the whole comfort of her
life.--Well, well, perhaps I shall go--this afternoon--later--you can
start now. I shall follow--I can always get a boat at the Shearmans.
And I shall bring Madeleine, of course--it is most kind and thoughtful
of you to suggest it. _Mon Dieu_, I have a husband in a thousand!"
She swept him a splendid curtsey, kissed her hand at him, and then
burst out laughing at the pale bewilderment of his face.
* * * * *
When Sir Adrian returned to the morning-room, he found Rene, half
hidden behind the curtain folds, peering curiously out of the window
which overlooked the avenue. On his master's entrance, the man turned
his head, placed his finger on his lip, and beckoned him to approach.
"If I may take the liberty," said he with subdued voice, "will his
honour come and look out, without showing himself?"
And he pointed to a group, consisting of Mr. Landale and two men in
blue jackets and cockaded hats of semi-naval appearance, now slowly
approaching the house. Mr. Landale was listening with bent head,
slightly averted, to the smaller of his two companions--a stout
square-looking fellow, who spoke with evident volubility, whilst the
other followed defferentially one pace in rear. Presently the trio
halted, a few yards from the entrance, and Mr. Landale, cutting
designs upon the sand with the end of his stick in a meditative way,
appeared to be giving directions at some length, on the conclusion of
which the two men, touching their hats with much respect, departed
together, while the magistrate pensively proceeded on his way to the
house.
"Those, your honour," said Rene, "were with him that was struck in the
fight this morning. It was I rowed them over, together with the
wounded. I left them at the Shearmans, and slipped away myself to
carry the news. If I might take upon myself to advise, it would be
better if your honour would come with me now, at once, for fear Mr.
Landale should delay us by questioning me--Mr. Landale being a
magistrate, as I heard these men say; and Moggie has assured me that
he always arranges himself for knowing when I arrive from the
island--ever since the day when the demoiselles had just come, and I
found it out. Ever since then he has not liked me, Mr. Landale. Come
away, your honour, before he finds out I have been here to-day."
Following upon this advice, which he found to the point, Sir Adrian
left his house by a back passage; and, through a side garden, found
his way to the coast and to the fishing village.
The wounded man who had not recovered consciousness, lay in the
brother Shearman's hut, as Rene had said, surrounded by such uncouth
attendance as the rude fisherfolk could dispense. After giving
directions for the summoning of medical aid and the removal, if it
should prove advisable, of the patient to the Hall, but without a
single comment upon the unfortunate occurrence, Sir Adrian then took
the road of the peel.
During the transit, walking rapidly by his master's side, across the
now bare causeway, Rene gave his account of events.
The captain (he related) after three days' absence had re-appeared the
night before the last, and requested him to warn the womankind not to
be alarmed if they heard, as no doubt they would, strange noises on
the beach at night. He was, said he, storing provisions and water for
the forthcoming journey, and the water in the well was so excellent
that he had determined to take in his store. Of course his honour
understood well that Rene did not concern himself in these matters;
but that was the explanation he conveyed to his wife, lest she should
be alarmed and wonder. As for the old mother, she was too deaf to be
awakened out of sleep by anything short of the trumpet of the last
judgment.
As announced, there had been during the night the noise of a party of
men landing, of the hoisting and rolling of barrels--a great
_remue-menage_ altogether--and the next morning, that was yesterday,
the captain had slept sound in his bunk till late.
During several hours of the following day, he had some secret work to
do in the caves of which Rene had shown the ins and outs, and whilst
so engaged had requested that watch should be kept from the
light-tower, and message sent by some arranged signal should any one
approach the island. But no one had come near. Whilst at his post, the
watcher had heard at different times the sound of hammering; and when
the captain had come to relieve him, the good gentleman was much
begrimed with dust and hot with work, but appeared in excellent
humour. In the castle, he sang and whistled for joyfulness, and made
jokes with Moggie, all in his kind way, saying that if he were not to
be married himself soon, he would feel quite indignant and jealous at
the happiness of such a rascal as her husband.
Oh! he was happy--Monsieur the Captain--he had brought Moggie a
beautiful shawl; and to Rene, he had given a splendid watch, telling
him to keep count of the hours of his unmerited bliss. Alas, this
morning all had been different indeed! The captain looked another man;
his face was as white as linen. The very look of him would have told
any one that a misfortune had occurred. Rene did not quite understand
it himself, but this is what had taken place:
The captain had left Scarthey on foot late in the evening, and when he
returned (he was not long away) he bade Rene again not to mind what he
heard during the night; and, in faith, once more there had been a real
noise of the devil; men coming to and fro, a deal of rowing on the
water, away and back again, in the early night and then once more
before dawn.
"But I was not unquiet," said Rene, "I knew they had come for the
remainder of what Mr. Smith was pleased to call his provisions. From
our room I could see by the light on the stairs that the lamp was
burning well, and Moggie slept like a child, so sound, she never
moved. Just before the rising sun, I had got up and put out the lamp,
and was going to bed again, when there came thumps of the devil at the
lower door. Well knowing that the captain had his own way of
entering--for he had spent many days in finding out all sorts of droll
passages in the ruins--I was quite seized; and as I hurried down, the
thumps came again and great cries for the lighthouse-keeper. And, your
honour, when I unbarred the door, there was a man in uniform whom I
did not know, and he asked me, grumbling, if I knew of the pretty
doings on the beach, whilst I slept like pig, he said--Of course I
made the astonished as his honour may imagine: I knew nothing, had
heard nothing, though my heart was beating like to burst not knowing
what was coming. Then he ordered me to lend a hand and bring a ladder
to carry away one of his men who had been murdered by the smugglers,
he said. And there, on the sands, in front of the small cave was
another man, in a blue coat too, watching over the body of one who was
stretched out, quite tranquil, his face covered with blood and his
eyes closed. They are gone, says the gross man. And I was glad, as
your honour may well think, to see the chaloupe full of the captain's
men rowing hard towards the vessel. She had just come out of the river
mouth and was doubling round the banks. We carried the man on his
ladder to the kitchen and we and the women did all we could, but he
remained like a log. So after a time the two men (who said they had
come along the dyke soon after midnight, on foot, as they thought it
would be more secret, and had watched all night in the bent) wanted to
eat and drink and rest. They had missed their game, the big man said;
they had been sent to find out what sort of devil's tricks were being
played on in the island unbeknown to Sir Adrian;--but it was the
devil's luck altogether, for the smugglers had slipped away and would
not be seen in this part of the world again. That is the way the fat
man spoke. The other had nothing to say, but swallowed our bacon and
our beer as if he did not care. And then, your honour, they told me I
should have to lend them the yawl to go on land, and go myself to
help, and take the body with us. And as he was speaking, I saw Moggie
the wife, who had been backwards and forwards serving them, looking at
me very straight but without blowing a word, as if she had fear. And
all at once I felt there was something on foot. So I drew the men more
beer and said I would see after the yawl. Outside the door the wife
whispered: 'Upstairs, quick! Renny,' and she herself whisked back into
the kitchen so that she should not cause suspicion to those
others--Ah, your honour, that is a woman!"
"Well, well," interrupted his master, anxiously.
"Well, I went upstairs, four by four; and there, in your honour's
room, without an attempt to conceal himself (when any moment it might
have entered into those brigands' heads downstairs to search the
place), there was Monsieur the Captain, raging up and down, like a
wolf in cage, as I had the honour to describe before. No wonder Moggie
was afraid for him. A woman is quick to feel danger ahead. He looked
at me as if he did not know me, his face all unmade. 'You know what
has happened;' he says. 'Am I not the most unfortunate...? All is
lost.' 'With respect,' says I; 'nothing is lost so long as life is
safe, but it is not a good thing Monsieur the Captain that you are
here, like this, when you should be on your good ship as many miles
away as she can make. Are you mad?' to him I say, and he to me, 'I
think I am.' 'At least let me hide you,' I beg of him, 'I know of many
beautiful places,' and so for the matter of that does he. But it was
all lost trouble. At length he sits down at the table and begins to
write, and his look brightens: 'You _can_ help me, my good friend,' he
says; 'I have a hope left--who knows--who knows,'--and he writes a few
lines like an enraged and folds them and kisses the billet. 'Find
means,' says he, 'Rene, to get Johnny, the Shearman boy, to take this
to the old churchyard and place it in the place he knows of; or,
better still, should he chance upon Miss Landale to give it to her. He
is a sharp rogue,' says he, 'and I can trust his wits; but should you
not find him, dear Rene, you must do the commission for me yourself.
Now go--go,' he cries, and pushes me to the stairs. And, as I dared
remain no more, I had to leave him. Of course Monsieur the Captain has
not been here all this time without telling me of his hopes, and it is
clear that it is to bid farewell to Mademoiselle Madeleine that he is
playing with his life. It is as ill reasoning with a lover as a
lunatic: they are the same thing, _Ma foi_, but I trust to your honour
to bring him to his senses if any one can. And so, to continue, I went
down and I told the men in blue the boat was ready, we carried the
body; I left them at the Shearmans, as your honour knows. I found
Johnny and gave him the letter; he knew all about what to do, it
seemed. And then I came straight to the Hall."
"It is indeed a miserable business!" said Sir Adrian.
Rene heaved a great sigh of sympathy, as he noticed the increasing
concern on his master's face.
"You heard them mention my brother's name?" inquired the latter, after
following the train of his misgivings for a few moments. "You have
reason to think that Mr. Landale knew of these men's errand; other
reason, I mean, than having seen them with him just now?"
Rene's quick mind leaped at the meaning of the question:
"Yes, your honour. 'Mr. Landale will want to know of this,' says the
fat one; 'though it is too late,' he says." And Rene added ruefully:
"I have great fear. The captain is not at the end of his pains, if Mr.
Landale is ranged against him!"
Such was also Sir Adrian's thought. But he walked on for a time in
silence; and, having reached Scarthey, rapidly made his way into the
peel.
Captain Jack was still pacing the room much as Rene had described when
Sir Adrian entered upon him. The young man turned with a transient
look of surprise to the new-comer, then waved away the proffered hand
with a bitter smile.
"You do not know," he said, "who it is you would shake hands with--an
outlaw--a criminal. Ah, you have heard? Then Renny, I suppose, has
told you."
"Yes," groaned the other, holding his friend by both shoulders and
gazing sorrowfully into the haggard face, "the man may die--oh, Jack,
Jack, how could you be so rash?"
"I can't say how it all happened," answered Captain Jack, falling to
his walk to and fro again in the extremity of his distress, and ever
and anon mopping his brow. "I felt such security in this place. All
was loaded but the last barrel, when, all of a sudden, from God knows
where, the man sprang on me and thrust his dark lantern in my face.
'It is Smith,' I heard him say. I do believe now that he only wanted
to identify me. No man in his senses could have dared to try and
arrest me surrounded by my six men. But I had no time to think then,
Adrian. I imagined the fellow was leading a general attack.... If that
last barrel was seized the whole secret was out; and that meant ruin.
Wholesale failure seemed to menace me suddenly in the midst of my
success. I had a handspike in my hand with which I had been helping to
roll the kegs. I struck with it, on the spur of the moment; the man
went down on the spot, with a groan. As he fell I leaped back, ready
for the next. I called out, 'Stretchers, lads; they want to take your
captain?' My lads gathered round me at once. But there was silence;
not another creature to be seen or heard. They set to work to get that
last blessed bit of cargo, the cause of all the misery, on board with
the rest; while I stood in the growing dawn, looking down at the
motionless figure and at the blood trickling into the sand, trying to
think, to settle what to do, and only conscious of one thing: the
intense wish that I could change places with my victim. Can you
wonder, Adrian, that my brain was reeling? You who know all, all this
means to me, can you wonder that I could not leave this shore--even
though my life depended on it--without seeing her again! Curwen, my
mate, came up to me at last, and I woke up to some sort of reason at
the idea that they, the crew and the ship, must be removed from the
immediate danger. But the orders I gave must have seemed those of a
madman: I told him to sail right away but to double back in time to
have the schooner round again at twelve noon to-day, and then to send
the gig's crew to pick me up on Pulwick sand. 'Life and death,' said I
to him, and he, brave fellow, 'Ay, ay, sir,' as if it was the most
simple thing in the world, and off with him without another word."
"What imprudence, what imprudence!" murmured Sir Adrian.
"Who knows? None will believe that I have not seized the opportunity
of making my escape with the others. The height of imprudence may
become the height of security. I have as yet no plan--but it will
come. My luck shall not fail me now! who knows: nothing perhaps is
damaged but an excise man's crown. Thank heaven, the wind cannot fail
us to-day."
"But, meanwhile," urged Sir Adrian, quite unconvinced, highly
disturbed, "that treasure on board.... I know what has been your
motive, Jack, but indeed it is all nothing short of insanity, positive
insanity. Can you trust your men?"
"I would trust them with my own secrets, willingly enough; but not
with those of other people. So they do not know what I have in those
barrels. Four thousand golden guineas in each...! No, the temptation
would be too terrible for the poor lads. Not a soul knows that, beyond
you and me. Curwen has charge of the cargo, such as it is. But I can
answer for it none of them will dream of tampering with the casks.
They are picked men, sober, trusty; who have fought side by side with
me. I am their best friend. They are mine, body and soul, I believe.
They do know there is some risk in the business, but they trust me.
They are sure of treble pay, and besides, are not troubled with
squeamishness. As for Curwen, he would go to hell for me, and never
ask a question. No, Adrian, the scheme was perfect, but for this
cursed blow of mine this morning. And now it is a terrible
responsibility," continued the young man, again wiping his forehead;
"every ounce of it weighs on my shoulders. But it is not that that
distracts me. Oh, Adrian ... Madeleine!"
The elder man felt his heart contract at the utter despairing of that
cry.
"When my handspike crashed on that damned interferer's skull," the
sailor went on, "I felt as if the blow had opened an unfathomable
chasm between her and me. Now I am felon--yes, in law, a felon! And
yet I am the same man as yesterday. I shall have to fly to-night, and
may never be able to return openly to England again. All my golden
dreams of happiness, of honour, vanished at the sound of that cursed
blow. But I must see her, Adrian, I _must_ see her before I go. I am
going to meet her at noon, in the ruins of Pulwick."
"Impossible!" ejaculated the other aghast. "Listen, Jack, unfortunate
man! When I heard of the--the misfortune, and of your folly in
remaining, I instantly planned a last meeting for you. As it fell
out, my wife has a fancy to spend the night here: I have asked her to
bring her sister with her. But this inconceivably desperate plan of
leaving in your ship, in broad light of day, frustrates all I would
have done for you. For God's sake let us contrive some way of warning
the _Peregrine_ off till midnight; keep hidden, yourself; do not
wilfully run your head into the noose!"
But the young man had stopped short in his tramping, and stood looking
at his friend, with a light of hope flaming in his eye.
"You have done that, Adrian! You have thought of that!" he repeated,
as if mechanically. A new whirlwind of schemes rushed through his
mind. For a while he remained motionless, with his gaze fixed on Sir
Adrian, putting order in his own thoughts with that genius of
precision and swiftness which, in strong natures, rises to meet a
crisis. Then advancing, and seizing him by both hands:
"Adrian," he cried, in something more like his own voice, again, "I
shall yet owe my happiness to you, to this thought, this sublime
thought of your heart!"
And, as Sir Adrian, astounded, unable to understand this extremity of
hopefulness, following upon the previous depth of misery, stared back
at him, speechless, the latter proceeded in still more surprising
fashion.
"Now, you listen to me, this time. I have been selfish in running the
risk of having you mixed up in my dangerous affairs. But, God is my
witness, I acted under the belief that all was absolutely secure. Now,
however, you must do nothing more that might implicate you. Remember,
do nothing to let people suspect that you have seen me to-day. Renny,
too, must keep close counsel. You know nothing of my future movements.
Remain here for a while, do not even look out of the window.... I fear
we shall not meet for a long time. Meanwhile, God bless you--God bless
you!"
After another wrench of the hands he held in his, the sailor released
them and fairly ran out of the room, without heeding his friend's
bewildered expostulations. At the door of the keep he met Rene again.
And after a brief but earnest colloquy, the man whose life was now
forfeit to the community and upon whose head there would soon be a
price, was quietly walking along the causeway, making for the shore,
with the greatest apparent unconcern and deliberation.
And whilst Sir Adrian, alone in his chamber, with his head resting
upon his hand, anxiously pondered upon the possible issues of this
nefarious day's doings, the sailor advanced, in broad daylight towards
the land to keep his appointment.
* * * * *
A solitary speck of life upon the great waste, with the consciousness
of the precarious thread of chance upon which it hung! What wonder
that, for all his daring, the traveller felt, as he deliberately
regulated his pace to the most nonchalant gait, a frantic desire to
run forward, or to lie down! How many approach glasses might now be
laid, like so many guns, upon him from secret points of the coast
until he came within range of recognition; what ambushes those clumps
of gorse and juniper, those plantations of alders and young firs on
the bluffs yonder, might conceal? The eye could reach far and wide
upon the immense stretch of sand, along the desert coast; and his
solitary figure, moving upon the yellow strand was a mark for miles
around. Steadily, nevertheless did he advance; the very daring, the
unpardonable foolhardiness of the deed his safety. And yet the strain
was high. Were they watching the island? Among the eager crew, to each
of whom the capture might mean a splendid prize and chance of
promotion, was there one would have the genius of suddenly suspecting
that this foolhardy wayfarer might be the man they wanted and not
merely Sir Adrian returning on foot towards his home?... And then came
the answer of hopeful youth and hardy courage----.
No. The preventive are a lubberly lot--It will require something
better than a water-guard to track and take Lucky Jack Smith!
* * * * *
But for all his assurance Lucky Jack Smith drew a long breath of
relief when he felt the shadow of Pulwick woods closing around him at
last.