Since we last met Adam Halliburt the _Nancy_ had shared the fate of
other craft; her stout planks and timbers gradually yielding to age, she
had become too leaky to put to sea, and had been broken up for firewood.
Adam having no sons to help him, had taken to inshore fishing in a
small boat which he and a lad could manage. The dame's baskets were,
however, still well supplied with fish.
Honest Jacob, to his parents' joy, had arrived at home. Adam was about
to set out on his daily fishing.
"I will go with you, father," he said; "maybe with my help you will
sooner be able to get back."
The dame, glad that Adam should enjoy his son's company, was willing to
wait till their return, to hear all Jacob had to tell them.
They stood away under sail to the south, where the best fishing ground
lay.
Seldom had Adam been so happy as he was listening to Jacob's account of
his adventures, and not often had he been more successful in making a
good catch of fish.
The evening was drawing on, and it was time to return, when the wind
shifting, headed them, and they were compelled to take to their oars,
Jacob and the boy pulling, while Adam steered. They kept close in shore
to avoid the tide, which was running to the southward. The wind
increased too, and they made but slow progress, so that night overtook
them before they had proceeded half the distance.
There was still light sufficient to enable Adam to see a man on
horseback galloping along the beach under the cliff, the water already
reaching up to the animal's knees.
"What can he be about?" exclaimed Adam. "He must be mad to try and pass
along there; he will be lost to a certainty if he moves a few fathoms
further on."
Adam shouted at the top of his voice, and waved his hat, but the
horseman neither saw nor heard him.
Presently, as Adam had anticipated, the horse began to struggle
violently in a vain effort to escape from a soft quicksand which
prevented it either from swimming or wading. The next instant a sea
rolling in washed the rider from its back. He struck out boldly, making
a desperate effort for life. Jacob and the boy pulled with all their
might towards him, but before they could reach him a sea had dashed him
against the cliff. By a mighty effort he got clear of it, when a
receding wave carried him towards them. Before the boat reached him,
however, he had ceased to struggle, and was sinking for the last time
when Adam caught him by the collar, and with Jacob's assistance hauled
him into the boat. Jacob had at once to resume his oar, for they were
so near the cliff that the boat might, in another instant, have been
dashed against it. They got clear, however, but the tide had drifted
them to the south.
"He is still alive," said Adam, "but seems much hurt, and I fear will
die if we don't soon get him before a warm fire. We are just under Mad
Sal's hut, and the best thing we can do will be to carry him up there."
"It will be a hard matter to land though, father, won't it?" said Jacob,
"and we may risk the loss of the boat."
"Worth risking it for the sake of a human life, even if the man was our
greatest enemy. There is a little creek in there, and if I can hit it,
the boat will be safe enough. Stand by to jump out when I tell you."
Jacob and the boy pulled on, and in another minute a sea lifted the
boat, and though the surf broke on board she floated on, and dropped
down safely into a pool, where there was no danger of her being carried
away. Adam and his companions jumping out, hauled the boat up on the
beach. Leaving the boy in charge of her, he and Jacob then carried the
man they had rescued, and who was still insensible, towards Mad Sal's
hut, which could just be distinguished on the side of the ravine by the
glare of light coming through the chinks in the window and door.
Adam knocked loudly.
"Who comes to disturb me now?" exclaimed the old woman from within. "Is
my solitude constantly to be broken in upon by strangers?"
"We bring you a well-nigh drowned man, who will die if you refuse him
your aid, good dame," said Adam. "In mercy do not keep us outside."
The door was opened.
"What! another victim murdered by the cruel salt sea," exclaimed old
Sal, as she saw the burden Adam and Jacob carried.
"We must have off his wet clothes, and warm his hands and feet, or he
soon will be dead," said Adam, as they carried the man into the room.
The sight seemed to calm instead of agitating the old woman, for she set
about attending to the man in a more sensible way than might have been
expected. While Adam and Jacob took off the man's wet clothes, she
brought a blanket that they might wrap it round his body. She then,
kneeling down, assisted them in chafing his hands and feet. A deep
groan showed that their efforts were successful, and the man soon opened
his eyes, and gazed wildly at them. The old woman threw some sticks on
the fire, which blazing up now for the first time, revealed his features
more clearly than before.
"Why, father, he is Miles Gaffin," exclaimed Jacob.
"I knew that," answered Adam, "when we hauled him into the boat."
"Miles Gaffin," cried Mad Sal, "the bloodthirsty and wretched man shall
not live out half his days; yet, as the sea refused to keep him, we must
not be more cruel."
Gaffin made no answer, but continued to glare wildly at the faces bent
over him. He occasionally groaned and muttered a few unintelligible
words.
"He seems to have lost his senses," whispered Adam to Jacob.
Such, indeed, was evidently the case. Several times he tried to sit up,
but he had received some severe injuries, and each movement made him
shriek with pain.
What now to do was the question. Adam was unwilling to leave him alone
with the poor mad woman, yet he was naturally anxious to return home.
The sound of the wind, which howled and whistled up the glen, warned him
that he could scarcely hope to continue his voyage.
Telling old Sal that they would speedily return, Adam and Jacob went
down to the beach, and made safe their boat and fish. Then they sent
the boy quickly to Hurlston, with instructions to tell the dame that
they hoped to be home in the morning. The lad being warned to keep away
from the edge of the cliff, set off without fear. Adam and Jacob,
carrying up a few fish and some bread, returned to the hut.
As they entered they heard Gaffin's voice raving incoherently. Mad Sal
stood like a statue, the light of the fire falling on her pale features,
gazing at him with a look of mingled astonishment and dread. They
stopped to listen to what Gaffin was saying.
"Who are you?" she exclaimed at last, gasping for breath, and advancing
towards the unhappy man.
"Who has a right to ask me that?" he shrieked out. "Martin Goul I was
once called. They tell me I broke my father's heart, that my mother
threw herself from the cliffs, and that the only being I ever loved was
laid in the cold grave. So I went forth to do battle with the hard
world, to live in hopes of revenging myself on those who had scorned and
wronged me. Each time, though I missed my aim, I thought the day of
vengeance would come at last, but again and again have I been mocked by
the cunning devil who deceived me."
"Martin Goul! who speaks of him," exclaimed the old woman, moving a step
nearer the man.
"Let me be at peace, old hag; why torment me with questions?" shrieked
out Gaffin.
"Young Martin Goul has long been fathoms deep beneath the ocean wave;
and you tell me that you bear that name," said Mad Sal, in a hollow
frightened voice.
"No one else would dare to claim it," cried Gaffin. "When my son
marries the heiress of Texford, I will shout it out to all the world.
She will be his bride before many hours are over, and then those who
have scorned me will have to ask favours at my hand. They did not know
that I possessed the secret of her birth, that it still lies locked up
in the chest guarded safely in the vault beneath the mill, and that it
will be beyond their reach before to-morrow. Ah! ah! ah!" and he broke
out into a cry of maniac laughter.
The old woman passed her hand across her brow, and took another stride
which brought her close to where Gaffin lay.
"Answer me, I adjure you; again I ask you, are you the Martin Goul who
years gone by was pressed and carried off to sea?"
"Yes, I am that Martin Goul, the pirate, smuggler, spy, murderer," he
shrieked, out raising himself. "There are no deeds I have not dared to
do. I, by forged letters, kept Ranald Castleton from his home, and
willingly would I have allowed his innocent child to perish. Now I have
answered you, what more would you learn from me? Ah! ah! ah!" he
shouted out, as if impelled by an uncontrollable impulse to utter the
very things he would have desired to keep secret.
"It's false, it's false," cried the unhappy woman. "My son was wild and
extravagant, but he could not have been guilty of the crimes you name.
I was the mother of young Martin Goul; he was the only being on earth I
loved. Oh the salt, salt sea."
"You my mother, you," shrieked out the wretched man, and he again burst
forth into a fit of hideous laughter, which froze the hearts of Adam and
his son. "Begone, old hag, begone, begone," he shouted, and endeavoured
to raise himself up, but his strength, from some internal injury, was
fast giving way. The effort produced a paroxysm of pain. He shrieked
out, and sinking back on the bed no longer moved.
The old woman gazed at him like one transfixed. Suddenly the fire sent
up a bright flame, which fell on his face.
"Yes, yes," cried the unhappy creature, "I know you now, you are my son,
my boy Martin." But the person she addressed no longer heard her. His
spirit had fled to stand before the Judge of all men. She waited as if
expecting him to reply, then suddenly she became aware of what had
happened, and lifting up her hands fell forward over his body.
Adam and Jacob sprang to assist her, for they feared from the force with
which she fell that she must have injured herself. She neither moved
nor groaned. They endeavoured to lift her up.
"Poor creature, she is dead!" said Adam. She had survived but a few
moments her unhappy son.
Adam and Jacob placed her body by his side, and closed the eyes of both.
As they could no longer be of assistance they would gladly have set off
for their home at once, but the night had become very dark, the storm
raged furiously, and as they had their fish to carry, they would have
found it difficult to make their way over the downs. They therefore
agreed to wait till daylight.
Adam had noted what the dying man said with regard to the chest and the
little girl.
"Could he have been speaking of our Maiden May, and how came he to call
her the heiress of Texford?"
"He did call her so, there is no doubt about that," observed Jacob. "He
cannot tell us now, though, what he meant."
"But the chest may. I was always sure that Gaffin had visited the
wreck, and carried off something of value, but little did I think all
the time that he knew who our Maiden May was," said Adam.
"If we can get the chest we shall soon know all about that father; and
it will be the thing of all others that Lieutenant Castleton will like
to know, and I shall be glad to help him find it out."
As neither Adam nor Jacob felt disposed to go to sleep after the scene
they had witnessed, they sat up discussing the subject till dawn. The
wind having shifted, and the sea gone down, they launched their boat and
sailed before the wind for Hurlston. As they passed close under the
mill they saw a vessel cast on the beach, which they recognised as
Gaffin's lugger. They afterwards discovered that having been left with
only two or three hands on board she had been driven on shore, and, like
the _Nancy_, having seen her best days, had been quickly knocked to
pieces by the heavy sea which had for a short time broken on the coast.
Young Jack had arrived safely, and delivered the message Adam had sent
the dame, so that she had not been anxious about them. But she had a
terrible account to give of the events which, according to report, had
taken place at Texford and Downside, and which had caused her the
greatest alarm, and she was only waiting their arrival to set off to
ascertain the truth.
Adam agreed to accompany her, as he wished to give Lieutenant Castleton
the information he had obtained, and thought it probable that he might
be at Downside. He had besides to give notice of the deaths of Martin
Goul and his mother.