AN AMAZING DISCOVERY.
ON the wall to the right, as one entered Mr. Alan's room, hung a long,
narrow picture which had a strange interest for the boys.
It was a life-size painting of a man in the dress of a Cavalier,
with feathered hat and ample cloak, lace ruffles and pointed shoes.
He was leaning forward with his finger on his lips as if enjoining
silence. The boys were struck with the disagreeable expression of
the countenance and the cunning leer in the eyes. Noel was uneasily
conscious that the eyes followed him to whatever side of the room
he retreated.
"I hate that picture," he said; "the man keeps staring at me as if he
were alive."
"What does that matter when you know he is not?" said Duke. "Let him
stare. I snap my fingers at him. I would turn him round with his face
to the wall if the frame were not so large."
He laid his hand on the picture as he spoke and gave it a slight push.
Then an amazing thing happened.
The picture swung slowly back, revealing an opening. Gazing into it
with startled eyes, the boys saw the beginning of a narrow flight of
stairs leading downwards.
"Oh, look, Noel, look!" cried Duke. "A hidden staircase! Let us go down
and see where it leads to."
"Oh, no, no!" cried Noel, shrinking back.
"Why not? Well, you are a fellow! I am going down." Duke descended a
few steps and was lost to sight. Noel waited in breathless suspense. He
was trying hard to nerve himself to follow, when his brother reappeared.
"The steps go a long way down," he said "they are quite easy, but it's
rather dark. We'll come again to-morrow and bring some bits of candle."
"Does mother know about it, do you think?" asked Noel.
"I can't tell. I dare say she does not," said Duke. "But look here,
Noel, we won't say anything about it till we've been down and seen what
it's like."
"But don't you think we ought to tell her?" said Noel. "Then p'raps
she'd let Box go with us."
"Box!" returned Duke contemptuously. "Much good it would be to go
with an old fellow like that! Really, Noel, I think you should have a
nursemaid. I'll go by myself if you're afraid. Only be quiet about it
for the present. Now we'll push the picture back. See how easily it
goes!"
"How clever to make a picture into a door!" said Noel. "No one would
guess it was that."
"No, but aren't you glad we've found it out? Now I feel as if it must
be about dinner-time, so we'll go back into the house."
In the afternoon the rain ceased and the sky gradually grew clearer;
but the force of the wind increased. Standing by a window, the boys
could hear the roar of the waves mingling with the noise of the blast.
"Oh, what a sea there must be!" cried Duke. "Do let us go down to see
it, mother!"
"Will it be mountains high?" asked Noel.
"I can't say that," replied his mother with a smile, "but it is sure
to be a grand sight. I dare not let you go down to the shore alone. In
half an hour I shall have finished this work, and then, if it is still
fine, I will go with you."
Never did half an hour seem so long. The boys were impatient to be
off. At last their mother was ready, and they set out. Mrs. Bryden had
wrapped herself in a cloak with a hood, which she drew over her head,
for it was impossible to wear a hat in such a gale. The boys drew their
caps low down on their heads that the wind might not carry them away,
and set off in high glee.
It was hard work fighting their way down the glen in the teeth of the
wind; but Duke and Noel found it good fun.
Mrs. Bryden was obliged to pause now and then, shrinking into some
sheltered nook while she regained her breath.
At last they came on to a rocky platform beyond which it was impossible
to go, for the sea was raging high between the cliffs and dashing in
mad fury against the rocks that barred the entrance to the glen. In the
distance the waves might be seen towering like high walls of palest
green ere they rolled over in foaming billows. Where they struck the
side of the cliff a cloud of spray resembling smoke rose to the green
summit. It was grand to watch the fury of the breakers as they dashed
against the rocks.
Retreating, they left behind them a surf which lay like soapsuds in the
hollows, or was driven landward by the wind in fragments, giving the
effect of a snowstorm. The boys never forgot that spectacle.
As the three stood watching it, they were joined by the Italian boy and
his tutor, Mr. Fletcher, accompanied by the huge mastiff they called
Nero.
Their greetings were mute at first, for it was scarcely possible
to hear each other speak, so great was the tumult of the elements.
In addition to the uproar of wind and waves there was the loud and
peculiar noise made by the sea as it rushed into the deep caverns
so numerous along that coast. With a roll as of thunder the waves
made their way into the long cave which the boys had explored only,
yesterday; then came some loud and terrific reports as the sea entered
the rocky passage into the inner cave, followed, after a few seconds,
by a sound of sobbing and wailing as from a soul in deep distress.
"Oh, mother, what is it?" Noel asked, with his lips close to his
mother's ear.
"Only the sea, dear," she answered. "It makes that noise as it rushes
along the hidden passages in the rooks. I have heard it before in
stormy weather."
"I don't, like to hear it, mother. It sounds as if someone were crying
out. Oh, would it not be awful to fall into that sea!"
"Awful indeed!" said Mrs. Bryden with a shudder as she moved forward
to draw Duke farther from the edge of the platform. "Now, children, we
must go back. You will catch cold if you stay here longer."
In spite of their protests she was firm, and they turned their steps
homeward. Mr. Fletcher and his charge walked with them to the head of
the glen.
"I fear the storm will rage all night," Mr. Fletcher said as he bade
Mrs. Bryden good-day. "I pity all upon the sea, especially such as must
pass along this coast."
"Noel," said Duke, drawing his brother aside, "I've got a splendid
idea."
"What is it?" Noel asked, with some anxiety.
"You heard what Mr. Fletcher said? Well, I'm going to put a light in
the tower to-night to warn the sailors of the rocks below."
"But how can you, Duke?" said Noel.
"Easily enough," replied his brother. "I saw an old lantern in one of
the rooms this morning. I shall put a candle in it and set it in the
tower."
"But is it a red lantern?" Noel asked; "for if it is not, they won't
know it means danger."
"Of course it isn't a red lantern; but I can make it look red. I shall
ask mother to give me a bit of that red gauze she was wrapping round
the mirror in the drawing-room yesterday. If I fasten it round the
lantern the light will look red; you see if it does not! We'll go and
fix it after tea, and I'll light it as soon as it gets dusk."