A CRUISE IN THE 'HEROIC'
'I can't understand Allan at all,' declared Marjorie. She and Reggie,
armed with large pocket-knives, were engaged in cutting heather on the
moor, which stretched, a mass of purple, to the verge of the cliffs. A
pile of heather lay beside them, the result of an hour's hard sawing of
the wiry stems.
Marjorie's remark had interrupted a busy silence.
Reggie looked up with a twinkle in his eyes. He had been growing
thinner and browner during the summer, and his wrists came further
beyond the sleeves of his jacket.
'What's the matter with Allan?' he asked.
'Why,' said Marjorie impatiently, 'he is going on so oddly. First of
all, he wasn't to be found when we came here this morning--had been
away for hours--and he isn't usually in such a hurry to get up in the
holidays. Then when he comes back we all have to go off and get
heather to patch up the roof of the Pirates' Den. I can't make out why
he has grown so particular all of a sudden.'
Reggie looked at her with a provoking smile.
'I thought it was you who wanted the place kept water-tight,' he
suggested, 'in case we might be storm-stayed some evening and have to
spend the night there----'
'That's all very well,' interrupted Marjorie, 'but that's not what's
making you and Allan so busy just now. Why did you go off together
yesterday, and stay away for such a time, leaving us to entertain your
guests? You're busy with something that you don't want us to know
about and I'd just like to find out what it is. It always irritates me
when people make mysteries out of nothing.'
Reggie was looking grave, and his dark eyes studied Marjorie intently.
'Hullo, you two,' said Allan, coming up; 'how are you getting on?'
Marjorie rose up from the ground, and seated herself upon the pile of
cut heather.
'I've just been telling Reggie that I know that you and he have a
secret between you,' she said, looking boldly at Allan. 'I'd just like
to know what it is. Hardly fair, I call it; keeping something from the
other members of the Compact----'
She broke off upon seeing the grave, concerned expression in Allan's
eyes.
'It's all right,' she said, looking fixedly out to sea; 'it's something
that you know you ought to keep from me, and I'm not going to find out
what it is.'
She had become flushed, and her heart was beating fast as a suspicion
forced itself upon her. She turned, and stooping down, took up her
armful of heather.
'I'm going to carry this to the boat,' she remarked, without looking
round.
The boys looked after her retreating figure.
'H'm,' said Allan, 'not bad for a girl.'
Marjorie's reflections were interrupted by a about, and Harry came
running down the hill and caught her by the arm.
'Well, what's the matter?' she asked irritably.
'Look!' he panted, pulling her round. 'Look at that! Well, if you're
so cross you needn't, but you must be a duffer if you don't care to see
what's coming round that headland----'
Marjorie's eyes followed in the direction pointed out by his shaking
finger, and her face cleared.
A large vessel was gliding into view.
Tricksy came running as fast as her little short legs would carry her,
the two dogs barking in her wake.
'Marjorie,' she gasped, it's a man-o'-war; oh, don't you hope it's
that nice one that came last year!'
By this time the vessel had been sighted by the others, who came down
to discuss the situation.
'Perhaps she's a stranger,' suggested Hamish, feeling that it might be
better to prepare for a disappointment.
'She's a fine big vessel, whatever she is,' said Harry.
'She's like the one that was here last year,' said Marjorie.
'Oh, don't you hope she's the same,' sighed Tricksy.
'You are right, Marjorie,' said Reggie, whose eyes were the best; 'I'm
certain it's the old _Heroic_.'
'What fun!' said Marjorie; while Tricksy sighed 'Oh, how nice!'
'I wonder whether the same men are on board,' said Reggie, whose
serious expression had changed.
'Don't know,' said Allan briefly, looking out to sea with his hands in
his pockets and a thoughtful face.
His lack of enthusiasm caused all the others to look at him, and
Marjorie felt her fears revive.
The man-of-war came to a standstill in Ardnavoir Bay and a boat put off
from her side.
'Look, oh look,' cried Tricksy, 'they're coming on shore.'
'Do you think they'll speak to us if they meet us?' inquired Harry,
whose eyes had never ceased to sparkle since the first discovery of the
vessel.
'We'll go down to the landing-place as soon as the boat comes in,' said
Allan.
'Can I go too?' asked Tricksy.
Allan looked at her.
'I think you two girls had better stay up here,' he said; and Tricksy's
face showed her disappointment.
The boat was rapidly coming nearer, and soon she grounded near the spot
where the Pirate Craft lay beached.
'There,' said Allan; 'there are three officers in the boat, and they're
getting out.'
The young people clustered at the edge of the rocks and looked down.
'We had better wait until they are gone,' said Allan; 'don't let them
see that we are watching them.'
'They are going in the direction of Ardnavoir,' said Marjorie; 'I
believe they are going to call for your father and mother!'
'Oh,' sighed Tricksy after the breathless pause during which they were
uncertain whether the officers were really going to enter the gate or
would pass by; 'they've gone in. I saw that nice one who came here
last year. Do you think they can be going to invite us to come on
board?'
This question being rather difficult to answer, Allan suggested that
the boys should go down to the shore and see if any of their old
friends were in the boat.
'Marjorie,' said Tricksy, as the two girls remained looking down from
above; 'do you think we should have better fun if we were boys?'
Marjorie's reply was forestalled by a shout from below; and the girls
scrambled down to the beach.
'Come along, you two,' said Allan; 'here's Jim Macdonnell, Euan's twin
brother, and a lot of the men who were here last year.'
Greetings were exchanged with the pleasant-faced young blue-jacket and
his companions; and then the boys and girls sat down on the stones to
talk with their friends.
The men could not come on shore, as no leave had yet been given, but
they hoped to be allowed to land on the following day.
'You will be glad to see Euan,' said Marjorie to Jim Macdonnell.
'Yes, Miss Marjorie,' replied the lad, but his handsome face clouded;
and Marjorie knew that he was thinking of his cousin Neil, once the
favourite of the island.
'We were going to ask you, Mr. Allan,' he said, 'whether you young
gentlemen would come and have tea on board this afternoon; just with us
men, you know, sir.'
'Thank you very much,' replied Allan, while all the boys looked
gratified; 'it would be no end jolly, and we'll come if Father will let
us. I'm sure he will. May we bring our friends too, Harry and Gerald
Graham?'
'To be sure, sir,' replied Jim; 'we'll be glad to see the young
gentlemen. Are you fond of the sea, sir?' he inquired, turning to
Harry.
Yes,' replied Harry, 'and I'm going into the navy.'
'That's good,' said Jim. 'Perhaps I'll see you as a midshipman next
time we meet.'
'Perhaps,' said Harry; 'and I hope I'll be a captain before very long.'
'I hope you will be an admiral some day, sir, I'm sure,' answered Jim
gravely.
'Thank you,' said Harry; 'yes, I daresay I shall be.'
Allan turned his head away, and a smile gleamed out for an instant upon
Marjorie's face. Harry saw it and did not feel pleased, and he
remarked to Gerald afterwards that he was afraid Marjorie thought a
great deal too much of herself.
'And what are you going to be, air?' inquired another of the men,
turning to Gerald, who was sitting by with a thoughtful face.
'I'm going into the army, I think,' answered Gerald; 'but I don't know
if I can pass the exams. They're very difficult, but I'm going to try.'
'Here are the gentlemen coming back again,' said Jim.
'Then we'll leave you now,' said Allan; 'but we'll see you again in the
afternoon.'
'Right you are, sir,' replied Jim; 'we'll send a boat to fetch you.'
'You are lucky,' said Marjorie to the boys. 'How I wish we could go
too. Do you think they meant to invite us?'
Allan looked doubtful.
'I don't know,' he said. 'I don't think they thought of it. But I
daresay they would be glad to see you if you came.'
'It's no good, I'm afraid,' answered Marjorie; 'I'd have to ask Mother
and she'd be sure to say no. But there is the boat going away, and
listen, isn't that the horn?'
They hearkened for a moment, and it was unmistakably the old ram's horn
which was sounded at Ardnavoir to summon those at a distance when any
notable event was about to take place.
'I wonder what it can be,' said Tricksy, as they scampered in the
direction of the mansion-house; 'do you think it can have anything to
do with the _Heroic_, Allan?'
Mrs. Stewart was in the doorway.
'We are invited to luncheon on board the _Heroic_,' she announced.
'The officers have signalled to ask Dr. and Mrs. MacGregor to come too,
and we have telephoned to say that Marjorie can get ready here, if Mrs.
MacGregor will bring her things with her.'
The young people did not look so pleased as Mrs. Stewart had
anticipated.
'How many of us are asked, Mummie?' inquired Tricksy.
'As many as care to come,' answered Mrs. Stewart. 'The boys may come
too if they like.'
All the boys looked unwilling.
'Don't you want to go?' asked Mrs. Stewart in surprise.
'Yes, Mother,' answered Allan; 'but the men have invited us already.'
'And would you rather go with them?'
The boys' faces showed that they would, and Mrs. Stewart gave
permission with a laugh.
Tricksy sidled up to her mother.
'Mummie, don't you think that Marjorie and I could go too?' she asked.
'No, I am quite sure that it wouldn't do,' replied Mrs. Stewart; and
the girls looked disappointed.
'You had better go upstairs and begin to get ready,' said Mrs. Stewart.
'Marjorie can brush her hair'--looking dubiously at the tangled mass of
curls, in which bits of grass and heather had become intermixed, 'and
perhaps by that time her other frock and her hat will have arrived.'
The girls turned to go upstairs, but paused to look at Carlo, who came
running down the steps, wriggling his small body, and whining as though
he were in pain.
'What's the matter with the poor little dog?' they cried.
Every one turned round as Carlo landed on the rug, and stood yelping
distressfully.
'Whatever is the little brute going on about?' said Reggie, looking at
him with curiosity.
'Something is hurting him,' said Hamish.
'I never saw him go on like that before,' remarked Allan.
Laddie sprang forward, wagging his tail and running to every one in
turn, trying to explain that his little friend needed help.
'Look how he bites his tail,' cried Mrs. Stewart, 'why do you do that,
Carlo?'
'Hydrophobia, perhaps,' suggested Allan; and some of the bystanders
edged a little farther away.
'Poor little dog,' said Gerald soothingly; 'tell us what's the matter
with you.'
At the sound of the pitying voice the little dog gathered up his ears,
then sat up and uttered a doleful howl, accompanied by agitated
movements of his fore-paws.
'There's something clinging to his tail,' cried Reggie suddenly,
pouncing upon him. 'Why, just look at this; it's a couple of small
crabs!'
'Where can he have got them from?' asked Mrs. Stewart, looking
bewildered; 'he came from upstairs.'
'Oh, it's--it's--_I_ know,' stuttered Gerald, flushing deeply.
'It's--I'll put it all right, you needn't come.'
The remainder of the sentence was lost as he hurried upstairs.
'Whatever is he about?' said Marjorie; 'let's go and see.'
Gerald became very red again as he was discovered in the room which he
shared with Harry, collecting some small objects from the floor.
You needn't have come,' he said. 'It's--it's only my collection, and
they've been escaping----'
'Ha, ha!' laughed Harry; 'it's those snails and things that he has been
gathering on the beach, and they've crawled all over the place!'
Gerald stood, flushing to the roots of his hair, and shrinking from the
mirth of the others.
His treasures had been trying to make themselves at home in their new
quarters. The little crabs and lobsters had scattered in search of
water, and the shell-fish had crawled over the floor or attached
themselves to the wall, where they waited with tilted shells for the
tide that failed to come.
'Never mind, Gerald,' said Marjorie, as tears began to start in the
boy's eyes; 'it's very nice making a collection, and I've got a nice
pail with a lid that I'll give you to keep the things in.'
'And now,' said Mrs. Stewart, 'I see the pony cart coming up the drive,
with Mrs. MacGregor in it; run and get ready, girls, or we shall be
late.'
After about a quarter of an hour's tidying, Marjorie was released from
her mother's hands, dressed in a cream serge frock and a large hat, and
with her hair brushed out and neatly arranged.
Feeling unlike herself and hardly satisfied with the change, she peeped
in the glass as soon as her mother's back was turned.
Her own reflection caused her to start and colour with surprise.
Blue eyes, bright with suppressed excitement, a wild rose face framed
in short fair curls and set off by the light colours of her attire,
slender hands and neat ankles--'and that's me,' said Marjorie to
herself in bewilderment.
Tricksy came into the room, wearing a white hanging frock with a big
floppy white hat.
'Dear me,' said Marjorie to herself, taking another glance in the
mirror, after the eyes of the two girls had met in silent approval of
one another; 'curious that we've never thought of it before--perhaps
it's because we so seldom have bothered to look in the glass--but it
strikes me that we're actually a pair of very pretty girls--with our
hair brushed and our faces washed!'
They went downstairs without speaking, and encountered the boys in the
hall.
All eyes were attracted to them; then an approving expression came into
the boys' faces, and as the girls passed they moved somewhat aside to
look at them from another point of view.
Despite the anxiety which had brooded over her since morning, Marjorie
began to feel her spirits rise.
'Marjorie,' said Tricksy solemnly, as Duncan was driving them to the
landing-stage, 'which do you think is the best fun, being a boy or
being a girl?'
Marjorie had been lost in thought, but at Tricksy's question her eyes
began to dance.
'I think it's best of all to be a tomboy,' she said, 'and then you can
be a bit of both!'
When the sailors had shipped their oars, and the boat glided under the
side of the great war-vessel, first the ladies, and then the girls were
assisted on deck and greeted by the captain, erect and
broad-shouldered, and by the officers, the youngest of whom was
Tricksy's friend of the year before. Dr. MacGregor and the laird and
Mr. Graham were already on board.
'Hullo, Miss Tricksy, how do you do?' said a voice, and Tricksy looked
up to see the Sheriff, who was smiling at her with outstretched hand.
Tricksy looked solemnly up in his face.
'Well, aren't you going to shake hands, Tricksy?' said the Sheriff.
'No,' said Tricksy deliberately.
The Sheriff's expression altered.
'And why not, Miss Tricksy, if I might inquire?' he said.
Tricksy met his grim smile with a solemn stare of disapproval.
'Because you let a great friend of ours be put in prison when he didn't
deserve it,' she replied. 'That was why I sent back the big box of
chocolates that you sent me by post. Mother did not know that it had
come. We can't be friends until you've owned yourself in the wrong.
We've all joined a Compact to get our friend back again and to show
that it wasn't he who did it. I've got it with me,' and Tricksy began
to fumble in her pocket.
The smile was beginning to twitch at the corners of the Sheriff's lips
again when he was addressed by one of the officers. The little scene
had passed unobserved by all save Marjorie, as the captain suggested
that, the weather being fine and time at their disposal, the _Heroic_
should take their visitors on a tour round Inchkerra.
'Certainly, certainly,' said the Sheriff at haphazard, and Tricksy
slipped away.
'In the meanwhile I think lunch is ready,' said Captain Redwood, and
each of the officers took a lady downstairs, Tricksy falling to the
share of the youngest.
'Dear me, this isn't half so exciting as I expected,' said Marjorie to
herself. 'What stupid grown-up things they are talking about; I am
sure they wouldn't be interested if I were to tell them about the
things we do, riding bare-backed ponies, and about the Craft and the
Den, and finding the smugglers; and I have nothing else to talk to them
about. They haven't taken much notice of Tricksy and me after all;
they weren't a bit surprised when they saw us; we're pretty, but not
any prettier than lots of other girls, and it isn't enough to make a
fuss about.'
She wondered what Tricksy was finding to say to Lieutenant Jones, the
young officer by whose side she was sitting, and who appeared to be
greatly entertained by the little girl.
After lunch they returned on deck to see a boat bring the boys on
board; then the screw was set in motion and the water began to churn
itself into foam round the vessel's sides.
'It isn't bad,' said Marjorie to herself as the _Heroic_ ploughed her
way past the well-known shores, 'but it's a bother not having anything
to do. I've seen all this before, and it isn't as though we were
rowing for all we were worth in the old _Mermaid_--I mean, the
_Craft_--and in danger of getting into currents and being swept away to
I don't know where. Now I have no doubt the boys are having no end of
a good time, going into the engine-room and getting themselves dirty,
and climbing all over the place, and listening to the sailors' yarns.
Once I get out of this, catch me bother any more about looking nice,
and being grown-up, and all the rest of it--it will be time enough when
I'm so old that I get no fun out of being a tomboy any more.'
Lieutenant Jones left Tricksy and came to sit beside Marjorie for a
turn.
'I suppose you are quite accustomed to sailing as you live in an
island, Miss MacGregor?' he said.
'Yes,' replied Marjorie, 'we are all very fond of boating, the boys and
Tricksy and I,' and after talking for a little while she began to think
that a grown-up man was nearly as good company as a boy once you got
him upon the right subject.
'Now,' said the Sheriff, coming up with his spy-glass, 'we are coming
near the finest bit of rock scenery on the island; one of the finest,
in my opinion, on this part of the West Coast.'
The _Heroic_ was just rounding the point which concealed the Smugglers'
Caves from view.
'The Corrachin Crags,' continued the Sheriff; 'the caves are remarkably
fine; interesting, too, as in former times they are said to have been
used for smuggling purposes, and as hiding-places for pirates and other
lawless characters----'
'Now!' burst from the lips of the gazers as the lofty cliffs came in
view, with the waves tumbling at their base.
Captain Redwood had issued orders to slacken speed, and as the vessel
steamed slowly past, a fine view was obtained of bold masses of rock
and the black openings to the caves, with the startled birds rising in
clouds and screaming.
'If all stories are true, the caves are still sometimes put to their
old uses,' observed Mrs. MacGregor as the _Heroic's_ engines throbbed
through the smooth swell of the water; 'for all we know, the most
thrilling adventures may be taking place there.'
'A score of men might lie in hiding without discovering one another's
presence,' said the laird; 'the caves form a regular network, and
stretch a long way underground. The entire headland is said to be
honeycombed with them----'
'Hullo, good people!' cried a soft little voice from overhead, followed
by a triumphant laugh.
Every one looked round, and half-way up the mast Tricksy was
discovered, who having become annoyed at her desertion by Lieutenant
Jones, was indulging in an exploring expedition on her own account.
Her little round face smiled mischievously from between a large white
hat and tumbled frock, and she sat swinging her heels in perfect
contentment.
Jim Macdonnell's duties having brought him to the quarter-deck at this
moment, the captain made him a sign almost without pausing in the
sentence which he was addressing to Mrs. Stewart.
The sailor climbed into the rigging and removed Tricksy very gently
from her perch, tucked her under one arm with her head hanging in front
and her heels behind, slid down the ropes and deposited the little girl
on the deck.
Tricksy stood and looked at every one in speechless wrath. Her
dignity, being as great as her anger, prevented her from giving way to
an outburst before she should have discovered who deserved it most.
Lieutenant Jones crossed over to her.
'I suppose you have been round all this place before, Miss Tricksy,' he
said in a conversational tone.
Tricksy looked at him with mistrust.
'I believe you are great explorers and rock-climbers, you and your
brothers, Miss Tricksy,' continued the officer, as though being carried
down from a mast before a crowd of people were a matter of everyday
occurrence; 'I envy you your opportunities----'
This sounded quite like the way the other officers had been talking to
the grown-up ladies, and Tricksy found her stiffness begin to forsake
her.
The most important point was to discover whether the Sheriff had seen
what had occurred. If he had not been a witness, Tricksy felt that she
might allow herself to get over it.
Her eyes sought her enemy, but that magistrate was, or affected to be,
engrossed in trying to bring his telescope to bear upon the caves, and
the episode had apparently escaped him.
'Talking of people hiding in the caves,' he said suddenly; 'Mrs.
MacGregor, do you see the figure of a man at the mouth of the one which
we are now opposite? From his attitude he might be a fugitive from
justice or any other of these interesting desperadoes about whom we
have been talking----'
Marjorie's face flushed, and she began to tremble from head to foot.
'Wait a minute, Mrs. MacGregor,' said the Sheriff, 'I will get my
glasses adjusted. Curious; there is something in the man's appearance
which seems familiar to me----'
He was about to take another look when the air was rent by the shrill
whistle of a siren.
They all turned round in astonishment, and when they looked towards the
rocks again the figure had disappeared.
The captain's face had become stern, but the culprit proved to be only
a small boy in a jacket whose sleeves were too short for him.
Marjorie had seen more, however; she had seen that it was Jim
Macdonnell who had made Reggie blow the siren.
During the rest of the afternoon things seemed to be swimming before
Marjorie's eyes, and she heard only a confused murmur of voices.
When the voyage was over she went straight to Allan.
'Allan,' she said abruptly, 'I may as well tell you that I know your
secret. Neil is in Inchkerra--and he is in hiding.'