ANDREW MACPETERS
For a moment no one stirred; then Allan braced himself to meet the
difficulty.
'I'm sorry, Father; but I can't tell you that,' he said.
Mr. Stewart looked at him in astonishment.
'You can't tell me? You mean you don't know?'
Allan was silent.
Mr. Stewart waited.
Tricksy crept closer to Marjorie and trembled with dismay.
'You associate with people that you cannot tell your parents about,'
said Mr. Stewart in great displeasure; 'and you allow him to associate
with your little sister and with Marjorie. I am sorry that I must
forbid the use of the boat until you tell me who was with you this
morning.'
Allan waited with a white face until his father had left the room; then
he turned to the others.
'No one is to let out who it was,' he said. 'You have all signed the
Compact, and any one breaking it will have me to reckon with.'
Reggie's brown face wore an expression which showed that he, at least,
meant to be trustworthy; and Marjorie's lips set themselves firmly.
The Grahams, major and minor, had said little, but now Harry's eyes
sparkled, and Gerald flushed, as he always did when he was trying to be
brave.
'But, Allan,' said Tricksy in a trembling voice, 'wouldn't it be better
to tell Father about it and ask him to let us have the boat for Neil?
We must get him away from the island, you know.'
'Can't tell Pater, Tricksy,' replied Allan. 'It would be all right if
they hadn't made him a Justice of the Peace; that's some kind of a
judge, you know. He couldn't help any one like Neil; indeed I'm not
sure that he wouldn't have to telegraph for the Sheriff and let him
know that Neil is here, and it would be a dreadful thing for Father to
have to do that.'
'Then how are we going to get Neil away from the Den,' said Tricksy.
'They'll find him if he stays there.'
'Allan,' said Marjorie firmly, 'Hamish and I will go. We haven't been
forbidden the use of the boat.'
'We'll go too,' said Harry. 'We aren't his children, and Mr. Stewart
didn't say anything to us.'
'All right, Marjorie,' said Allan; 'you'd better all go, for Neil's old
boat is pretty heavy to get through the water. Quick, there isn't a
minute to lose.'
Little was said as the old herring-boat was pushed off and manned, for
even Harry was feeling subdued.
'It's all right, Neil,' said Marjorie as the boat landed and Neil
looked inquiringly for the others; 'they've been kept at home by their
father. We'll land you at the Skegness Cliffs as there's least chance
of being seen there.'
The passage was accomplished without incident, but as Neil stood up to
spring ashore Hamish uttered an exclamation and pointed to the top of
the cliff. All looked up. A man was standing on the verge, and
looking down.
'It's Andrew MacPeters again,' said Hamish.
'Let's land somewhere else,' said Marjorie.
'No use, Miss Marjorie,' said Neil. 'If he means ill by me he will
give the alarm; it will be better for me to be landing while there iss
still a chance. I'm not afraid if I only have him to deal with.'
He stood up once more, then turned to the others. 'Remember,' he said,
'whatever happens, my mother iss to be told that I haf left the island.
Miss Marjorie, you promise?'
'I promise,' answered Marjorie; then Neil sprang on shore and vanished
behind a mass of rock.
For a minute or two they remained looking up at the cliff, but nothing
was to be seen of Andrew MacPeters; then they rowed slowly back to the
place where the Craft had been moored.
'Well?' said Allan and Reggie, who met them half-way on the road to
Ardnavoir.
The others gave a brief account of what had taken place.
'Bad luck,' said Allan when they had described the encounter with
Andrew MacPeters. 'I'd back Neil against Andrew any day; he won't
interfere with Neil himself, but then the fellow's quite capable of
giving the alarm to the police.'
They wandered disconsolately a little farther.
'It seems horrid to have to give Mrs. Macdonnell that message,' said
Marjorie; 'but it will have to be done, I suppose, since we promised.'
'Yes, Marjorie,' said Hamish, 'it will have to be done. It would be
enough to kill her if she knew that Neil was in danger.'
Who was to be entrusted with the message? Every one looked at
Marjorie, who became red and looked unhappy as she realised what was
expected of her.
'You will have to do it,' said Allan.
'Me?' said Marjorie; 'no, you go, Allan.'
'No,' said Allan decidedly; 'it's not the kind of thing for a fellow.
It needs a girl, so it will have to be you.'
'Allan is quite right, Marjorie,' joined in Hamish; 'there is no one
but you who can do it. Mind you don't let her see that you are not
telling the truth.'
Marjorie looked very distressed, but saw she must make up her mind.
'Well, you come with me as far as the cottage,' she said; and the
entire party set off.
Arrived at the gate, Allan threw it open, and Marjorie walked up the
path and disappeared inside the cottage.
The others sat down on the heather and waited.
A long time seemed to pass, and then Marjorie reappeared looking very
subdued.
'All right, Marjorie?' inquired Allan.
Marjorie nodded without speaking, and others judged it best to refrain
from asking questions.
For some time they walked in silence, and then Tricksy quietly slipped
into the place next to Marjorie.
After a while, finding that the boys were out of earshot. Tricksy
sidled closer, and ventured to ask Marjorie very gently how Mrs.
Macdonnell had received the message.
'I--I--I--she was in bed,' said Marjorie, 'and I went to her, and it
was rather dark, and after I had asked how she was and all that,
I--I--I just told her. She never thought I was saying what wasn't
true, for she said "Thank God for that."'
Marjorie ended with a little tearless sob, and neither of the girls
could find anything to say for a little while.
When the boys came beside them again Tricksy walked on silently for a
little way, then she suddenly burst out--
'I don't care, but what's the use of a Compact if we can't do anything
to help Neil? There he is, in great danger, and Mrs. Macdonnell may
hear of it any day, and if she does it will kill her; and we haven't
done anything that's of any use.'
'What do you think we can do?' replied Reggie gruffly.
'Why, bustle about until we find out who stole the letters. Here we
are, and we find little bits of paper which ought to tell us something
if we had any sense, but we don't get further. Seven of us and we
can't help poor Neil when he is in trouble.'
Nobody seemed to have anything to say, and Tricksy burst out again--
'You say you know who was the real thief?'
'We think we do, Tricksy,' interposed Hamish; 'but we don't know for
certain.'
'Then why don't we make sure?'
'How would you do it, Tricksy?' asked Allan, while the others trudged
steadily onwards.
'Why, watch him wherever he goes; and we'd soon find out where he kept
the papers if he had taken them.'
There was no answer for a moment.
Then Allan said gravely, 'That wouldn't be honourable, Tricksy. We
must play fair, you know.'
'Honourable! Honourable to a thief!--But yes, of course we must.
Well, I don't know what's to be done then,' and Tricksy concluded by a
big sigh.
When the coastguard station came in view a man was standing at the
gate, scanning the road with a telescope. Upon catching sight of the
young people he lowered the glass and came forward.
'Euan Macdonnell,' said Reggie, quickening his pace; 'let's hear
whether he has any news.'
'I was on the lookout for you, young ladies and gentlemen,' said Euan.
'We've just got a telephone message from the Corrachin lighthouse sent
by Rob MacLean. We were to tell you that Neil has reached the caves
and is safe for the meanwhile, and he supposes that you, young ladies
and gentlemen, have remembered the message to his mother.'
'If only Andrew hasn't seen him,' said Marjorie after the first
exclamations of thankfulness.
Euan looked grave as he heard how Andrew had witnessed the landing.
'I don't trust that fellow for an instant,' he said. 'He would think
nothing of putting the police on the alert if he had a mind to. We can
only hope that he hasn't recognised Neil, or that Rob will find a way
of getting the poor lad out of the island before any harm comes.'
When the young people had reached Ardnavoir, weary and discouraged, Mr.
Stewart was in the hall. 'I know who was with you this morning,' he
said abruptly. 'Was it by accident that you met?'
'Yes,' said Allan.
'Your boat was stranded on the Reachin Skerry,' went on Mr. Stewart,
'and the men have brought her home. You may have the use of her again.'
'Thank you, Father,' said Allan.
They all scanned Mr. Stewart's face to read, if possible, his
intentions regarding Neil; but nothing was to be gathered.
'Isn't Father a dear?' said Tricksy, when they had wandered out to the
cricket-ground. 'He knows we couldn't betray our friend, not even for
him.'
'Yes,' said Reggie; 'but the question is whether he will have to do
something himself, since he's a J.P.'
The question was not answered that day, and during the next they were
still in ignorance.
On the third day it was discovered that detectives were in the island
again, and Euan brought the news that every boat was watched both
coming and going.
The days dragged on in suspense, and still Neil was in the caves. Rob
MacLean had a plan for conveying him away by night and landing him
somewhere on the coast of Scotland, from whence the lad was to tramp to
some large town and stow himself away on a vessel bound for America;
but the bright, full moon rendered any such attempts impossible for the
meanwhile.
'Isn't it too bad?' broke out Marjorie one day; 'I think the law is
cruel if it forces Mr. Stewart to have Neil arrested. I wonder how he
could do it. He knows as well as we do that Neil isn't a thief.'
'It wasn't Father,' said Allan. 'I happen know that he's lying low and
won't take any notice. All our people are bound together not to betray
Neil, but some one has been a traitor; they don't know who. Neil has a
secret enemy in the place.'
They all thought they knew who this was, but no one could bring the
deed home to the culprit. All desire for fun and adventure seemed to
have left them, and the boys and girls wandered about disconsolately or
sat in groups talking about plans which they were unable to carry out;
or later, ceased to find anything at all to suggest. Even the dogs
seemed to know that something was the matter, for they would lie
quietly beside the children for hours, and sometimes Laddie would
thrust his nose into some one's hand and look up with his honest,
affectionate eyes full of sympathy.
The weather became more broken, and sometimes all intercourse between
Ardnavoir and Corranmore was cut off during the greater part of a day.
When the rain ceased, Andrew MacPeters, looking up from his work, would
find Reggie's dark eyes contemplating him as their owner sat astride
upon a dyke, or Allan considering him with hands in his pockets, and a
thoughtful countenance; or else it was the Grahams who regarded him
with a mixture of interest and aversion, or Tricksy with her great eyes
resting upon him with an expression of sorrow that any one could be so
dreadfully wicked.
The lad would look up with a surly expression in his red-lidded eyes;
but watch as they might, they never detected in him any expression of
guilt or embarrassment.