"FROM THE HANDS OF MY KINSFOLK."
"What on earth has become of that duffer?" said Tom Holtum, when the
_Laulie_ arrived at the geo and no Yaspard appeared either on land or
sea.
"We are a little before our time," Harry remarked; "but I don't see his
boat anywhere along the voe--that is, as far as one can see in the Dim
and along such a twisting twirligig of a voe as this."
"I vote we land and have a nap," said Bill; but no one seconded him, as
they expected the Viking and his followers to appear at any moment.
These did not put in an appearance, however; and after waiting a long
hour Tom said, "Look here, boys, something unforeseen has stopped
him--and it's something serious too. I expect the old man has smelt a
rat, or Yaspard has had qualms of conscience."
"He'd have come and told us if _that_ were it," said Harry promptly.
"Anyway," Tom replied, "he hasn't come; and it does not look as if he
were coming, and we can't sit here all night doing nothing. So I vote
we proceed without Sir Viking."
"He would not like it; and it is his quest, you know," Harry laughingly
made answer.
"_His_ quest, but remember it is also _my_ what-you-call-am--little
game. Mind you I discovered the seal for myself, and I meant the job
of taking her to be our job. Father said it might have been better if
Yaspard had less to do with it. On the whole, boys, I don't think we
can do better than start and reconnoitre, and take whatever chance
comes our way."
The others agreed, and, thinking it best not to venture up the voe,
they decided to moor their boat at some safe place on the other side of
Boden and nearer Trullyabister. "So said so done" was the way of those
lads, and about the time when Yaspard and Fred were falling asleep,
thoroughly tired out, the Mitchells, Tom, and Gloy were stealthily
creeping up the hill to the old Ha'-hoose.
"We must be careful and spry," quoth Tom, "for the ogre 'walks' like a
ghost o' nights, as I know to my cost." Yaspard had described the
ruins to them, and they knew all about the passage leading to the
haunted room. _His_ plan for liberating the captives had been their
plan, since no better could be; but they were not provided with the
tools he meant to bring, and could not therefore carry out the
programme as at first arranged.
But those boys were not often at their wits' end, and whatever
substitutes for sacks, saws, and shovels suggested themselves as
available were carried with them from the boat. These substitutes
consisted of a piece of sail-cloth and some bits of hard wood, an
owzkerry[1] and the boat-hook. They also brought away some stout rope,
and a knife which had helped to end the career of many an aspiring
fish. They were not without hope of finding a spade lying "handy"
somewhere in the vicinity of the house; so that, on the whole, the
young marauders were not so badly off for the sinews of war.
They met with no adventure by the way, nor saw they the least sign to
indicate that either of the night-roving inhabitants of Trullyabister
were awake. Near the peat-stack they found a spade and a large stout
keschie, which they appropriated, as Harry suggested it would make a
handy cradle for the baby seal. They stole into the ruined and
roofless apartment as Yaspard and the Harrisons had done, and listened
for sounds from the prisoners; but all was quiet. There was plenty of
daylight by that time, so that they did not have to grope their way
about.
"Of course the first thing," whispered Harry, "is to make sure they are
_there_, so I'll mount as the Viking did."
He clambered up to the window and took a good look in. It was a pity
he did not take as good a look _out_, and then he might have
noticed--at a window close by, the window of Mr. Neeven's study--the
eyes of that ogre himself watching the boys with grave intentness. But
Harry, all unaware of such espionage, came down from the window, and
reported Mrs. Sealkie asleep beside her baby in a corner made
comfortable with straw and bits of carpet. To work then went the lads,
one with a spade, another with a knife; and when these two were tired,
the others took their place, so that the job was rapidly accomplished.
Their plan was to remove the lowest board which blocked the way to the
passage, and to dig from under it a sufficient amount of earth to
enable a boy to enter--or a seal to come out.
They meant, _after_ capturing the captive, to hack the board and scrape
the earth, so that any one would suppose that the seal had gnawed and
clawed her own way to freedom; and they thought it a very clever plan
indeed, saying that Yaspard, with whom it originated, was the great
inventor and general of the age.
The seal did not sleep while this was going on so near her; but she had
partaken of a late and large supper, and did not "fash" beyond now and
then whining in a melancholy voice, which stimulated the young heroes
to further efforts, and helped to cover the noise they made.
Before long they were satisfied that the opening was wide enough to
allow them to enter crawling. "The first one that goes in will have to
watch his head," said Bill, "for I've heard that seals are very fierce
when they have young ones around."
"_This_ seal is Trullya, and she will know us. Anyway, she never was a
crosspatch, and I'll go first," replied Harry the wise and brave. "And
I don't see," he added, "that any one else need go in there. I'll try
and persuade her ladyship to inspect this aperture, and take a
'constitutional' down the passage."
But Tom wasn't going to let another eclipse him in valour, particularly
as this quest was his, so, before Harry had done speaking, Tom ducked
and soon wriggled himself through the opening. Harry followed, after
cautioning Bill and Gloy to go out of the passage and keep watch, to
give the alarm in case Mr. Neeven or fule-Tammy should come upon the
scene.
The sealkie was neither alarmed nor disturbed by her visitors. She had
evidently returned to her tame confiding ways, and allowed the boys to
come close to her. When Harry spoke to her by name, using also some
soft notes which Fred had taught Trullya to understand as a call to
meals, she responded in her plaintive voice, which left no doubt of her
identity; but when Tom attempted to touch the baby she uttered a sharp
bark and glared at him in a manner that showed she was by no means
prepared to allow their overtures to go a step further.
"What shall we do if she won't come out?" asked Tom; "we couldn't
muffle her _here_, could we?"
"You go along, and leave madame to me," replied Harry; and Tom made his
exit.
Harry had "a way" with animals, and he soon managed to persuade Trullya
to leave her couch. Then the baby, restless and curious as small
persons are, crept to the opening and peeped out. The mother followed,
and finding the barriers against which she had daily fretted removed,
waddled slowly into the passage, followed by her young one.
Harry hastily tumbled the earth and broken bits of wood about the
opening, and followed the sealkie into the large room, where he found
her looking amazedly at the three boys stationed at spots where they
thought she might escape.
Tom had taken up the piece of sail-cloth, and he was preparing to throw
it over the seal when all were startled by the sound of a loud cough
not far away.
"Gracious!" one exclaimed in a horrified whisper.
"He's coming!" said another.
The cough was repeated, and the person who coughed was nearer.
Moreover, footsteps were heard! These sounds proceeded from the north
side of the house, and the four boys promptly and silently evacuated
the ruin over the south wall.
"Run for the peat-stack," Harry whispered; and when they were crouching
behind it he said briefly, "It's all up. That was Mr. Neeven. We must
creep round to the knowes, and then make tracks for our boat."
Setting the example, he started for the knowes, crawling over the
ground like a Red Indian on the war-trail, and followed by his
companions. If they reached the knowes unobserved they might hope to
get off in safety, for those little hillocks intercepted the view from
Trullyabister, preventing any one there from seeing across the hill
which the Lunda boys had to cross.
But when they reached the knowes Mr. Neeven suddenly appeared from
behind them, saying sternly, "What is this? What! Tom Holtum, who
calls himself a gentleman!"
They were beautifully caught, and rose from their reptile position
shamefaced and discomfited. Tom, whose audacity frequently stood them
in better stead than Harry's self-possession, was the first to face the
very awkward situation.
"We didn't mean any harm, sir," he said. "We only came to take Fred
Garson's pet sealkie."
"Indeed! and where may Fred Garson's pet sealkie be?"
"She was in the haunted room--goodness knows where she may be by this
time," was the very cool answer of Master Tom.
"Are you aware, young gentleman, that breaking into a house is a
burglarious offence, for which you are liable to imprisonment with hard
labour during a term of years?"
That was a terrible speech; but a sudden break in the speaker's voice,
and a mirthful look which he could not repress, were noted by Harry,
who took them as hopeful signs; so, plucking up courage, he replied--
"You know what is fair and right as well as we do, sir; and I put it to
you--were we doing a bad thing in trying to recover our friend's
property in a quiet way? He might have sued Mr. Adiesen in the law
courts, and made no end of a row."
"Always supposing, my lad," Mr. Neeven interrupted, "that the seal
could be proved to be his."
"I can prove it easily," Harry answered confidently. "She answered to
the old call Fred used; and besides that, Isabel made a sketch of her.
Every mark on her skin is in the picture."
"And more," said Tom; "the sealkie was caught on Fred's property, where
no person had business to be without _his_ leave."
"That, too, is a point open to question. But what _I_ have to do with
is this disgraceful burglary. I believe it is admitted that you had
less business in Trullyabister than Mr. Adiesen had in Havnholme."
There was no denying that truth, and the boys hung their heads.
"Follow me," said the ogre. "First you shall show _me_ if the animal
recognises your call, and after that I'll tell you what I mean to do
with you."
The whole party returned to the ruins; but when they got there they
were just in time to see Trullya and her baby flopping over some crags
near the back of the house, which was situated only a little way from
the sea on _both_ sides.
The boys were about to start in pursuit, but Mr. Neeven stopped them.
"Let her go to her own," he said almost gently. And in a few minutes
the seal reached the ocean and was free once more.
[1] "Owzkerry," scoop for baling water.