distance.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH
RECONCILIATION
While Sally was making her journey of exploration through the caves,
she had felt as though hours passed: it seemed weeks before, at last,
she found Autolycus. The whole thing was like some hideous game of
"hunt the thimble," with feeble yapping, now so faint as to be
scarcely heard, and then for a moment louder, to guide her, instead
of music.
The passage had by this time widened, through an entrance
half-blocked with crumbling shale, into a series of caves--some of
which, it was obvious, must have been used in the past as a
store-house. The walls had been roughly hewn to hold shelves, broken
planks lay on the ground, while some empty barrels rotted in pools.
Sally, wriggling through the half-blocked entrance to the last cave
on hands and knees, only noted these things with one half of her
mind, the other and more active of her brain was intent on what was
now an almost continuous whine--full of misery and entreaty.
"Tolly!" she called, "Tolly! Why don't you come?"
And at last, stumbling over an old iron anchor, almost buried beneath
a mass of fallen rock, she came upon him--lying on his side--pinned
down by a heap of earth and loose stones.
She knelt beside him, kissing him, and he lifted his head and feebly
licked her hand, gazing at her with wide brown eyes that expressed
their utter confidence in her ability to put things right.
"You are quite safe, Tolly," she whispered in answer, and resting her
lantern on the projecting bar of the anchor, began feverishly to
clear away the debris that weighed him down. At last he was free;
but as she tried to lift him, he yelped, and examining him, she found
his leg was hurt.
As gently as she could she raised him, and taking off her thick coat,
folded it up to form a cushion, and so made a bed for him in the
driest part of the cave. Then she opened her bag, and producing a
saucer and the bottle of milk, persuaded him to drink some. It was
slow work at first, for the move had evidently jarred his leg, and he
would do nothing but lie and whine, with his eyes shut. Gradually,
however, he eased his position, and then, when he had taken a little
milk, began to revive, and eagerly ate some pieces of raw meat that
Sally chopped off for him with her pocket knife. His tail was
wagging now, and there came at last something of his old roguish
spirit in the cock of his long ears and gleam of his eyes.
"You think we are out of the wood, my lad," said his mistress rather
ruefully. "It's well to have a trusting disposition," and with a
little shiver she looked round the cave. It was very cold without
her great-coat, though she was thankful she had had the sense to put
on two warm woollen jumpers underneath as well as a thick scarf.
Round her waist were folded coils and coils of rope; and Sally, as
she began mechanically to unwind these, laughed, as she thought of
what Jakes's indignation must have been when he discovered her theft.
Finding herself too early for the walk that afternoon, she had, on a
sudden impulse, dashed round to the stable and outhouses,
appropriating quite easily, since it was still Jakes's dinner hour,
first a large clasp knife, that she had concealed in her bag, and
then the rope, which she had hidden beneath her coat.
Would it be of any use to her? The answer seemed to depend on where
she was, and as Autolycus slept--apparently exhausted--Sally lifted
the lantern and began a voyage of discovery.
She was in a fairly large cave, not so damp as the one she called the
entrance hall, but still in rather a ruinous condition--to judge by
its heaps of splintered rock and earth. The roof, especially near
the entrance, where she had scrambled through on her knees, must
always have been weak, for previous visitors--presumably
smugglers--had propped it up with pit-poles, and stretched a pine
trunk across, that now sagged ominously over the doorway.
At the opposite side, where she had found the dog, there was a wide
fissure in the rocks, filled with earth and rubble. Here the roof
sloped so violently that the girl, approaching to examine it, jumped
back in dismay as she realised its spongy insecurity.
"Why, it might come down any minute: it might have come down and
buried Tolly and me while I was bending over him," were the thoughts
that shook her nerve, and turned the caves, not merely into a place
of shadowy fear, but of active, lurking danger.
Her candle had now burned very low, and Sally, while she replaced it
with another--her fingers trembling as she forced them to do her
will--was struck by a fresh thought. Where did the air come from
that had nearly extinguished her light, since the wall against which
she leaned seemed solid like the others?
Smothering the glow from the lantern with her bag, she peered about
her in the dark, until, her eyes growing accustomed to the gloom, she
was able to distinguish some kind of opening, a few feet above her
head. A wide opening it must be--no, two--for a broad line of shadow
was thrown across the cave, in the middle; and then Sally's heart
gave a leap. She had reached the Portholes: and was quite close to
Seascape House, if only she could make anyone hear her and come to
her assistance.
Lifting the light again, she moved her hand along the wall, wondering
how she could raise herself to look out--for it was no use shouting
while she was in a kind of well--and then, suddenly, Autolycus
whined. It was not the whine of pain, but had an undercurrent of
growl in it, and Sally, as she turned back from her search, and put
her hand on his back to quiet him, could feel that he was tense with
excitement.
"He's heard something," she said. "Someone is coming."
Her first feeling was one of joy, for the loneliness and growing
sense of insecurity had begun to tell on her nerves, and she was very
near tears. Then, as she listened, conscious that there were indeed
movements somewhere down the long dark passage by which she had just
come, her hope turned to fresh terror. What human being could it be
that visited the caves at this hour of the night? No one knew where
she was--(how Sally wished, in that minute, that she had left a note
for Miss Castle to explain her plan)--smugglers were an order of the
past--there was no one ... no one except...
In a flash, there forced itself back into her mind the tale she had
deliberately shut out earlier in the afternoon--of the boy who,
wandering like herself from Borley Chine, through the labyrinth of
passages, had been walled up and starved. In her excited mood he was
no longer the hero of a ghost story, but a reality; and drawing a
choking breath, she crouched down by the dog, and placing the bag in
front of the lantern to hide its light, flattened herself against the
wall.
"Quiet, Tolly!" she whispered. "Oh, do be quiet!" But he continued
to growl softly, and the footsteps--for she knew they were footsteps
now--to draw ever closer.
Of the next few minutes Sally had never any clear recollection.
Someone shouted--shouted several times--there was a flash of light,
and a sound of falling masonry, mingled with loud barking--and then
the pain in her head, which had caught her sharply in the first spasm
of fear, became intense and she knew no more.
When she opened her eyes, it was to see Violet Tremson staring down
at her--a Violet almost as white as the handkerchief with which she
was sponging her forehead.
"The ghost!" Sally gasped; and then, "Where am I?"
"I ... I think we are underneath the Portholes----"
Violet's voice was very unsteady, and the tears had begun to trickle
down her face.
"I ... I thought you were dead when I found you," she said, and then
the other, in sudden reaction, sat up and laughed.
"It was you who killed me.... I imagined you were the ghost--my
ghost," she said; "and I suppose I fainted." She shivered.
In an instant, Violet was on her feet and taking off her own coat.
"You are to put this on at once," she said, and there was so much
authority in her tone, and the younger girl was so cold, that she
meekly obeyed. Her brain was working furiously now: she had begun to
wonder how on earth the other had found her, and why she had come.
"I ... don't understand," she began, but Violet, with a frown, only
said--"Presently." She had a soft plaid rug that she wound round her
own shoulders, and tied under her arms. This done, she opened a wide
rush basket, and began taking out first a huge thermos, and then some
buns in a bag.
"Coffee," she said, and pouring some into a mug, made Sally drink
from it, afterwards drinking herself.
"Now we shan't get chilled straight off, while we make plans," she
said. "And there's more left if we want it. Feel better?"
"Lots, thank you. It was just the fright and finding Tolly hurt."
Violet nodded, and turning the lantern towards the dog, began to feel
his leg, with gentle, capable fingers--while he whined softly, and
tried to lick her hand.
"I think it's broken," she said at last. "Not badly--but it ought to
be set--I wonder where we could get a splint."
She got up from her knees and began to look, and Sally, as she
flashed the lantern round the cave, gave an exclamation of horror.
"The door!" she said. "Why, it has fallen in."
"I know--it nearly fell on top of me, because my electric torch went
out, and in the dark I caught the rug round one of the props, as I
scrambled through, and pulled it too hard trying to get it free.
That's what made me so funky and shaken--that, and finding you, as I
thought, dead."
She gave a thin little laugh, without much mirth in it, and went to
pick up the broken prop.
"A bit of it might do, if I had a decent knife," she said, and gave
an exclamation of joy, as Sally produced the gardener's out of her
bag.
"You really have the pioneering instinct, Sally, and you ought to
emigrate. Imagine thinking of a knife! And I suppose you brought
that coil of rope."
The younger girl nodded shyly. "You ought to be a prophet," she
said. "Or the Delphic oracle person. How did you know I was here?"
Violet flushed. "Well, I didn't. But I guessed when we met
Mademoiselle in the High Street with Pat Dolby, and she thought you
were with us, and I knew you hadn't been. She was in an awful state
about you."
"Poor Mademoiselle! She's very nice most times, isn't she? But so
excitable."
"Fireworks weren't in it," said the elder girl placidly. "Anyhow,
while they fired, I went round quietly and borrowed all the money the
others had got, so as to get the thermos, the rug and coffee. I told
them to tell her (when she allowed them to speak) that I knew where
you were, and would bring you along--and just vanished."
"But how did you know?" persisted Sally. "I never told you anything."
"Frisky did--I mean about your thinking the dog had got into the
caves: then I remembered your ghost story about the Chine, and put
two and two together. You said, out there on the cliffs, it was the
only way to get him."
They were silent, while Violet measured the stick. Afterwards, with
Sally holding the lantern, she set Tolly's leg as well as she could,
and fastened it to the splint, binding it up with her school tie and
hat-band.
"Now he's got the colours," she said, "and I know he'll deserve
them--the darling--for he is wagging his tail, although I hurt him."
It was true. Tolly had whined a little while the operation was going
on, but now he was evidently satisfied that what had been done was
intended for his good, and when Violet bent over to kiss him, he
licked her face--then looked up at them both expectantly, and barked.
"He now imagines," said Violet, "that we will waft him back on a
magic carpet to his stables or the vet., and how is it going to be
done, kid?"
Sally turned and looked at her with a start. "I don't know," she
said absently. "I was just thinking--why did you come, Violet? You
... you hated me."
"No, never," said Violet quietly--and then, "Sally, do you want me to
have to apologise for what I said the other day?"
The younger girl stared. "I ... I loathe apologies," she said, "and
why on earth should you? I had been beastly to you several times,
and you had a right to snub me; only, that evening when I apologised,
I wasn't toadying, you know--really, I wasn't--it was just I had been
so happy with you all, and Miss Castle, and I wanted to make things
straight."
"Yes--and then I went and damped all your happiness down, and was a
sanctimonious liar, and said I hadn't minded what you did. I could
have kicked myself that night."
Violet had risen to her feet, and was walking backwards and forwards,
with more emotion in her pale face than Sally had ever seen there
before.
"It's all right, Violet," she said awkwardly. "Don't mind like that.
I've been much ruder to you than you ever have been to me. Let's
just forget it all."
Violet laughed. "It would be the simplest thing to do, but one's got
to have some kind of an explanation. I liked you from the first,
kid--I don't know why--(certainly not from Cousin Alice's
description)," she added, with a twinkle, "but just because, I
suppose, one falls into friendship as into love."
"I know," said Sally, nodding; "as I did over Peter--only I've fallen
out again, as you said you did."
"Exactly--and then, though I liked you, it was obvious you didn't
like me---and that wasn't your fault, and I didn't blame you till you
asked me that afternoon if I had no pride. It got me on the raw,
because I suppose I hadn't any pride, the way I had pursued you."
"No! no! no!" said Sally, protesting. "It was beastly of me, but I
felt so ill and horrible that afternoon, I wanted to say something to
hurt somebody." And she began to talk about her sprained foot, and
Roger having seen Peter at the party.
While she spoke there came the sound of a faint whistle, and Tolly
started to bark.
"It's from outside," said Violet. "Perhaps they've guessed we are
here. Now, how on earth are we to let them know?" And she and Sally
gazed up in silence at the three feet or more of rock between them
and the Portholes.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH
RESCUE
It was Sally who first discovered the way up to the Portholes--steps,
or rather notches, cut in the side of the rock, into which it was
possible to put one's feet--and then, as she mounted these, with
Violet supporting her from below, her hand came suddenly into contact
with a chain and rings, suspended from the wall above. Evidently the
chain had once been longer, but was now broken. By grasping it, she
was able to pull herself up until she could place her knee on the
lower ledge of one of the Portholes, and crouching there, look out,
and down.
"Hi! Hi!" she screamed excitedly, and taking the lantern from
Violet, waved it backwards and forwards across the opening.
[Illustration: "HI! HI!" SHE SCREAMED EXCITEDLY]
Instantly there was an answering shout, and she saw the flash of an
electric torch.
"There are several of them," she said, and then--"Oh one of them is
Jakes. Mustn't he be mad at having to come and find Tolly here,
after all?" And she giggled.
"Do him good," retorted Violet. "But I say, move along if you can,
and I'll come up too. I wonder who the rest are?"
"Miss Castle, for one--of course--I bet."
And then Sally gave a shout of joy. "It is Miss Castle! Oh, hurrah,
Miss Castle, I've found Tolly." And she put her hands together to
make a megaphone.
The little group on the shore below was drawing nearer, and finally
mounted to the ledge of rocks below the barbed wire, where Sally had
once eaten her tea, and contemplated climbing up. Their expressions,
seen in the fitful moonlight, were anxious, and when she waved her
arms, Miss Castle stepped forward, and told her to be careful.
"Are you there too, Violet?" she asked; and as the elder girl said
"Yes," she answered "Thank God!" so fervently that they both felt
rather abashed--realising the anxiety they had caused.
"Would it be easier to return as you came, or try to get down from
where you are?" demanded another voice.
"Proggins!" whispered Sally; and it was indeed Miss Rogers, in her
gym. dress, while beside her was Jakes, staring at them in too much
consternation to find his usual flow of words.
"We can't return as we came, Miss Rogers, the door of the cave has
fallen in, but Sally has got a rope."
"My rope! Well, if I ain't blowed! I knew one of them girls had
stole it," said Jakes, suddenly aroused from contemplation; but Miss
Rogers allowed him no time to develop the grievance.
"Will it be strong enough to hold their weight--properly tied?"
"Should hold six of 'em," he muttered sulkily, and Violet, feeling
her way down by the notches, picked it up, and reappeared with it.
"I'm quite good at knots," she said to Sally. "Isn't it fortunate I
was a Guide? We will fix it on to the chain. See?"
They did so, and let it hang down over the ledge, but only to find it
could not reach within arm's length of the group below.
"Oh, dear!" whispered Sally suddenly. "Oh, dear!" Her excitement
had died down, and she felt cold and miserable. A minute ago they
had seemed in safety, and now it was as far off as ever.
"Courage, Sally!" called out Miss Castle, guessing dejection in her
attitude. "Jakes will fetch his long ladder, and then we shall reach
you quite easily. What about Tolly?"
Autolycus, in truth, had begun to bark, and then whined with pain, as
he tried to drag himself on to his feet.
"I will put him in the rush basket, and tie it up in the rug, and
then we will lower him first," said Violet. "But please take care,
for he has broken his leg."
She felt her way down once more into the cave, and with the aid of
Sally's belt, the rug and two handkerchiefs, made as comfortable a
cradle as she could devise. Inside it she placed Autolycus, and
steadying him with her hand, helped the other girl to pull him up on
the ledge beside her.
The need of quieting him steadied Sally's nerves once more.
"Poor old Tolly! Lie still, sir!--no, lie still!" she whispered
firmly, and held him tight in her arms till Jakes appeared with the
ladder and some of the more intrepid of the kitchen staff, wrapped up
in dressing-gowns and shawls.
It was an audience to be impressed, and the gardener, as he cut the
barbed wire and placed the ladder against the sloping rock above,
prepared to arouse applause and fear.
"'Tis a risky job, I would have you ladies know," he said, beginning
slowly to take off his coat, and then Miss Rogers unkindly laughed.
"Mine be the risk," she said. "You and two of the others just hold
the thing still," and she ran up the rungs as though she were
climbing in the gymnasium. Balancing herself on the top, with one
hand on the rock, she called to Violet:
"Now quick! Lower the dog," and Tolly, tied up as though he were a
workman's dinner, was first suspended in space, howling miserably,
and then landed in Miss Rogers's arms.
The ladder creaked against the cliff side, shifted on the shale, and
was firmly propped up once more by the cook and Jakes, while Miss
Castle, advancing, took the bundle, freed it from the rope, and
proceeded to comfort its unhappy occupant.
"Next man! ... it had better be Sally," called Proggins, and Violet,
when she had helped her out of the big coat, fastened the rope under
the younger girl's arms.
"Good luck, Sally!" she whispered. "It is absolutely tight and safe.
Just remember, if anyone asks, that I gave you leave to come to the
caves and search."
"But you didn't!" Then, catching sight of the other's face, which
had a strained look about the eyes and mouth, "Oh, right oh! If you
like--though I don't see that it matters. But I say, have I got to
lower myself now?"
"Yes--push off gently with your feet, while I hold the rope across my
knees, to break the jerk. That's right."
It seemed to Sally that she shot into space--was nearly cut in half
by a sudden pull under her arms, and then, just as the pain seemed
unbearable, felt her feet on something solid. Miss Rogers was
placing them on the top rung of the ladder.
As soon as the rope was unfastened, she descended step by step, until
she fell in a little heap on one of the rocks, where someone had
spread a rug. Her legs would support her no longer, and she felt
ashamed of this weakness, until Miss Castle smiled, and gave her
Tolly to hold, and Miss Rogers said approvingly:
"Good girl! You kept your head all right. Now for Violet."
"It ain't going to be an easy job for her--not nohow," said Jakes,
loudly. (He had been silent a surprisingly long time.) "It's like
this here--there ain't no one up there to stop the rope being cut
against the cliff, soon as her weight comes on it--at least, that's
as I see it."
"Yes," said Miss Rogers, "I realise that." Her face had gone quite
white, but her tone was even and detached as she called out, "Put
your thick coat, doubled, along the ledge, Violet, for the rope to
come across."
The girl did so, and crouched, hesitatingly, on the ledge. She too
had evidently realised the risk.
"I'm not going to try to tie myself up," she called out at last. "It
will be safer hand under hand--as we do in gym.--not such a jerk."
Miss Castle gave an exclamation of horror, and Sally struggled to her
feet, protestingly, but Miss Rogers turned and frowned at them both.
"Quiet!" she said abruptly, and then louder, so that the girl above
could hear her, "Much safer, I think. I'll hold the rope
steady--lower yourself slowly."
Sally will never forget--nor probably will any of the other
watchers--the sickening anxiety of the next few minutes. First, the
awful jerk as Violet's full weight swung out from the ledge of rock,
and then her slow descent, hand under hand, with knees tight gripping
the rope, until Miss Rogers could grasp her. She remained for some
seconds, with her head bent over the ladder, and when she had
descended a few rungs lower, Jakes put up his arms, and lifted her
down.
"She's a rare plucked 'un, she is," he said. "Scraped her fingers
and knees something awful--and never a squeal."
For once he had no grumble or criticism to make.
"Oh, I'm all right," said Violet, feebly; but she put her hands
behind her back as Sally looked at her, and let Miss Castle and one
of the maids support her towards the steps.
Miss Rogers picked up Tolly and smiled at the younger girl.
"Violet will be all right before long," she said. "It's only she has
scraped herself rather badly, and it was a nasty kind of climb to
tackle. I must say you are a pair of scamps, though--both of you."
"It wasn't Violet's fault, but mine."
Proggins smiled. "It's not my place to scold either of you now," she
said. "But if I were you, I should lay the blame on Tolly when
questions are asked. Now, don't talk any more. Here are Matron and
Mademoiselle waiting for us at the steps, and they will help you up
to bed."
Once more Sally slept in the sanatorium, and again because she had
broken bounds. At first, the likeness to her previous stay there did
not strike her. She was so cold and tired that her only thought was
to snuggle down amongst the clothes, with a hot-water bottle, and
drink the milk that was brought her as fast as she could.
"Are you sure Violet is all right?" she had demanded.
And Matron answered--"Tired out, like you, but she'll be right as
rain to-morrow. Now go to sleep and don't think any more about
things. Miss Castle tells me to say she is seeing to the dog." And
then the lights were put out.
She did not sleep long: for, with a nightmare jerk, she sat up,
saying the words, "I shall be expelled," and found herself trembling
all over. Of course she would be expelled, for in spite of her
promise to Miss Cockran last term, she had run away. It was true she
had not, this time, set out deliberately to break school rules for
the fun of the thing; but nothing could do away with the fact that
once she had begun to think of Tolly she had thought of no one else.
While she sat--still upright--considering the enormity of her offence
another horrid thought came to her: Would Violet Tremson be expelled
too? Expelled just because she had gone to a friend's rescue--not a
friend's,--but to help someone who had been persistently horrid to
her?
Sally turned over, and hid her face in the pillow, but she could not
be still. She was hot now--and not cold. Getting quietly out of
bed, she put on her slippers and dressing-gown and stole to the door.
Perhaps she could find Violet before she fell asleep, and talk things
over.