A BRAVE "NO."
"DO you know your way to Tenby from here, David Coleman," began Captain
Smythe, "or don't you?"
"Yes, sir, I think I do," replied Davey, wondering what was coming next.
"Are you known there at all?"
"No, sir, I can't be. Me and Tom Hughes was together in Tenby, but only
for an hour or two. Folks might know him again, but not me, I think."
"Well, my lad, Johnnie here has given me such a good character of
you, that I'm going to trust you with a little bit of business that I
wouldn't give to everybody."
"Yes, sir," said Davey, smiling.
"And mind you, my lad, if you do my commission quick and clever, as a
boy should, I'll take care you shan't go unrewarded."
"Thank you, sir, you're very good to me," replied Davey, gratefully.
"When would you like me to go?"
"To-morrow about dusk, my boy, and I'll give you all your directions
now, as I may not be in again just yet. First of all, Johnnie will find
you a basket and some straw. Then Ben will give you a dozen bottles of
Hollands, and you and Johnnie must pack them carefully in the straw.
On the top there is to be a layer of empty wine bottles, and if the
constable or anyone should happen to ask you what you've got there,
you're to say empty bottles, that are being returned to Mr. Owen
Griffiths, of High Street. When you get there with the basket, ask
to see the master himself—not his man, mind. And say you've brought
Captain Smythe's empty bottles, and is there anything to go back? Then
if he says, 'But how do I know that you're really Captain Smythe's
messenger?' you'll say—
"'Tis the Dutchmen knows what's what,
And they likes their bottles squat.'
"Then he'll empty your basket, and you must bring it back, and come
by the wood entrance, and knock at the rock that's put up there, and
Johnnie or Ben will let you in. Now, do you understand?"
"Yes, sir, but—"
"Now, no words about it!" said the captain, frowning. "What I've told
you to do is easy enough."
"Yes, sir, it's quite easy, but mayn't I just ask you a question?" said
Davey.
"Make haste, then, for I'm in a hurry," said the captain.
"Please, sir, why am I to say I've got only empty bottles (suppose I'm
asked), when most of them in the basket is full ones?"
"Why, so that they mayn't be looked at, or any way, not below the top
layer, of course," replied Captain Smythe, coolly. "Mr. Owen Griffiths
is one of my customers, but he and I wouldn't care to have all Tenby
know it. He happens just now to be out of this special sort of
spirit, and so I want to send him a little to go on with. Now are you
satisfied."
"Please, sir," said Davey, "I can't do this errand for you."
"What?" exclaimed the captain. "After keeping you in idleness all this
time, you ungrateful young puppy. I didn't expect this of you, after
all my kindness."
Davey's face worked, and his eyes filled; he had hard work to keep from
crying.
"Oh, sir," he murmured, with trembling lips, "there's nothing I
wouldn't do for you, if only you'd asked me to serve you some other
way. Indeed, I'm not ungrateful, as you think. But if I'm going to
start afresh, I can't have nothing to do with smuggled goods and the
secrets of them. I'm very thankful for what you've done for me, Captain
Smythe, but I can't—"
"Do the only thing that would in some sort repay me—eh!" said the
captain, angrily. "Well, then, I'll just tell you what I mean to do
with you. You shall stay here in this cave—a close prisoner—until the
'Dart' sails, and then I'll just take you over to France, or Belgium,
or the Hook of Holland, and put you ashore there. Then, maybe, I can at
least stop your blabbing all my secrets at home."
"He won't blab, sir," interposed Johnnie, who had not spoken hitherto.
"He promises never to betray us, and Davey will keep his promise."
"I mean to keep it, sir; indeed I do," said Davey.
For all answer, Captain Smythe turned on his heel.
"See that the young scamp doesn't go out alone, Johnnie. Keep this
entrance blocked up (he can't move the rock alone), and never leave the
back door open, except at high tide. Do you hear?"
"Yes, sir," said Johnnie.
Then, when the captain was gone, the young man said, "Well, Davey,
you've got yourself into a nice mess now, though you may be right,
after all."
"I must get out of this somehow," said the lad.
"You can't," replied Johnnie. "You heard my orders; I daren't disobey
them. By the bye, can you swim?"
"Not a stroke, Johnnie."
"Then you're as much a prisoner as if you were in gaol," said Johnnie;
"there's no way out for you by land or sea."
Davey made no reply.
But that night, long after Johnnie was asleep, Davey was deep in
thought, wondering how to make his escape. For hours he tossed
restlessly, but towards morning a bright idea struck him, and he lay
pondering it in his mind.
[Illustration]