THE ROBBER'S CAVE.
ONE morning in August, about six weeks after Salome's birthdays I went
for the carriage, at eleven o'clock, and brought it round to the front
door. I was looking forward to taking Master Reggie, as usual, to give
his children their breakfast. But my mistress came to the door, which
was standing open, with a letter in her hand.
"Peter," she said, "Master Reggie is not at all well; he seems to have
taken cold; he will not be able to go out to-day. I want you, instead,
to take this letter for me. You are a good walker, are you not?"
"Yes, ma'am," I said, "very good."
"It is to the doctor, Peter," she said; "he lives, as you know, at
Calvington. Have you ever seen his house?"
"Yes, ma'am," I said; "isn't it a large red house, standing among a
number of trees, not far from the station?"
"That's it, Peter," she said. "I am sorry Bessie is laid up with her
bad foot. Bagot says she must not go out for some days yet; but if you
walk steadily on, you will have plenty of time to get to Calvington
before one o'clock, when the doctor is always at home, to receive any
messages that have been left for him. Ask to see him yourself, Peter,
and give him the letter; I am very anxious that he should come before
night."
I set off at once for my long walk. It was a very sultry day, and it
was a long time since we had had any rain, so the road was covered with
thick white dust.
It was anything but a pleasant day for a walk, and I soon got very hot
and tired. Twelve miles of this would be very wearying, I thought. And
I wished very much that Bessie had been all right, for I could have
driven to Calvington in a very short time.
When I was about two miles on my way, I came to a part of the road
which ran very near the sea, and here I overtook a lad who came
sometimes to Grassbourne, when we wanted an extra hand to dig up
potatoes, or to weed, or to do any odd job we might have on hand in the
garden. His name was Jack Anderson, and Bagot did not like him much,
and was always very short with him; but his mother was a widow who
lived in one of the cottages near, and my mistress pitied her, and for
her sake was willing to give Jack a little work now and again.
"Hullo! Peter," he said, "where are you off to?"
When I told him, he gave a great groan of horror.
"Wouldn't be you," he said, "for a good deal."
"It is hot," I said, stopping under a tree to take off my hat, and to
wipe the perspiration from my forehead; "there is not a breath of air!"
"I'll tell you what," said Jack, suddenly, "Mike will be up directly.
He'll take your letter for you; he's going to Calvington."
"Who is Mike?" I said.
"Don't you know Mike?" he said. "He's McTaggart's youngest lad; his
father has Canrobin Farm, away up on the hills. He's driving into
Calvington with some parcels for his father, which have to go off by
the one o'clock train. I saw him a few minutes since, calling for
something at Kilgreggan House, a bit down this road by the sea. Oh,
here he is!"
At this moment a light cart drove up, and in it was young McTaggart, in
the midst of sacks and bundles and parcels. Jack told him my errand,
and he said at once he would take the letter.
"Oh! But, Jack," I said, "maybe I ought not to give it to him. My
mistress told me to go myself, and to give it to the doctor."
"Stuff and nonsense!" said Jack, laughing heartily. "As if it mattered
who took the letter, so long as the doctor gets it? and Mike will be
there long before you would; so it's a good job, whichever way you look
at it."
"Perhaps I had better go with Mike," I said, "if he'll be so good as to
give me a lift."
"But Mike isn't coming back again," said Jack; "he's going to stay in
Calvington all day at his aunt's; aren't you, Mike? And so you'd just
have to toil these weary miles back again in the heat and dust. Don't
be a fool now, Peter!"
I did not like being called a fool, and so, although my conscience told
me I was doing wrong, I handed my letter to Mike, and he drove away.
"Now come along with me, Peter," said Jack, when Mike had disappeared
round a turning in the road.
"Come where?" I asked.
"Down to the sea," said Jack; "we can be there in three minutes across
this field."
"Oh, no," I said. "I must go home now."
"Nonsense about going home!" he said. "That's the very thing you
mustn't do! Your mistress will soon smell a rat if you go home now.
She'll want to know why you've been so quick, and then it will all
come out. Let us see, if you walked to Calvington, you could not be
back here before two o'clock at the earliest; so we've two hours and a
half, at least, to enjoy ourselves. I'll take you to the Robber's Cave.
You've never seen it, have you?"
"No, never," I said. "I should like to see it very much; but I think I
ought to go back."
"Don't be such a stupid!" said Jack, as he sprang over the stile which
led into the field.
I knew I was doing wrong, and yet I followed him, for—I am ashamed to
say—I was afraid of him. I could not bear to be laughed at, or to be
called a fool or a stupid, so I did what my conscience told me, again
and again, that I ought not to do.
Yet for a time all seemed very pleasant. I told conscience to be quiet,
and made up my mind to enjoy myself till two o'clock.
It was cool and pleasant by the sea, and we had a bathe, and then we
climbed along the cliff to the Robber's Cave. It was a very curious
place, and we examined every nook and corner of it, and we sat inside
it for some time, for it was so pleasant and refreshing to get out of
the glare and heat of the sun.
But while we were sitting down in the cave talking and laughing we
suddenly heard a rumble of distant thunder.
"It seems to be a storm coming up," said Jack; "let's climb up and see."
The sky was wonderfully changed since we went into the cave about half
an hour before; it was quite black now, and the birds flew about wildly
in all directions.
We climbed down from the cave, and picked our way along the shore over
the rough rocks and shingles, until we came to the pathway leading up
to the top of the cliffs. As we went along, the storm increased; and by
the time we reached this path it had begun to rain.
"We shall have a pelter in a minute," said Jack; "let's run for it."
We went at a tremendous pace up the cliff, and then tore across the
field, for the rain was coming down very fast now. We did not stop to
breathe till we had rushed through the open door of a public-house
which stood on the road, about a hundred yards from the path leading
down to the sea.
"Now," said Jack, "we're all right; that was well done! But we're only
just in time," he said, as there came a vivid flash of lightning, a
loud clap of thunder, and a tremendous downpour of rain.
"What will you drink, Peter?" he said. "Whiskey or beer?"
"Nothing, thank you," I said; "I never take anything of the kind."
"Oh, rubbish," he said; "you must drink something. Now you've come to
take shelter here, for the good of the house you couldn't be so mean as
to come in and to take nothing."
A third time conscience raised her warning voice, and a third time I
would not listen to her, and for the very same reason—because I was a
coward, afraid to do that which I knew was right.
"Two for whiskey," said Jack to the landlord, as he opened the door of
the little inn parlor.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]