Several weeks had now passed by since the bustle of departure was over,
and, though no direct intelligence had come from the absentees, a rumor
had somehow spread abroad that the expected run of goods was to be one
of the largest ever made in Polperro.
The probability of this fact had been known to the leaders of the
expedition before they started, and had afforded Adam another
opportunity for impressing upon them the great necessity for increased
caution.
Grown suspicious at the supineness which generally pervaded the revenue
department, the government had decided upon a complete revolution, and
during the winter months the entire force of the coast had been
everywhere superseded and in many places increased. Both at Looe and
Fowey the cutters had new officers and crews, and the men, inflamed with
the zeal of newcomers, were most ardent to make a capture and so prove
themselves worthy of the post assigned to them.
While all his comrades had affected to laugh at these movements, Adam
had viewed them with anxiety--had seen the graveness of their import and
the disasters likely to arise from them; and at length his arguments had
so far prevailed that a little better regulation was made for the
working of signals and ensuring that they should be given and attended
to if required. In case of danger the rule was to burn a fire on
different heights of the cliff, and small huts were even erected for
that purpose; but the lighting of these fires was often delayed until
the last moment: what had become everybody's business was nobody's
business, and secure that, in any case, the cruisers were no more
willing to fight than the smugglers were wanting to be fought, hazards
were often incurred which with men whose silence could not be bought
(for up to that time every crew had had its go-between) would most
certainly have proved fatal.
Upon the present force no influence could as yet be got to bear, and, to
prove the temper of their dispositions, no sooner was it known to them
that three of the most daring of the Polperro vessels were absent than
they set to watching the place with such untiring vigilance that it
needed all the sharpness of those left behind to follow their movements
and arrange the signals so that they might warn their friends without
exciting undue suspicions among their enemies.
Night after night, in one place or another, the sheltered flicker of the
flame shone forth as a warning that any attempt to land would prove
dangerous, until, word being suddenly brought that the cruiser had gone
off to Polruan, out went the fire, and, an answering light showing that
at least one of the vessels was on the watch, when the morning dawned
the Stamp and Go was in and her cargo safe under water. The Lottery, she
said, had contrived to decoy the revenue-men away, hoping that by that
means the two smaller vessels might stand a chance of running in, but
from their having to part company and keep well away from each other,
the Stamp and Go, though certain the Cleopatra was not far off, had lost
sight of her.
The day passed away, the evening light had all but faded, when to the
watchers the Cleopatra, with crowded sail and aided by a south-west
wind, was seen trying to make the harbor, close followed by the
cruiser. The news flew over the place like lightning, and but a few
minutes seemed to have passed before all Polperro swarmed the cliffs,
each trying to secure a vantage-point by putting forth some strong claim
of interest in those on board. With trembling hearts and anxious gaze
the lookers-on watched each movement of the two vessels, a dead silence
prevailing among them so long as they both followed in the same course,
but the instant a clever tack was made by which the pursuers were
baffled, up rose the shout of many voices, and cries were heard and
prayers uttered that the darkness would come quickly on and afford their
friends a safe entrance.
Except to such men as steered the Cleopatra, to enter Polperro harbor
amid darkness and wind was a task beyond their skill; and, knowing this,
and seeing by her adversary's tactics the near possibility of defeat,
the cruiser had resort to her guns, trying to cut away the Cleopatra's
gear, and by that means compel her to heave-to. But, though partly
disabled, the stout little vessel bore onward, and night's friendly
clouds coming to her aid, the discomfited cruiser had to withdraw within
hearing of the triumphant shouts which welcomed her rival's safety.
With the exception of the Lottery all was now safe, but no fears were
entertained on her account, because, from her superior size and her
well-known fast-sailing qualities, the risks which had endangered the
other two vessels would in no way affect her. She had merely to cruise
outside and await, with all the patience her crew could command, a
fitting opportunity for slipping in, escaping the revenue-men and
turning on them a fresh downpour of taunts and ridicule.
In proof of this, several of the neighboring fishing-boats had from time
to time seen and spoken to the Lottery; and with a view to render those
at home perfectly at ease every now and again one of these trusty
messengers would arrive with a few words which would be speedily
circulated among those most interested. The fact of her absence, and the
knowledge that at any time the attempt to land might be made, naturally
kept every one on the strain; and directly night set in both Joan and
Eve trembled at each movement and started at every sound.
One night, as, in case of surprise, they were setting all things in
order, a sudden shuffling made Joan fly to the door. "Why, Jonathan,"
she exclaimed, admitting the man whom Eve had never seen since the
evening after her arrival, "what's up? What brings you here, eh?"
"I've comed with summat for you," he said, casting a suspicious look at
Eve.
"Well, out with it, then," said Joan, quickly adding, as she jerked her
head in that direction, "us don't have no secrets from she."
"Awh, doant 'ee?" returned Jonathan in a voice which sounded the reverse
of complimentary. "Wa-all, then, there's what 'tis;" and he held toward
her a piece of paper folded up like a letter.
"Who's it from? where did 'ee get un?" asked Joan, while Eve exclaimed,
"Oh, Joan, see is it from them?"
"I can't stay no longer," said Jonathan, preparing to retreat.
"But you must stay till we've made out what this here is," said Joan.
Jonathan shook his head. "'Tain't nothin' to do with what I'm about," he
answered, determined not to be detained, "and I've got to run all the
faster 'cos I've comed round this way to bring it. But Jerrem gived it
to me," he whispered, "and Adam ain't to be tould nothin' of it;" and he
added a few more words which made Joan release her hold of him and seem
as anxious to see him gone as he was to go.
The first part of the whisper had reached Eve's ears, and the hope which
had leaped into her heart had been forced back by the disappointment
that Jerrem, not Adam, had sent the letter. Still, it might contain some
news of their return, and she turned to Joan with a look of impatient
inquiry.
"I wonder whatever 'tis about?" said Joan, claiming the right of
ownership so far as the unfolding the missive went. "Some random talk
or 'nother, I'll be bound," she added, with a keener knowledge of her
correspondent than Eve possessed. "I'll warrant he's a nice handful
aboard there 'mongst 'em all, with nothin' to do but drinkin' and
dice-throwin' from mornin' to night. Awh, laws!" she said, with a sigh
of discontent as the written page lay open before her, "what's the good
o' sendin' a passel o' writin' like that to me? 'T might so well be
double Dutch for aught I can make out o' any o' it. There! take and read
it, do 'ee, Eve, and let's hear what he says--a good deal more 'bout you
than me, I'll lay a wager to."
"Then I don't know why he should," said Eve.
"No, nor I neither," laughed Joan; "but, there! I ain't jealous o' he,
for, as I'm Jerrem's cut-and-come-agen, his makin' up to other maidens
only leaves un more relish for comin' back to the dish he can stick by."
Eve's eyes had by this time run over the carelessly-written, sprawling
page of the letter, and her face flushed up crimson as she said, "I
really do wish Jerrem would give over all this silly nonsense. He has no
business to write in this way to me."
"To you?" exclaimed Joan, snatching back the letter to look at the
outside. "Why, that ain't to you;" and she laid her finger on the
direction. "Come now, 'tis true I bain't much of a scholard, but I'm
blessed if I can't swear to my awn name when I sees un."
"That's only the outside," said Eve: "all the rest is to me--nothing but
a parcel of silly questions, asking me how he has offended me, and why I
don't treat him as I used to; as if he didn't know that he has nobody
but himself to blame for the difference!"
"And ain't there nothin' else? Don't he send no word to me?" asked Joan
ruefully.
Eve, who was only too glad that poor Joan's ignorance prevented her
reading the exaggerated rhodomontade of penitence and despair with which
the paper was filled, ignored the first question. "He says," she said,
turning to read from the page, "'As you won't give me the opportunity
of speaking to you, promise me that when we meet, which will be
to-morrow night--' Oh, Joan, can that be true? do you think he means
really to-morrow?" then, running her eyes farther on, she continued:
"Perhaps he does, for--listen, Joan--'You mustn't split on me to Adam,
who's cock-a-hoop about giving you all a surprise, and there'd be the
devil to pay if he found out I'd blown the gaff.'"
"Now, ain't that Jerrem all over?" exclaimed Joan angrily, anything but
pleased at the neglect she had suffered--"just flyin' in the face o'
everything Adam wants done. He knaws how things has got abroad afore,
nobody could tell how, and yet, 'cos he's axed, he can't keep a quiet
tongue in his head."
"I tell you what we'll do," said Eve--"not take a bit of notice of the
letter, Joan, and just act as if we'd never had it: shall we?"
"Well, I reckon 'twould be the best way, for I shouldn't wonder but they
be comin'," she added, while Eve, anxious to be rid of the letter,
hastily flung it into the fire and stood watching it blaze up and die
out. "Jonathan gave a hint o' somethin'," continued Joan, "though he
never named no time, which, if he was trusted with, he knaws better than
to tell of."
"I wonder they do trust him, though," said Eve, "seeing he's rather
silly?"
"Awh! most o' his _silly_ is to serve his own turn. Why, to see un
elsewheres you'd say he'd stored up his wits to Polperro, and left 'em
here till he gets back agen; and that's how 'tis he ferrets out the
things he does, 'cos nobody minds un nor pays no heed to un; and if he
does by chance come creepin' up or stand anigh, ''Tis only poor foolish
Jonathan,' they says."