A TERRIBLE PLIGHT.
"OH, Jack, I wish we had never come," Theodore said dolefully, after
his stepbrother had concluded his simple prayer.
"It's no good wishing that now, Theo."
"Of course it's not; but—but it's all my fault."
"Oh, no, it's mine too."
"No," Theodore protested, "you did not really want to come, and I—I
am sorry I made you. I said you were a coward, but you're not, Jack.
It's I who am the coward!"
"Indeed, you're not; you've heaps of pluck. But don't you think
we ought to go on now? I'm ready."
"Very well. How dark it's getting. I do hope there'll be a moon
to-night. But no I remember it was new moon only a few days ago,
so if it does rise it won't give much light."
"Never mind. I daresay we shall find our way home somehow. If only we
could manage to get into the main road. I suppose if we were real
explorers we should not mind being lost. Oh, what's that?"
Both boys started in sudden fright as a dark object rushed past them
in the dim light. It was only a pony, however, and in spite of their
anxious position, they laughed the next moment at the shock
the harmless creature had given them.
"Do you remember what John Bawdon told us about the Dartmoor fogs?"
Theodore questioned presently, as they slowly descended the hill,
proceeding more carefully now.
"Yes; but I don't think this blue mist is a fog. Do you?"
"I don't know; perhaps not. I wonder if they're back from Dartmeet
yet? If so, don't you think father will come to look for us?"
Theodore suggested in a more hopeful tone.
"But he won't know where we are," Jack responded with a deep-drawn
sigh; "we did not tell anyone where we were going. He would never
think of looking for us so far away from home."
Theodore's only answer to this reasoning was a burst of tears.
Jack, greatly surprised and dismayed, tried in vain to comfort him.
He had seen Theodore cry many times from different causes, such as
disappointment or anger, but only on one occasion—that on which his
stepbrother had been proved instrumental in setting the hay-rick
on fire—had he heard him weep in such a heart-broken way as this.
The truth was, Theodore's conscience was pricking him sorely, and
telling him how wrongly he had acted in overcoming Jack's scruples,
and insisting on this expedition without the knowledge of those
set in authority over him.
His tears were not caused by fear, although he was naturally
very frightened at the prospect of a night on the moor, but rather
by remorse at the thought of his conduct. He determined that if they
were so fortunate as to reach home in safety, he would take all the
blame on his own shoulders. What would his stepmother say if any harm
came to her son? Did she not look to him who was so much
the stronger, to protect and care for the weaker boy?
"Oh, Theo, please don't cry like that," Jack implored in distressed
accents. "I can't bear to hear you."
"Oh, Jack, I'm very wicked!" Theodore replied, striving hard to check
his sobs. "I ought never to have brought you here. But I thought
we should have such a grand time, and so we did until we found out
we were lost. I suppose we took longer coming than we considered.
I did not think it would be dark so soon. Did you?"
"No. We stopped a great many times, but that was my fault,
not yours," Jack said, generously. "It's getting very dark, isn't it?
Keep near me, Theo; won't you? Don't let us lose each other."
"No, no, that would be worst of all. Are you very tired, Jack?"
"I am, rather; but I'm all right. Look!"
Jack clutched Theodore excitedly by the arm. It was now nearly dark,
so that distant objects were not discernible at all; but about
a hundred yards from the spot where the boys stood was a twinkling
light moving in the opposite direction.
"It's a man carrying a lantern!" Theodore cried joyfully. "Let us
shout to him to stop."
They both shouted until they were breathless, but the light continued
to move away from them. They followed as quickly as they could,
hand in hand, so as not to lose each other in the gloom. Suddenly the
light disappeared altogether, but the minute after it reappeared, and
the boys shouted afresh.
They had now reached the bottom of the hill where the ground was much
less uneven, but instead of being dry as it had been on the Tor,
it was so soppy in places that their feet were soon very wet, and
they shivered in the chill mist.
"Stop!" shouted Theodore, judging from the appearance of the light
that it was at a greater distance from them than when they first
saw it. "Oh, stop! Hi, you there! Hi! Oh, Jack, the man or whoever
it is must be as deaf as a post. Oh, look out!"
The last exclamation was called from Theodore, as Jack gave a
piercing scream on suddenly finding himself almost knee deep in mud.
Fortunate was ft for him that his stepbrother held his hand,
or otherwise he would certainly have brought his short career to a
close that night in a Dartmoor bog. As it was, Theodore, as soon as
he realised what was happening, tightened his hold on Jack, and with
a mighty effort succeeded in pulling him safely on firmer ground.
The two boys clung together in the darkness, whilst the misleading
light still flickered in the distance, now disappearing altogether,
now shining brighter than before.
"Hi, hi!" shouted Theodore once more.
"Oh, Theo," Jack said, with a shiver of horror, "I don't believe it's
a man with a lantern after all!"
"But what is it, Jack?" Theodore asked in bewilderment "There it is
again!"
"It must be a will-o'-the-wisp! Don't you know what that is? Mother
told me; but I never thought I should see one!"
"I don't understand! What is a will-o'-the-wisp? It's a real light,
I'm sure! Oh, Jack, you don't think we're pixie-led, do you?" And
Theodore, who had been hearing tales of pixies and their elfish
tricks from Mrs. Fry, who was fond of discoursing on moorland
folk-lore, gave a superstitious shudder.
"No, no! It's a real light which comes over marshy ground! Mother
said that people have often followed will-o'-the-wisps into bogs. Oh,
Theo, I think that's what we've been doing! Supposing you hadn't been
holding my hand just now, the bog would have sucked me in, and I
should never have been found. Oh, I wish we could get away from this
dreadful, dreadful place! Look, there are two lights! Oh, they must
be will-o'-the-wisps!"
It was perfectly true. A second light had appeared, but the boys had
no intention of following either now. Even in his terror, Theodore
was lost in amazement of the will-o'-the-wisps; but he realised that
they had made a great mistake in leaving the higher ground. Very
slowly and cautiously they retraced their footsteps, as they thought,
but actually they were moving in quite another direction. All at once
a sound broke upon their ears, which sent a thrill of hope through
each wildly beating heart. It was the cackling of a fowl, evidently
disturbed in its sleep by the sound of voices close at hand.
"We must be near a house," Jack breathed in tones of relief, "Oh, how
thankful I am!"
Groping their way in the darkness they discovered a hedge, and
presently found a small gate, through which they passed into a
kitchen-garden, in one corner of which was a little white-washed
cottage, with a fowl-house adjoining.
The boys felt that the worst of their troubles must now be over, but
what was their disappointment when they found the cottage door locked
against them, and no light in any of the rooms. The cottage had
evidently no one in it, for though they knocked and knocked, there
was no sound from within.
"What shall we do?" Jack asked despairingly. "Had we better wait
here, do you think?"
Theodore considered the matter in silence for a few minutes; then he
remarked that the cottage was probably near a road, and if they could
find it they would very likely come across someone.
"But don't let us go out the way we came," he said, "or perhaps we
shall get into boggy land again. There ought to be another way out of
the garden. Let me help you to climb up this hedge, Jack, and perhaps
you may be able to see what's outside."
Jack willingly agreed to this proposition, and, with Theodore's
assistance, succeeded in getting on the top of the hedge.
Immediately, he uttered a cry of relief.
"We've come to a road," he informed his stepbrother joyfully; "I can
see it quite plainly. I don't believe it's so dark as it was,
either!"
"A road!" Theodore exclaimed. "That's splendid! Wait! I'm going
to climb up to you! Yes, I think it is lighter; I believe the moon's
rising."
Theodore spoke almost cheerfully, for if there was a road he knew
it must lead somewhere; but the next moment he uttered a piercing
shriek, followed by a groan of agony.
"Theo, Theo, what is it?" Jack asked in a fever of terror. "What have
you done? Oh, Theo!"
But Theodore continued to groan without making any reply. Jack
scrambled down the hedge and felt his way to his stepbrother's side.
Then Theodore gasped:
"Don't touch me! Don't! don't!"
"Oh, tell me what is the matter!" Jack implored.
"I don't know! My left hand's caught in something! Oh, what shall
I do? It's like something biting me! Don't touch it! If I move
it's worse!"
"Let me see what it is!"
"You can't! Yes, take the matches from my pocket, and strike a light!
Oh, Jack, quickly, quickly!"
Jack obeyed as fast as his trembling fingers allow him. After several
vain attempts he succeeded in lighting a wax match, the sight which
met his eyes turned him sick with horror. Theodore was leaning
against the hedge with his left hand caught between the iron teeth
of a fox-gin. The boys saw it was hopeless their trying to open the
trap, for the least movement gave Theodore agonising pain. The iron
chain attached to the gin was firmly secured to a stake, and no
efforts on their part could unfasten it. Poor Theodore's hand
was bleeding, and the pain he was suffering was turning him faint
and dizzy.
"Oh, Jack!" he moaned, "what shall I do? Do you think I shall die?"
"No, no, Theo. Is it hurting you dreadfully?"
"Oh, yes!" Theodore assented with a bitter wail, which went to Jack's
heart. "Oh, I wish father was here! Oh, Jack, can't you ask God
to send some one to help us? And I'll ask Him too!"
Jack put his arms around his brother, whilst together in their
despair they called upon their Father in heaven. Theodore's voice
was growing weaker and weaker, but the feeling of faintness was
deadening all sensation of pain. He lay against the hedge motionless
when Jack removed his arms from around him, and gave no reply to his
stepbrother's frightened request that he would speak to him.
Dreadfully alarmed though he was, Jack did not lose his head, as many
boys would have done under the circumstances. There was still
one match remaining in the box. This he cautiously lit, and by its
feeble light saw that Theodore's eyes were closed, and his face
perfectly colourless. For one moment he believed his stepbrother
to be dead or dying; but the next, he thought that probably Theodore
had only fainted, which was indeed the case.
Jack was the owner of a brave heart, so that after a moment's
consideration he decided that he must go to seek assistance.
He pressed a gentle kiss on Theodore's cheek; and then clambering up
the hedge, dropped into the road on the other side. He did not know
which way to go; but with a silent prayer to God to direct his
footsteps, he turned to the right, and sped along as fast as his
trembling limbs would carry him. He had not gone far before he came
to two cross-roads, and after a slight hesitation, again took the
right. By that time he was obliged to slacken his speed, for he was
breathless and panting. He walked on slowly, holding his hand to his
side, and praying that some one might be sent to help him. It was
certainly growing lighter, he thought; and raising his eyes to the
sky, he saw that the moon had arisen—a thin, silver crescent, it was
true, but Jack felt less lonely at the sight.
How tired he was, and how heavy his feet seemed to be getting;
they dragged as he walked. Oh, would no one ever come! To think
of poor Theodore's pitiable plight all this while. Surely, soon he
must reach some house, where he would find people willing to return
with him to his stepbrother's assistance.
He struggled valiantly on, fighting against a strong desire to lie
down and rest. At last, just as he was thinking that he could go
no further, he heard sounds in the distance—carriage wheels, and the
barking of a dog. Two lights appeared, coming towards him on the
road, not will-o'-the-wisps this time, but the lamps of Mr. Fry's
gig; and it was Help who was barking, as he bounded along by Boxer's
side.
Jack exerted all his remaining strength, and shouted wildly; whilst
Help jumped around him in delight, and old Boxer slackened his speed.
The little boy ran forward as the gig stopped. He recognised the
voices of Mr. Fry and his stepfather, and heard the latter exclaim:
"Here they are, thank God!"
"Father—father!" Jack cried. "Oh, how glad I am!"
"Why, it's only one of them," Mr. Barton said in tones of misgiving,
as he hastily dismounted from the gig. "Jack, is it you?"
"Yes, father," the little boy answered. "Theodore is not here. He is
caught in a trap with such dreadful teeth! Oh, you must come quickly,
or I am afraid he will die! Oh, poor Theo!"
And overcome with fatigue and fright, Jack threw himself into his
stepfather's arms, and burst into a passion of tears and sobs.