I HEAR A STRANGE NOISE IN MY PRISON--THE SECRET PASSAGE WHICH I FOUND--A
WILD STRUGGLE, AND A HAIRBREADTH ESCAPE
I have said many times that I am not a man of quick understanding,
neither was I ever clever at explaining puzzles. At that time, however,
my brain seemed more than ordinarily active, and I saw things with a
clearness that I had never seen before. Besides, I was sure that in the
past I had been rendered partially incapable by the drugs which had been
given me. Anyhow, the sudden shock seemed to have given me greater
clearness of vision, so that I was able to comprehend things far more
clearly than in the past. Hitherto, with the exception of occasional
flashes of light, all had been dull, now I seemed to see the truth
plainly. That which had come to me as vague conjectures now appeared as
certainties, and in spite of the old man's dread news, I had more hope
than in the past. I felt sure there were many things as yet unexplained.
With my greater mental activity came also more physical vigour. I felt
myself capable of trying to escape. I wondered at myself, Jasper
Pennington, being kept so long a prisoner without making any attempt at
escaping, and I determined that very day to take some definite steps to
obtain my liberty. I therefore ate my dinner eagerly when it was
brought, for I felt that I should need all my strength, but within half
an hour from the time the meal was ended a feeling of torpor again crept
over me, and I fell asleep, neither did I wake for several hours. After
I awoke some two or three hours passed before my vision was again clear.
I saw then that if I were to take any definite action, I must refrain
from the food provided for me, and this also placed me in a dilemma, for
if I ate no food how could I retain my strength? What was done must be
done quickly. Not only had my medicine contained a powerful narcotic,
but my food also was drugged.
Consequently I did not partake of my night meal, but instead I feigned
illness when it was brought, and afterward thought of many things which
I hoped to do.
Presently, by the great silence which prevailed, I concluded that the
inhabitants of my prison house had gone to rest, so I got up and tried
the door. It was built strongly, but I believed it could be wrenched
open if I had something in the shape of a crowbar. I thought of every
article in the room, but could fasten on nothing suitable for the
purpose, when I remembered the iron bars which had been placed outside
the window. I climbed to the little opening in the wall, and opened the
window as far as I was able. The cold air came rushing in, giving
strength to my resolution. I seized one of the bars, but it did not
move. Then I put forth my strength, which had been slowly coming back to
me, and in a few minutes had torn it from the wall.
"It will act as a weapon as well as a crowbar," I mused; then I got back
to the door and began to try and place the iron between the door and the
hinges. I had no light, and so I had to find out the crevice with my
fingers. While trying to do this I gave a start. I was sure I heard a
noise under my feet. At first it sounded like footsteps, then I heard a
scraping against the floor. I listened intently, and presently I was
able to locate the sound. It was just under the bed on which I had been
lying.
As quickly as I was able I removed the bed, and then listened again. For
a time all was silent, then I heard a sound again, only this time it was
different. Three knocks followed each other in quick succession, and I
heard the boards vibrate under my feet.
"Is it a friend or enemy, I wonder?" I asked myself, and I grasped the
iron bar more firmly.
I heard the boards creak as though something were pressed against them,
but I could see nothing. Only a very faint light crept through the
window which I had partially opened. Presently the boards began to give
way. I knew this by a light which streamed into the room. Then I saw the
floor move, and I heard a voice say, "Maaster Jasper."
I knew the voice immediately. There was only one person in the world who
could speak in such a tone.
"Eli!" I cried, joyfully.
"Doan't 'ee holla, Maaster Jasper," said Eli, in his hoarse, croaking
voice, "but come to once."
"Where?"
"Away from 'ere. Ther's some steps down to the say. Come on."
I needed no second bidding. I knew that Eli was thoroughly trustworthy,
and so I lifted the boards, which proved to be a trap-door, and then,
putting one foot through, I realised that I stood on a stone step.
"Come after me, Maaster Jasper," said Eli; "maake 'aste, they may come
after us."
So I squeezed my body through the trap-doorway, and prepared to follow
him.
"Cloase thickey trap, Maaster Jasper," said Eli, and I saw his strange
eyes shining in the dim light.
In my eagerness to do this I made the thing drop heavily, and the noise
echoed and re-echoed through the building.
"That'll waake 'em up," cried Eli. "Come on, come vast, Maaster Jasper!"
With an agility of which no man would have thought him capable, he
hurried down the steps, mumbling fiercely to himself all the time. I
soon found that this stairway was very crooked and often small. I
imagined then, what I have since found to be true, that the house in
which I had been imprisoned had been used as a place of storage for
smuggled goods, while the way by which I was trying to escape was a
secret way to it.
We had not descended many yards before I heard voices above, while I
knew that feet were tramping on the floor of my late prison. Evidently
the noise I had made in closing the trap-door had aroused my warders,
and they would now do their utmost to capture me.
My senses were now fully alive, and I determined that it should go hard
with those who tried to hinder my escape. To my dismay I discovered that
I had left my iron bar behind, and that I had no weapons, save my two
hands, which had naturally been weakened by my long imprisonment.
However, there was no time for despair, so I followed close on Eli's
heels, who wriggled his way down the crooked and often difficult
descent.
We must have got down perhaps one hundred feet, when, turning a corner,
a current of air came up, blowing out Eli's light and leaving us in
darkness.
"Can 'ee zee, Maaster Jasper?" cried Eli.
"Just a little. Can you?"
"I cud allays zee in the dark," he grunted, but his statement was not
altogether borne out, for his speed was much lessened. Still we managed
to get on fairly well, for Eli could see in places which to most people
would be impenetrable darkness, and I had been so much accustomed to the
dark that I was not altogether helpless.
After all I suppose it is difficult to find perfect darkness. Light is
only a relative term, and depends very much on the nature of our eyes.
Thus it was that while we could not go nearly so fast as we had been
going, we could still with difficulty find our way.
Presently we heard the sound of footsteps, and I knew by their rapid
movement that our pursuers would gain upon us. Eagerly we hurried on,
and each minute the sound of the footsteps behind us became plainer.
"How much farther, Eli?" I panted.
"A long way yet, and a hard job when we git to the end," he replied.
"How?"
"The mouth of this 'ere addit es fathoms above the say," he replied.
"How did you get here?" then I asked.
"I'll tell 'ee when we git away," he said, impatiently.
Then I chided myself for asking so much, for even these few words must
have somewhat lessened our speed.
Meanwhile, the steps came nearer and nearer.
"Stop!" cried Eli, presently.
We stopped suddenly, while we both listened eagerly.
"There be three on 'em," he grunted.
"Yes, or more."
"No, only three--we caan't git away--"
"We must, we will!" I cried.
"Only by fightin' 'em."
"Well, then, we'll fight them," I cried.
"Come on then--there es a big place down 'ere. Furder down tes awful to
git along, and we caan't go wi'out a light."
A few seconds later we stood in an open place. It was almost round, and
might have been twenty feet across. I saw this by the light which Eli
managed to fit as soon as we got there. It took him some few seconds to
fit it, however, and by that time our pursuers were upon us.
I saw in a second that two of them looked like serving-men, the third
was dressed as a gentleman. I could not see his face, however, but I
thought he looked a strong man. To my joy none appeared to be armed. Eli
stood by my side, but his head was no higher than my loins. Thus I and
the dwarf had to battle with the three. I did not wait a second. I dared
not, for my liberty, perhaps my life, were at stake. Besides, I
believed, in spite of what I had heard, that Naomi was not dead. Had she
been I should have been removed from my prison, if not set at liberty;
at least, such was my belief.
Without hesitation, therefore, before a word could be spoken, I struck
one of the serving-men a tremendous blow. He staggered against the side
of the cave with a thud, and fell like a lump of lead. For a little
while at all events we should be two to two, for Eli, insignificant as
he seemed, was a formidable opponent, although at that time I did not
believe him to be a match for a well-grown man.
Encouraged by the success of my blow, I made a leap on the man I took to
be a gentleman. My blow was, however, warded off, and I received a
stunning blow behind the ear.
Now during the time I had been imprisoned I had, as I have stated, been
kept in a half-dazed condition, and although my strength had been slowly
coming back to me, I was weak compared with the time when I had been
taken a prisoner at Pendennis Castle. My food had been drugged, and my
enforced inactivity had made my sinews soft like a woman's. Besides, I
felt I had met with a skilled fighter, and I knew by the blow he gave me
that he was a strong man. Moreover, I doubted Eli's ability to engage
with the other serving-man, and this made me doubtful about the result
of our struggle.
All this passed through my mind in a second, but I did not yield, for
while the want of hope takes away strength, despair makes men desperate,
and I was desperate. Somehow, although I could not tell why, I felt I
was fighting for Naomi as well as myself. So, reckless of consequences,
I made a second leap on my opponent and caught him by the collar, and
then some wrappings which had partially obscured his face fell off, and
I saw Nick Tresidder.
He writhed and struggled in my hands, but I held him fast.
"Ah, Nick Tresidder," I cried, "we meet face to face, then. Well, I've
got an adder by the throat, and I mean to hold him there."
"Yes," he said, "we meet face to face." Then with a sudden twist he made
himself free.
For a second I looked hastily around the cave. A torch was lying on the
floor which lit up our strange meeting-place, and near it I saw Eli
struggling with the serving-man.
He looked at me scornfully, while I, panting and partially exhausted,
tried to harden my sinews for a second attack. I determined to be
careful, however. I knew Nick Tresidder of old; I knew he would fight
with all the cunning of a serpent, and that he had as many tricks as a
monkey, so that, while he would be no match for me had my strength been
normal, he would now possibly be my master in my comparative weakness.
He took no notice of Eli, who struggled with the serving-man, but kept
his eyes on me.
"You fool, Jasper Pennington," he said. "I had come here to set you
free; now you will never leave this place alive."
"Why?" I panted, for want of better words.
"Because you know now who imprisoned you, and if you escaped you would
tell it to the world. I dare not let the world know this, so you and Eli
will have to die."
I felt sure there was some trick in this, although I could not tell what
it was.
"But if I had been set free the world would have known," I replied.
"No, you would have been taken to a far-off spot, and you would never
have known where your prison was, nor could you have sworn who
imprisoned you."
"But I am going to escape," I said, still keeping my eyes on him, while
I could hear Eli grunting as he struggled with the serving-man.
"No," he said, "you are as weak as a baby. Your strength even now has
gone. You thought bodily strength everything; I, on the other hand, know
that brains is more than bodily strength. Do you think I did not know
who I was dealing with? You are a fool. Every mouthful of food you have
been eating while you have been here has kept you weak. Now you are no
match for me. And I am going to kill you! Shall I tell you where you
are? You are at Trevose, the house that was Naomi's. Shall I tell you
something else?" and he laughed mockingly. "Naomi Penryn loved you--but
she's dead; and now Trevose House and lands belong to the Tresidders, do
you see?"
Then, I know not how, but a great strength came to me, an unnatural
strength. My heart grew cold, but my hands and arms felt like steel. His
bitter, mocking words seemed to dry up all the milk of human kindness in
my nature. At that moment I ceased to be a man. I was simply an
instrument of vengeance. His words gave me a great joy on the one hand,
for I knew he would not have told me she loved me, did he not believe it
to be true, but this only intensified my feeling of utter despair caused
by those terrible words, "But she's dead." I felt sure, too, that she
had been persecuted; I knew instinctively of all that she had had to
contend with, how they brought argument after argument to persuade her
to marry Nick, and how, because she had refused, they had slowly but
surely killed her.
And Nick gloated over the fact that Trevose lands belonged to him as
though that were the result of good luck rather than as the outcome of
systematic cruelty and murder.
I was very calm I remember, but it was an unnatural calm. I looked
around me, and Eli was still struggling with the serving-man, and to my
delight he was slowly mastering him.
"Nick Tresidder," I said, "you and your brood robbed my father, you have
robbed me, robbed me of everything I hold dear. I am going to kill you
now with these hands."
He laughed scornfully, as though I had spoken vain words; but he knew
not that there is a passion which overcomes physical weakness.
"I know it is to be a duel to the death," he laughed, "for I could not
afford to allow you to leave here alive."
"God Almighty is tired of you," I said; "He has given me the power to
crush the life out of you," and all the time I spoke I felt as though my
sinews were like steel bands.
He leapt upon me as quickly as a flash of light, but it did not matter.
In a minute I caught him in what the wrestlers call the cross-hitch. I
put forth my strength, and his right arm cracked like a rotten stick,
but he did not cry out. Then I put my arm around him and slowly crushed
the breath out of his body. I think he felt the meaning of my words
then.
"Stop, Jasper," he gasped, "she's not dead--she's--"
"What?" I asked.
But he did not speak. I do not think he could. I relaxed my hold, but he
lay limp in my arms like a sick child. Never in my life could I hurt an
unresisting man, so I let him fall, and he lay like a log of wood. But
he was still breathing, and I knew that he would live. But my passion
had died away, and so had my strength.
I turned around and I saw that Eli had mastered the serving-man. He had
placed his hands around his neck, and had I not pulled the dwarf away
the man would have died.
"Eli," I said, picking up the torch, "they will not follow us now.
Come."
But Eli did not want to come. He looked at the men we had mastered, and
his eyes glared with an unearthly light, and like a lion who has tasted
blood he did not seem satisfied.
"An eye for an eye," he said; "tha's what mawther do zay. Iss, an' a
tooth for a tooth."
"Lead the way to the sea, Eli," I said, and like a dog he obeyed. Taking
the torch from me he crawled down the passage, laughing in a strange
guttural way as he went. All the time my mind was resting on Nick
Tresidder's words, "She's not dead. She's--" and in spite of myself hope
came into my heart again, while a thousand wild thoughts flashed through
my mind.
A few minutes later we felt the sea-spray dashing against our faces,
while the winds beat furiously upon us. Below us, perhaps twenty feet
down, the sea thundered on the rocky cliff.
"What are we to do now, Eli?" I asked.
He looked anxiously around him like one in doubt; then he put his
fingers in his mouth, and gave a long piercing whistle.
"Who are you whistling to?"
"He's coming," he answered, looking out over the wild waters.
"Who's coming?"
"The man that told me."
"Who is he?"
"I'll tell 'ee, Maaster Jasper. I've bin 'ere fer days, I have. I was
loppin 'round 'cawse I knawed you was 'ere."
"How did you know?"
"I'll tell 'ee as zoon as we git away, Maaster Jasper. Well, as I was
loppin' round I zeed a man, he looked oal maazed. He spoked to me, and I
spoked to 'ee. Then we got a talkin' 'bout lots o' things. He seemed
afraid to meet anybody, but axed scores ov questions. Oal he tould me
about hisself was that he was an ould smuggler that used to land cargoes
round 'ere. One day I seed a hankerchuff 'angin' from thickey winder,
an' I knawed 'twas yours. I was wonderin' 'ow I cud git to 'ee, and I
axed the man ef he knawed anything 'bout the 'ouse. After a bit he tould
me that there was a sacret passage a-goin' from the cliff to the room
where the winder was. Tha's 'ow 'twas. I'll tell 'ee more zoon. There he
es, look."
I saw something dark moving on the water, and presently discerned a man
in a boat.
Eli whistled again, and the whistle was answered.
"How did you get from the sea up here?" I asked.
"I climbed up, Maaster Jasper, but I can't go down that way."
The boat came nearer.
"Es et saafe to plunge?" shouted Eli.
"Yes," was the reply underneath.
"No rocks?"
"Dive as far out to sea as you can, and you'll go into twenty feet of
water."
"All right," shouted Eli, then turning to me, he said, "I'll dive first,
Maaster Jasper."
"Can you swim?" I asked.
"Swem!" he sneered; "ed'n my mawther a witch?"
He plunged into the sea, and I heard the splash of his body as it fell
into the water, then I saw him get into the boat, which was rocked to
and fro with the great waves.
"All right," I heard a voice from beneath say, "now then!"
I gathered myself together for the dive, and I think my heart failed me.
My strength seemed to have entirely left me, and it looked an awful
distance between me and the frothy waves beneath. Besides, might I not
strike against a rock? Then I think my senses left me, although I am not
sure. It seemed as though the sea became calm, and a great silence fell
upon everything. After that I heard a voice which seemed like Naomi's.
"Help, Jasper!" it said.
Then all fear, all hesitation left me, and I plunged into the sea
beneath. I felt my body cutting the air, then an icy feeling gripped me
as I sunk in the waters. When I rose to the surface I saw the boat a few
yards from me rising on the crest of a wave.
I could hear nothing, however, save a roar which seemed like ten
thousand thunders. I struck out boldly for the boat, but Eli and the
other man seemed to mock me with jeering menaces. I struggled hard and
long, but the boat seemed to get no nearer, and presently I thought I
heard unearthly laughter above the wild roar of the breakers.
"Ha, ha," I thought I heard them saying, "now we've got you; this is
Granfer Fraddam's phantom boat, this is. Swim, Jasper Pennington, swim!"
I tried to swim, but my legs seemed to be weighted, while around me
floated thousands of hideous jabbering things which I thought tried to
lure me on to the rocks.
I looked landward and the house in which I had been imprisoned appeared
to shine in a strange ruddy light, until it looked like one of those
enchanted houses which one sees in dreams.
Then I thought I heard Naomi's voice again, "Help, Jasper, help!"
But all my struggles seemed of no avail. I fancied I was being carried
by the force of the waves farther and farther out to sea, while all the
time Eli and the other man beckoned me onward, their boat rising and
falling on the bosom of the ever-heaving waters.
Then I felt cold hands grip me, and I was dragged I knew not whither,
while everything was engulfed in impenetrable darkness.