Comfortably settled down at the Den as Aleck's guest and made most
welcome, the middy felt not the slightest inclination to stir; but all
through life there is to all of us the call of duty, and the lad was
ready to recommence his, and eager to report to headquarters his
discovery of the notorious smugglers' cave.
Enquiries at Rockabie proved that the sloop and cutter had both sailed,
so a letter had to convey some of the information--"a despatch," the
young officer called it; and after it was sent he constituted himself
guardian of the smugglers' treasure and headed a little expedition,
composed of Aleck and Tom Bodger, to examine the land way down into the
cave, which they approached by a rope provided by Tom, who said he
didn't "keer" about jumping down from that there shelf, because his legs
were so stiff.
Then a descent was made by the sloping zigzag paths, till the corner was
reached, about half way down, where the way was blocked.
"Only fancy," said Aleck. "How we did fight to get out from below, and
it's all as simple as can be from up here."
And so it was, for three stones had been drawn down the slope, one
partly over the other and the other fitting nicely to either, but only
requiring a little effort to pull them back, _after_--
Yes, it was after one smaller wedge-shaped piece had been lifted out by
Tom Bodger, this wedge being like a key stone or bolt to hold the others
in place so tightly that it was impossible so shift them from below.
Tom Bodger had just removed the last stone into a big recess, which had
probably been formed by the smugglers to hold them, when the middy
turned round sharply upon a dark figure which had, unseen before, been
following them.
"Hallo!" he cried. "Who are you?"
"It's me, sir--Dunning, sir--the captain's gardener, sir. Come to see,
sir, if I could be of any help."
"No," cried Aleck, sharply, "you've come to play the spy, you deceitful
old rascal."
"Oh, Master Aleck, sir!" whined the man, "how can you say such a thing?"
"Because I know you by heart. You've been hand and glove with the
smugglers all through."
"Master Aleck, sir!"
"That will do," cried the lad, indignantly. "I've never told my uncle
what I've seen or heard, but I must now, and you know what to expect."
"Master Aleck!"
"That's it, is it?" said the middy. "He's one of the gang, and of
course I shall make him a prisoner as soon as we get out. Here, you,
Bodger, I order you in the King's name to take that man prisoner."
"Ay, ay, sir," cried Tom, and he made a move towards the gardener.
But it was ineffective, for the man suddenly thrust out a foot and
hooked one of the pensioner's wooden legs off the stone floor of the
slope, giving him a sharp thrust in the chest at the same time.
There is a game called skittles, or, more properly, ninepins, in which
if you strike one of the pins deftly it carries on the blow to the next,
which follows suit, and so on, till the blow given to number one has
resulted in all nine being laid low.
"Jes' like ninepins, Master Aleck," said Tom, "only there's nobbut three
on us. I beg your pardon, sir; I couldn't help it."
"No, no, no, no, no!" roared Aleck, each utterance being a part of a
hearty laugh, for the gardener had knocked Tom over, Tom had upset him,
and the blow he carried on to the midshipman had sent the latter rolling
down the slope, to come raging up as soon as he could gain his feet and
climb back.
"What are you laughing at?" he shouted.
"It was so comic," panted Aleck, wiping his eyes.
"Shall I go arter him, sir?" said Tom.
"No, no. He is half way to the top by now."
"Yes, yes," cried the middy; "and look sharp, or perhaps he'll be trying
to shut us up again."
"Not he," said Aleck; "he won't stop till he is safe. I don't believe
we shall see the lazy old scoundrel again."
Aleck's words proved to be true.
Later on he and his party made their way up to the smugglers' cottages,
to find them deserted by everyone save Eben Megg's wife, with three
pretty little dark-eyed children.
The woman looked frightened, and burst into tears as she recognised the
young officer, who began at her at once.
"You're a nice woman, you are," he said. "What have you got to say for
yourself for keeping me a prisoner below there?"
"I--I only did what I was told, sir," faltered the woman.
"Were you told to fasten us down there to starve?" cried the middy.
"Fasten?--to starve? Were you left down there, sir, when my Eben was
knocked down and carried away?"
"Of course we were."
"I didn't know, sir," sobbed the woman. "If I had, though I was in such
trouble, I'd have come and brought you all I could, same as I did
before, sir. Indeed I would."
"Humph!" grunted the middy. "Well, you did feed me as well as you
could. So you've lost your husband, then?"
The woman tried to answer, but only sobbed more loudly.
"There, don't cry," said the middy, more gently. "We shall make an
honest man of him."
"And what's to become of my poor weans, Master Aleck? We shall all be
turned out of the cottage."
"I don't think you will," said Aleck. "I daresay uncle won't let anyone
interfere with you."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
There were busy days during the next week, with men from the sloop and
cutter, brought back by the middy's "despatch," going up and down the
zigzag like so many ants, bringing up the principal treasures of the
cave, the sailors working with all their might over the greatest haul
they had ever made, and chuckling over the amount of prize money they
would have to draw.
There was a fair amount of work done and much recovering of valuable
gear during two days of the next spring tide, when Aleck and his
companion were rowed in one of the sloop's boats along a narrow channel
of deep water right up the cavern. They were poled in, and found so
much to interest them that they stayed too long and were nearly shut in
once more, for the tide rose fast, and the men had to lie down in the
boat and work her out with their hands, and then a wave came in and
lifted her, jamming the gunwale against the slimy rock and weeds,
threatening a more terrible imprisonment still; but just as matters were
very serious and the lives of the party in imminent danger, the water
sank a few inches and enabled the men to thrust the boat on into
daylight.
That was the last time a boat entered that cave, for during a terrific
storm in the ensuing winter the waves must have loosened and torn up
some of the supporting stones of the archway, letting down hundreds of
tons of rock in a land slide, so that where the cave had lain like a
secret, the waves played regularly at high water, working more and more
at every tide to lay bare the gloomy recesses to the light of day.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aleck saw no more of Willie Wrighton, midshipman, for two years, and
then he came on a visit to the Den.
The next morning the two young men went for a stroll along the cliffs to
have a look at the rocky chaos which had once formed the cave.
As they came near they caught sight of a solitary figure down towards
where the archway submerged had lain, and Aleck made put that it was a
big, well-built man-o'-war's man.
"Is that one of your fellows, sailor?" said Aleck, with the appellation
he had used when they were prisoners together.
"Yes, he came over with me from Rockabie. Capital fellow he is too.
Don't you know him again?"
"No," said Aleck, shading his eyes. "Yes, I do. How he is changed!
Why, Eben Megg, I hardly knew you again without your beard."
"Glad to see you, Master Aleck," said the man, warmly. "Mr Wrighton
here was good enough to bring me along with him to see the old place.
I'm coming to make a long stay, sir, as soon as we're paid off, and--
and--there, I arn't good at talking--about them things," continued the
man, huskily, "but God bless you and the captain, sir, for all you've
done for my poor wife and bairns."
"Oh, nonsense! Don't talk about it, Eben," said Aleck, huskily; "but, I
say, young man, you nearly made an end of us by not coming back after
you'd shut us in. What did you do it for--to kill us?"
"To kill you both, sir? Not me! I on'y wanted to make sure of you for
an hour or two till I'd been home and scraped a few things together to
take away with me. When I come back the cutter's lads dropped upon me,
and I showed fight till a crack on the head knocked all the say out of
me for about a fortnit. When I could speak they told me you'd both been
found."
"Ahoy!" cried the middy, excitedly. "Here comes your rase chap, old
wooden pegs. I'd nearly forgotten him. Does he live here?"
"Oh, yes, he's our gardener and odd man; been with us ever since Dunning
ran away. Capital gardener he makes, sailor--digs a patch and then
walks down it, making holes with his wooden legs to drop in the potatoes
or cabbage plants, before standing on one leg and covering in the earth
with the other. Hallo, Tom, what is it?"
"Sarvant, sir," said Tom, pulling his forelock, man-o'-war fashion, to
the young officer. "Been showing Eben Megg how the cave was busted up,
sir, in the storm. I beg pardon, sir; I've been scouring and swabbing
out the boat 'smorning in case you and the luff-tenant wanted to go for
a sail."
"To be sure," cried Aleck, eagerly. "Here, we'll go for a run to
Rockabie and back, Eben; come and take the helm and show Mr Wrighton
how the smugglers could run a boat close in among the rocks. You know;
the same as you did that night."
"Ay, ay, sir. Come along, Tom. Shall we go round to the Den gully and
fetch her, sir? We could run in up the channel below here, and pick you
up? Bodger says the channel's quite clear."
"Do you think you could find your way in, Eben?" said Aleck, with a
merry look.
"Find my way in, sir? Ay, sir, if it was black as ink, or with my eyes
shut."