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In the King's Name: The Cruise of the "Kestrel", a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 21. Temptation |
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_ CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. TEMPTATION There was something ludicrous in the struggle that had taken place, especially as Hilary had so thoroughly won the day; but at the same time there was a very unpleasant side to his position. It was in the middle of the night and very dark, save in one corner of the stone-floored place where the remains of the heap of straw displayed a few sparks, and sent up a thin thread of smoke, which rose to the ceiling and there spread abroad, the rest having passed away, driven out by the draught caused by the open door. He had not a scrap of furniture; the straw was all burned, and the floor of his prison was stone. Still there was one good thing upon his side--one which afforded Hilary the most intense satisfaction, and this was the fact that he had secured the cutlass. Not that he wanted it for fighting, though it might prove useful in case of need for his defence; but it suggested itself to him as being a splendid implement for raising one of the stones in the floor, with which help he might possibly get into the cellars or vaults below, and so escape. "But I don't like going to sleep on the stones," said Hilary to himself, and tucking the cutlass under his arm, he felt the flooring in different places. To his surprise he found it perfectly dry, for the intensely strong spirit had burned itself completely out, leaving not so much as a humid spot; and after climbing up to look out at the dark night, Hilary saw that the fire was as good as extinct, and ended by sitting down. The stones were very cold, but he felt weary, and at last so intense a desire to sleep came upon him that he lay down, and in spite of the hardness of his couch and the fact that he had no pillow but his arm, he dropped off into a heavy sleep, from which he did not awaken till the sun was shining in through the window upon the smoke-blackened walls. Hilary's first thought was concerning his cutlass, which was safe by his side, and jumping up, he listened. Then he went to the door and listened again, but all was perfectly still. What was he to do? he asked himself. He felt sure that Allstone would come before long, and others with him, to obtain possession of the weapon, and he was equally determined not to give it up. He might fight for it, but, now that he was cool, he felt a repugnance against shedding blood; and, besides, he knew that he must be overcome by numbers, perhaps wounded, and that would make a very uncomfortable state of things ten times worse. The result was that he determined to hide the cutlass; but where? He looked around the place, and, as far as he could see, there was not a place where he could have hidden away a bodkin, let alone the weapon in his hand. Certainly he might have heaped over it the black ashes of the straw and the few unburned scraps; but such a proceeding would have been childish in the extreme. It was terribly tantalising, for there was absolutely no place where he could conceal it; and at last, biting his lips with vexation, he exclaimed, after vainly looking out for a slab that he could raise: "I must either fight for it or throw it out of the window; and I'd sooner do that than he should have it back. Hurrah! That will do!" he cried eagerly, as a thought struck him. Laying down the cutlass, he leaped up to the window, pressed his face sidewise against the bars, and looked down, to see that the grass and weeds grew long below him. He was down again directly and seated upon the floor, where, after listening for a few moments, he stripped down one of his blue worsted stoutly-knitted stockings, sought for a likely place, cut through a thread, and, pulling steadily, it rapidly came undone. This furnished him with a line of worsted some yards long. Leaping up, he rapidly tied one end round the hilt of the cutlass, climbed to the window, and lowered the weapon down outside, till it lay hidden amongst the grass close to the wall. Then he tied the slight thread close down in the rusted-away part of one of the bars, descended again, and raked up some ashes, with which he mounted and sprinkled them over the thread, making it invisible from inside; after which he descended, feeling quite hopeful that the plan would not be discovered. This done, he seemed to have more time for a look round at the effects of the fire; but beyond a little blackening of the ceiling and the heap of ashes, there was nothing much to see. The strong spirit had burned itself out without doing more than scorch the bottom of the door; but he had a lively recollection of the strange scene as the little blue tongues of fire seemed to be fluttering and dancing all over the place. Just then he noticed the corner where he had placed the remains of his previous night's meal, and there were the empty plates--for not a scrap of the food was left; and this satisfactorily indorsed his ideas respecting the touch that had so startled him into wakefulness. "Better be awakened by that than by the blaze of fire," he said half aloud. "Oh, won't I give Sir Henry a bit of my mind about the treatment I meet with here, and--here he is." For just then he heard the tramp of feet over the boarded floor, the flinging open of the first door, then the steps in the passage, and he altered his opinion. "No!" he exclaimed; "it's old Allstone coming after his cutlass." He was quite right, for, well-armed, and followed by four men, Hilary's jailer entered the place, glanced sharply round, and exclaimed: "I've come for that cutlass." "Have you?" said Hilary coolly. "Hand it over." "I have not got it," said Hilary coolly. "Don't tell me lies," said the fellow roughly. "Here, lay hold." Five to one was too much for resistance, so Hilary submitted patiently to the search that was made, to see if he had it concealed beneath his clothes. "There's nothing here," said one of the men; and Allstone tried himself, flinching sharply as the prisoner made believe to strike at him. Then he carefully looked all round the place, which was soon done, and the fellow turned to him menacingly: "Now then," he cried, "just you speak out, or it will be the worse for you. Where's that cutlass?" Hilary looked at him mockingly. "I'll tell you the strict truth," he thought; and he replied, "I dropped it out of the window." "It's a lie," cried the ruffian savagely; "I don't believe you." "I knew you would not," said Hilary laughing. "Where is it then?" "I swallowed it." "What!" said the fellow staring. "Hilt and all if you like. Now, do you believe that?" The man stared at him. "Because you would not believe the truth, so there's what you asked for--a lie." The fellow stared at him again, seized hold of him, and felt him all over in the roughest way. Then, satisfied that the weapon was not concealed about the lad's person, he looked round the place once more, walked to the side of the room so as to get a view of the window-ledge, and then he turned to Hilary once more. "When did you drop it out?" he said sharply. "As soon as I awoke this morning," replied Hilary. "Just before you came." "Come along, my lads," said the fellow, who then withdrew with his followers. The door clanged to, was locked, and as Hilary listened he heard them all depart, securing the farther door behind them; and, satisfied that they were gone, he nimbly climbed up to the window, raised the cutlass by means of the worsted, and having taking it in he descended once more, unfastened and rolled up the thread for further use, and then thrust the weapon down under his vest and into the left leg of his trousers, feeling pretty sure that they would not search him again. A few minutes later he heard voices, and going beneath the window, and raising himself up till his ear was level with the ledge, he could hear all that was said, and he knew that the men were searching for the sword. "Don't seem to be about here," said one of the men. "Look well," Hilary heard Allstone say. "That's just what we are doing. Think he did throw it over?" "Must have done so," said Allstone; "there isn't a place anywhere big enough to hide a knife." "Then some one's been by this morning and picked it up," said one of the men, "for it don't seem to be anywhere here." "Turn over that long grass," said Allstone, "and kick those weeds aside." Hilary heard the rustling sounds made by the men as they obeyed their leader; but of course there was no result. "Somebody come by and picked it up," said the man again; and, apparently satisfied, the party went away, Hilary raising his eyes, saw the smugglers go round the corner of the house below the ivied gable, leaving him wondering whether they would come back. "They may," he thought; "and if they do, they will see that I've got this thing tucked in here." Quickly taking out the worsted he secured it to the cutlass, and lowering it once more out of the window, tied the thread to the bar. "It's safest there, I'll be bound," he muttered; and he had hardly made his arrangements for concealment when he heard the steps coming, and began walking up and down as the door was opened, and, staring at him doubtfully, Allstone came in with two men bearing some breakfast for the prisoner, while their leader went round Hilary again, searchingly noting every fold of his garments before once more withdrawing. "He must have seen it if I had it on," said Hilary, as he once more found himself alone, when he eagerly attacked the provisions that had been left. After satisfying his hunger, he was a good deal divided in his mind as to what to do about the weapon, which might prove to be so valuable an implement in his attempt to escape. If left outside and searched for again, the smugglers must find it; but the chances were that they would not go and look again, so he decided to leave it where it was. The morning wore on without a single incident to take his attention, and he spent the time in examining the floor of his prison, giving a tap here and a tap there, and noting where it sounded most hollow. It was a long task, but he had plenty of time upon his hands, and he at last decided that he would make his attack upon a small stone in the corner by the wall which contained the window, that was not only the darkest place, the light seeming to pass over it, but there was a hollower echo when he struck the stone, from which he hoped that the slab was thinner than the rest. He drove the knife in all round and found that it passed in without difficulty; and as he examined the place, he found to his great delight that some time or other there had evidently been a staple let into the slab, probably to hold a great ring for raising the stone, and undoubtedly this was a way down to the vaults below. What he wanted now was a good supply of straw to lay over that part of the floor to conceal any efforts he might make for raising the stone, and meanwhile dusting some of the ashes and half-burned straw-chaff over the spot, he awaited Allstone's next appearance with no little anxiety. Towards afternoon he heard steps, and evidently his jailer was coming; but to his surprise, instead of Allstone being accompanied by two or three men, his companion was Sir Henry Norland, who had evidently just returned from a journey. "Ah, my dear Hilary," he exclaimed, "I have just been hearing of your narrow escape. My dear boy, I cannot tell you how sorry I am. You are not in the least hurt, I hope?" "No, Sir Henry, not in body," said the young man distantly; "but you see all my prison furniture has been destroyed. Will you give orders that I am to be supplied with a little more straw?" "I gave orders that a mattress and blankets, with a table and chairs, should be brought here before I went out," said Sir Henry, "with a few other things. Good gracious! I had no idea the fire had been so bad. Did it burn everything?" "My furniture was what I asked to be replaced--a little straw," said Hilary bitterly. "I had nothing else." Sir Henry turned frowning to the man, and said a few words in a low but commanding tone to him which made him scowl; but he went off growling something to himself in a sulky manner. "My dear Hilary," said Sir Henry, "I did not know you had been so badly treated. I am so much engaged upon His Majesty's business that I am afraid I have neglected you sadly." "Indeed, Sir Henry? And now you have come to say that I am at liberty to go free and attend to His Majesty's business?" said Hilary with a sarcastic ring in his words. "Will you?" said Sir Henry eagerly. "Yes, of course," said Hilary. "I serve the king, and I am ready to do anything in the king's name." Sir Henry smiled pityingly. "We misunderstand each other, Hilary. But come, my boy, let us waste no words. Listen. I come to you armed with powers to make you a great and honoured man. Join us, Hilary. We know that you are a skilful officer, a clever sailor. You are the merest subordinate now; but throw yourself heart and soul into the Stuart cause, help to restore the king to his rights, and you shall rise with him. Young as you are, I have a splendid offer to make you. As you are, you serve under a miserable officer, and in time you may rise to a captaincy. Join us, and, as I say, young as you are His Majesty gives you through me the rank of captain, and knighthood shall follow if you serve him well." "Have you nearly done, Sir Henry?" said Hilary coldly. "Done, my dear boy, I want to introduce you to a band of truly chivalrous noblemen and gentlemen who will receive you with open arms. I want you to be my friend and fellow patriot--to aid me with your advice and energy. I want you to leave this wretched prison, and to soar above the contemptible task of putting down a few miserable smugglers. I want you to come out of this place with me at once, to become once more the companion of my little Adela, who sends her message by me that she is waiting to take you by the hand. Come: leave the wretched usurper's chains, and be free if you would be a man. Adela says--Hark! There she is." As he spoke there came in through the window, bearing with it the memories of bright and happy times, the tones of the girl's sweet young voice, and as Hilary listened he closed his eyes and thought of the bright sunny country, the joys of freedom, the high hopes of ambition, and a warm flush came into his cheeks, while Sir Henry smiled in the satisfaction of his heart as he whispered to himself the one word--"_Won_!" _ |
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