Chapter 25

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_ CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

Aleck ate heartily, for the state of affairs began to look bright, but as he played his part his eyes were busy, and he noted that the beautiful effect of light which came through the transparent water beneath the submerged arch grew less and less striking till the colour had nearly faded out, while the water had evidently risen a good deal in the long canal-like pool, and was still rising, and where the cavern's weird configuration had in one part appeared through a dim shadowy twilight all was black darkness.

There had been a little talking during the consumption of the meal, but when it was ended silence had fallen upon the group. The smuggler had proceeded to fill a black pipe which he had lit at the lanthorn, and then drawn back a little, leaving the two youths to themselves; but very little was said, conversation in the man's presence seeming to be impossible.

The pipe was smoked to the very last, and then, after tapping out the hot ashes, the smuggler coughed and turned to the others.

"Look here, gen'lemen," he said; "I think we understand one another a bit now, which means I'm going to trust you two and you're going to trust me?"

"Yes," said Aleck.

"That's right, then. Of course, all I want to do is to get safe away so as to bring back the key of them irons, or a file, and as soon as we've got them off you're going to give me till to-morrow about this time before you come out?"

"We can't stay in this horrible hole all night," cried Aleck, impetuously.

"Don't see as it's much of a horrible hole, master," said the man; "there's plenty to eat and drink, and a good roof over your heads. I've slept here times enough. There arn't nothing to worry you--no old bogies. Wust thing I ever see here was a seal, which come in one night, splashing about; and he did scare me a bit till I knowed what it was. But that's the bargain, gentlemen, and there's no running back. There's the lanthorn, and there's a box yonder with plenty of candles, and a tinder-box with flint, steel, and matches, so you never need be in the dark. Plenty of bread and bacon, cheese, and butter too, so you'll be all right; so there's no call to say no more about that. Now, then, I'm going uppards to try if I can find out what's going on outside. I shall keep coming down to tell you till I think my chance of getting home has come, and then I shall run off and you'll wait till I come back."

"Very well," said Aleck, who found that he had all the talking to do, and after a time the smuggler rose.

"There," he said, "I'm going now. Say good luck to me."

"Well," replied Aleck, "good luck to you! Be as quick as you can. But what are you going to do about a light?"

"What for?" said the man, gruffly.

"To find your way to the zigzag slopes."

The smuggler laughed softly.

"I don't want any light to go about this place, squire. There arn't an inch I don't know by heart."

"I suppose not," said Aleck, thoughtfully. "But, look here; what about that place?"

"What about it, sir?"

"The getting up. Of course it was easy enough to slide down, but how about getting up?"

"Didn't I tell you? No, of course, I didn't. Look here, sir; it's all smooth in the middle, but if you keep close up to the left you'll find nicks cut in the stone just big enough for your toes, and as close together as steps. You'll find it easy enough."

"I understand," said Aleck, and the next minute they were listening to the faintly-echoing steps, for the moment the man stepped out of the faint yellow glow made by the lanthorn he plunged into intense black darkness. But from what he had so far gleaned of the configuration of the place the lad was pretty well able to trace the smuggler by his footsteps, till all at once there was a faint rustling, and then the gloom around was made more impressive by the silence which endured for a couple of minutes or so, to be succeeded by a faint, peculiar, echoing, scraping sound.

"What's that?" asked the midshipman, excitedly.

Aleck explained that it was evidently the noise made by the scraping of the smuggler's boots against the stone, as he ascended the zigzag crack to the surface.

This lasted for about a minute, to be succeeded by a peculiar harsh noise as of stone being drawn upon stone, after which there was another peculiar sound, also in some way connected with stone jarring against stone; but Aleck could give no explanation to his companion as to what that might be, feeling puzzled himself. Another stone seemed to be moved then, and it struck the listener that it might be somehow connected with the more level of the zigzag passages, though why he should have thought that he could not have explained.

Probably not more than three minutes were taken up altogether before the last faint sound had died completely away, and then Aleck found himself called upon to explain the configuration of the natural staircase by which ascent could be made and exit found. For it never occurred to the lad that he was in any way breaking the confidence placed in him in making the prisoner as familiar with the peculiarities of the cavern as he was himself. The midshipman, his companion in the strange adventure, had asked him about the shape and position of his prison, and he had explained what he knew. That was all.

The account took some time, for the prisoner's interest seemed to increase with what he learned, and his questions succeeded one another pretty quickly, with the result that in his explanations Aleck had to include a good deal of his own personal life, after which he did not scruple to ask his companion a little about his own on board ship.

"I say," said Aleck, at last, "isn't it droll?"

"Droll!" groaned the midshipman. "What, being shut up here?"

"No, no; our meeting as we did in Rockabie harbour, and what took place with the boys. I never expected to see you again, and now here have I found you out, a prisoner, chained by the leg, and in ever so short a time you and I have grown to be quite friends."

"Yes," said the midshipman, drawing a deep breath. "I didn't like you the first time we met."

"And I didn't like you," said Aleck, laughing. "I thought you were stuck-up and consequential. I say, I wish Tom Bodger were here!"

"What, that wooden-legged rase sailor?"

"Yes."

"What good could he do--a cripple like that?"

"Cripple! Oh, I never thought of him as a cripple. He's as clever as clever. There isn't anything he won't try to do. I was thinking that if he were here he'd be scheming some plan or another to get rid of the chain about your leg."

"Hah!" sighed the midshipman, "but he isn't here. I say!"

"Well?"

"Hadn't you better have another candle to light--that one's nearly burned down?"

"I've got one quite ready, lying out here on the stone."

"Hah! That's right," said the prisoner. "It's so horrible to be in the dark."

"Oh, no; not when you've got company."

"But be quite ready. It might go out quickly."

"Well, if it did, I know where the flint and steel are."

"You couldn't find them in the dark."

"Oh, couldn't I? I kept an eye on everything Master Eben did."

"I say, do you think he will come back?"

"Yes; he's sure to, unless some of the cutter's men catch him and carry him off."

"Ah! and you think, then, that he wouldn't speak, out of spite, and leave us here to starve?" cried the middy, excitedly.

"No, I don't," said Aleck; "I don't think anything of the sort. Don't you be ready to take fright."

"I've been shut up in this place so long," said the middy, apologetically, "and it has made me as weak and nervous as a girl."

"Well, try not to be," said Aleck. "Look here; there's nothing like seeing the worst of things and treating them in a common-sense way. Now, suppose such a thing did happen as that Eben Megg did not come back--what then?"

"We should be starved to death."

"No, we shouldn't, for I daresay there's a good store here of biscuits and corned beef out of some ship, as well as smuggled goods, that we could eat."

"Till all was finished," said the middy, sadly.

"What of that? We could get out, couldn't we? I know the way."

"Oh, yes. I had forgotten that. But was there any door to the way down--trap-door?"

"Door? No," said Aleck, laughing. "It's all the natural stone, just chipped a little here and there to make it easier."

"That's right," said the midshipman, sadly. "But it is a terrible place to be shut up in. Hasn't he been very long?"

"Oh, no. I daresay he'll be a long time yet. Come, cheer up. Let's watch the water there. I wish I knew what the time was. Can't we tell? When the water looks blackest it ought to be high water. I wonder whether we shall see the arch quite cleared and the light shining through. Have you noticed it?"

"Don't!" said the young sailor, rather piteously. "I know what it means--you are talking like this to keep up my spirits."

"Well, suppose I am?"

"Don't try; it only makes me more weak and miserable. You can't think of the horrors I've suffered."

"But--"

"Yes, I know what you're going to say--that I ought to have been firmer, and fought against the dread and horror, and mastered the feelings."

"Something of the sort," said Aleck.

"Well, I did at first, but I gradually got weaker and weaker, till in the darkness and silence something happened which scared me ten times more than the being here alone."

"Something happened? What?" said Aleck, wonderingly.

"I suddenly felt frightened of myself."

"I don't understand you."

"I was afraid that I was losing my senses."

"Well, then, don't be afraid like that any more, for you're not going to lose them."

"Men have lost their wits by being shut up alone," said the middy, piteously.

"Perhaps. But you're not going to, for you're not alone, and all you've got to do is to lie there patiently and wait. I say, aren't you tired?"

"Oh, horribly. I couldn't sleep for the horror I felt."

"Well, you could now. Go to sleep, and I'll wake you when Eben Megg comes back."

"No," said the middy; "I couldn't sleep now. Suppose I awoke at last and found that you had gone!"

"Ah, you're going to imagine all sorts of things," said Aleck, who felt that he must do something to keep his companion from brooding over his position.

"Look here; suppose I go up the passage and see if I can make out anything about Eben!"

Before he had finished speaking he became aware of how terribly the poor fellow had been shaken by his confinement. For the lad caught him spasmodically by the arm with both hands.

"No, no," he panted. "Don't leave me--pray don't leave me."

"Very well, then, I'll stay," said Aleck; "but I do hope the poor fellow will not be caught by the cutter's men."

Aleck felt sorry as soon as he had said these words, for his companion gave another start.

"You feel that he won't come back?"

"I feel," said Aleck, quietly, "that we seem to be wasting time. Have you got a knife?"

"Yes, of course."

"So have I. Well, mine has a small blade; has yours?"

"Yes. Why?"

"One small blade would not be strong enough, but if two were thrust into the back of those irons together we might be able to open them. I believe all these fetters are opened by a square key, and I'm going to try."

"Ah, yes; do."

"Once get you free, we could pass the time climbing up the natural staircase, and get a look out from the top at the fresh green trees and clear sky."

Aleck's attempt to take his companion's attention was successful, inasmuch as after the production of the knives, and the changing the position of the opened lanthorn so that the dim light should do its best in illuminating the rusty anklet and chain, the midshipman began to take some feeble interest in the proceedings.

Aleck knew as much about handcuffs and fetters as he did about the binomial theorem, but he was one of those lads who are always ready to "have a try" at anything, and, after examining the square deeply-set holes which secured the anklets, he placed the two pen-blades of the knives together, forced them in as far as they would go, and tried to turn them.

The first effort resulted in a sharp clicking sound.

"There goes the edge of one blade," said the lad, coolly. "I hope it's your knife, and not mine. Hullo! Hooray! It turns!"

For the blades held fast, jammed as they were into the angles of the orifice, and the operator was able to turn the knives half way, and then all the way round.

"Now try," said the midshipman, beginning to take deep interest in the attempt.

"I have," said Aleck, gloomily; "the blades turn the inside, but the thing's as fast as ever."

"But you are not doing it right," said the middy.

"I suppose not; you try."

"No, no; go on. But you haven't turned enough."

"It wants the proper key," said Aleck.

"No, I think those knives will do, after all. I saw a sailor put in irons once for striking his superior officer, and I think that part wants not only turning like a key in a lock, but turning round and round, as if you were taking out a screw."

"Oh, I see," cried Aleck, with renewed eagerness, and he turned and turned till, to his great delight, the anklet fell open like an unclasped bracelet, and then dropped on to the folded sail-cloth which formed the prisoner's couch.

"Hooray!" shouted Aleck again.

"Hurrah! Hurrah!" cried the young officer, with a decision in his voice that brought up their first meeting in the harbour.

"There, it's all right," cried Aleck, as the young officer caught him by the hands; "nothing like patience and a good try."

"I--I can't thank you enough," said the middy, in a half suffocated voice.

"Well, who wants thanks, sailor?" cried Aleck. "Don't go on like that. It's all right. I'm as glad as you are. Now, then--oh, I say, your being shut up here has pulled you down!"

"Yes, more than I knew, old fellow," said the middy. "There, I'm better now. You can't tell what an effect it had upon one. There were times in the night when, after dragging and dragging at that miserable iron, I grew half wild and ready to gnaw at my leg to get it free. Why, if you know the way out we can escape now."

"Yes, but let's play fair by Eben Megg. He has gone to try and get the key to open this thing, and I promised that I would wait till he came back."

"But he will not come back, I feel sure. He's only a smuggler, and ready to promise anything."

"Oh, no," said Aleck, "I don't think that. If he is not taken by the men from the boat he'll come back, I feel sure. So let's wait till the morning."

"I can't--I tell you I can't," cried the midshipman, half wild with hysterical excitement. "I must get out now at any cost. I couldn't bear another night in this place."

"Nonsense," cried Aleck, good-humouredly. "You bore it when you felt almost hopeless as a prisoner; surely now that you are as good as free you can manage to bear one more night!"

"No, I cannot and I will not," cried the young officer. "See to that lanthorn at once, and let's get out of this living tomb."

Aleck lit a fresh candle and secured it in the sconce, watching the midshipman the while as he sat up rubbing the freshly-freed leg, and then stood up and stamped his foot as if the leg were stiff. Then, as if satisfied that he could get along pretty well, he turned to his companion.

"It's rather bad," he said, excitedly; "but--I can manage now. Jump up and come along."

Aleck remained silent.

"Do you hear?" cried the middy.

"Yes. It's time now that we had something more to eat," said the lad, quietly.

"Eat? Eat? Who's going to think of eating now? I want to get out and breathe the cool, soft air. I feel just as if I were coming to life after having been buried. Here, pick up the lanthorn and let's start."

"If Eben Megg does not come back by the morning," said Aleck, coldly.

"What! Do you mean to tell me that you are going to stay here all night when the way's open?"

"The way is not open," said Aleck, coldly.

"Not open? You told me there was no door or fastening at all."

"There is neither, but it's shut up by the promise I gave that man."

"You tell me really that you mean to stop here all night waiting for him?"

"Yes," said Aleck; "I was quite ready to stop here all night to keep you company when you were a prisoner chained to that wall."

The midshipman stood staring down at his companion as if half stunned, till better thoughts prevailed.

"Yes," he said, at last, in a quieter way. "So you were; and you would have done it, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would," said Aleck.

"And it wouldn't be fair to break your word, eh?"

"That's what I feel," was the reply.

"Yes, and I suppose it's right, Aleck--that's what they call you?"

"Yes, that's what they call me," said the lad, coldly.

"Yes--yes," said the middy, slowly. "I say, you're not an officer, but you're a jolly deal more of a gentleman than I am. You see, I've been a prisoner so long, and I want to get out."

"Of course; it's only natural."

"Well, then, you're going to show me the way out?"

"To-morrow morning, when I feel satisfied that Eben Megg will not come."

"No, no, to-night--if it is to-night yet. Come!"

"No," said Aleck, firmly. "I gave him my word that I'd wait, and I'll stay even if he doesn't come back; but I have no right to try and stop you."

"No, that you haven't; but I'm not going to behave worse than you do. Now, once more, are you going to show me the way out?"

"No," said Aleck.

To his intense astonishment the midshipman threw himself back upon his rough couch again.

"All right," he said; "I know what it means when you're all alone in the stillness here and your brain's at work conjuring up all sorts of horrible things. You've behaved very handsomely to me, old fellow, and I'm not going to be such a miserable beggar as to go and leave you in the lurch. If you stay, I stay too, and there's an end of it. Now, then, snuff the candle and hunt out some prog. I've been so that everything I put into my mouth tasted like sawdust, but I feel now as if I could eat like anything. Look sharp."

"Do you mean this?" cried Aleck, turning to his companion, excitedly.

"Of course I do," said the middy, merrily. "Think you're the only gentleman in the world?"

It was Aleck's turn to feel slightly husky in the throat, but he turned away to the rough basket and began to hand out its contents, joining his companion in eating hungrily, both working away in silence for a time.

Then the ex-prisoner opened the conversation, beginning to talk in a boisterous, careless way.

"I say, Aleck, we shall have plenty of time before lying down to sleep. Let's light two or three candles and have a jolly good rummage of the smugglers' stores."

"We will," cried the lad addressed.

"I shouldn't wonder if we find all sorts of things. Treasure, perhaps, from wrecked vessels. I wouldn't bet that these people hadn't been pirates in their time. That Eben, as you call him--I say, it ought to be Ebony--he looks a regular Blackbeard, skull-and-crossbones sort of a customer. We'll collar anything that seems particularly good. I'm just in the humour to say I've as good a right to what there is as anybody else; but we'll share--fair halves. I say!"

"What?"

"Old Blackbeard will stare when he finds that we've opened the irons. My word, I must go and see Mrs Ebony again. Nice woman she is, and no mistake."

"Did she fasten the iron ring on your ankle?"

"Well, no; I think it was an ugly old woman of the party; but I couldn't be sure, for they half killed me--smothered me, you know--and when I came the half way back to life the job was done."

Aleck entered into the spirit of the rummage, as his companion called it, and their search proved interesting enough; but after finding a vast store of spirits, tobacco, and undressed Italian silks, the principal things in the cavern were ship's stores--the flotsam and jetsam of wrecks, over which they bent till weariness supervened.

"Tired out," said Aleck, at last.

"So am I," was the reply, as they threw themselves side by side on the rough bed, after extinguishing all the candles they had stuck about the rock and confining themselves to a fresh one newly set up in the lanthorn.

"Shall we let it burn?" said Aleck, in deference to his comrade's feelings.

"Oh, hang it, no!" was the reply. "It might gutter down and set us on fire."

"Then you don't mind being in the dark?"

"Not a bit with you here. Do you mind?"

"I feel the same as you."

Five minutes later they were both sleeping quietly and enjoying as refreshing a slumber as ever fell to the lot of man or boy. _

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