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Cormorant Crag; A Tale of the Smuggling Days, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 24. Getting Deeper In The Hole |
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_ CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. GETTING DEEPER IN THE HOLE For some moments Mike sat up, gazing straight before him, dazed, confused, not knowing where he was. Time, space, his life, all seemed to be gone; and all he could grasp was the fact that he was there. At last, as his brain would not work to help him, he began to try with his ringers, feeling for the information he somehow seemed to crave. He touched the sand, then a hand, and started from it in horror, for he could not understand why it was there. By degrees the impression began to dawn upon him that he had been awakened by some noise, but by what sound he could not tell. He could only feel that it was a noise of which he ought to be afraid, till suddenly there was something or somebody splashing or wallowing in the water. That was enough. The whole tide of thought rushed through him in an instant, and, snatching at the hand, he tugged at it and whispered excitedly,-- "Cinder--Vince!--wake up. They've come back." "Eh? What's the matter? Come back? What, the smugglers? Don't speak so loud." "No, no--the seals. Light the lanthorn. Where did you put the club and stick?" "Stop a moment. What's the matter with you? I've only just dropped asleep. Did you say the seals had come back?" "Yes: there, don't you hear them?" "No," said Vince, after a few moments' pause, "I can't hear anything. Can you?" "I can't now," said Mike, in a hoarse whisper; "but they woke me by splashing, and then I roused you." "Been dreaming, perhaps," said Vince. "I suppose we must have both dropped asleep for a few minutes. Never mind, we can keep awake better now, and--Hullo!" "What is it?" "Here: look out, Mike--look out!" There was no time to look out, no means of doing so in the darkness, and after all no need. Vince had placed his hand upon something hairy and moist, and let it stay there, as he wondered what it was, till that which he had felt grasped the fact that the touch was an unaccustomed one, and a monstrous seal started up, threw out its head and began to shuffle rapidly away from where it had been asleep. The alarm was taken by half a dozen more, and by the time the two boys were afoot and had seized their weapons--_splash, splash, splash_!--the heavy creatures had plunged back into the pool from which they had crawled to sleep, and by the whispering and lapping of the water on the walled sides of the cave the boys knew that the curious beasts were swimming rapidly away towards the mouth. "Nice damp sort of bedfellows," said Vince, laughing merrily. "I say, Mike, I'm all right. I don't know, though--I can't feel my legs very well. Yes, they're all right." "What do you mean?" said Mike. "I meant they haven't eaten any part of you, have they?" "Don't talk stuff," said Mike, rather pettishly. "How could we be so foolish as to go to sleep?" "No foolishness about it," said Vince quietly. "We were tired, and it was dark, and we dropped off. I say, I'm hungry. Think we've been to sleep long?" "I don't know. Perhaps. There's only one way to find out: go to the mouth of the hole." "Yes--that's the only way," said Vince; "and now the use of the candle comes in. I don't know, though: it seems a pity to light the last bit. Shall we go and see?" Mike suppressed a shiver of dread, and said firmly,--"Yes." Another point arose, and that was as to whether they should put on their clothes again. It seemed a pity to do so and again get them wet; but both felt repugnant to attempting to wade back without them, and they began to feel about, half in dread lest the seals which had visited them in the night should have chosen their clothes for a sleeping place. They were, however, just as they had been left, and, to the astonishment of both, they were nearly dry. "Why, Mike," cried Vince, "we must have slept for hours and hours." "We can't. The cave's warm, I suppose, and that accounts for it. How are your trousers getting on?" "Oh, right enough, only they're very gritty. Glad to get into them, though." In a very short time they were dressed, and it being decided that they would not return here if it were possible to avoid it, the lanthorn and tinder-box were taken, and they made up their minds to make the venture of wading back in the dark. Mike was rather disposed to fight against it, but he yielded to his companion's reasoning when he pointed out that before long they would be able to see the light, and their lanthorn would be superfluous. Vince rose, and starting with the cudgel outstretched before him, he stepped down into the water and began to wade. His first shot for the opening in front proved a failure, for he touched the wall across the pool, but finding which way it trended he was not long in reaching the place where it gradually narrowed like a funnel-- their voices helping, for as they spoke in whispers the echoes came back from closer and closer, the water deepened a little, and then Vince was able to extend the cudgel and touch the wall on either side. Once only did he feel that they must have entered some side passage, and he stopped short with the old feeling of horror coming over him as the thought suggested the possibility of their wandering away utterly and hopelessly lost in some fearful labyrinth, where they would struggle vainly until they dropped down, worn out by their exertions, to perish in the water through which they waded. "What's the matter?" said Mike, in a quick, sharp whisper; and Vince remained silent, not daring to speak, for fear that his companion should detect his thoughts by the tremor he felt sure that there would be in his voice. "Do you hear? Why don't you speak?" said Mike. "Don't play tricks here in the dark." "I'm not playing tricks," replied Vince roughly, after making an effort to overcome his emotion. "I'm leading, and I must think. Are we going right?" "You ought to know. I trusted to you," said Mike anxiously, "and you wouldn't light the candle." "Yes, it is all right," said Vince; and, mastering the feeling of scare that had come over him, he passed his hand along the wall, feeling the slimy cold sea anemones and the peculiar clinging touch of their tentacles. Then he pressed steadily on, till all at once there was a faint dawning of light. They turned one of the bends, and the dawn, became bright rays, which rapidly increased as they softly waded along, being careful now to speak to each other in whispers, and to disturb the water as little as possible; till at last there in the front was the low arch of the cave, framing a patch of sunny rock dotted with grey gulls, and an exultant sensation filled Vince's breast, making him ready to shout aloud. The sensation of delight was checked by feeling Mike's hand suddenly upon his shoulder tugging him back, and at the same moment he saw the reason. For there, in the opening, evidently standing up to his shoulders in water, was some one gazing straight into the narrow cavern, and Vince felt that they must have been heard and a sentry placed there to watch for their coming out. "But it is impossible for him to see us," thought Vince; and he stood there pondering on what it would be best to do, while a feeling of hope cheered him with the idea that perhaps after all they had not been heard, and that it was by mere accident that the man was gazing in. The next moment he felt again ready to utter an exultant cry, for there was a sudden movement of the watching head, a dive down, and the water rose and fell, distinctly seen against the light. "Bother those old seals!" he said: "they're always doing something to scare us. I really thought it was a man." "Looked just like it," said Mike, making a panting sound, as if he had been holding his breath till he had been nearly suffocated. "That chap must have been able to see us though we are in the dark. What wonderful eyes they have!" "Perhaps the light shines on us a little," replied Mike. "Very likely; but it's curious what animals can do. I wonder at their coming and lying down so near us." "That was because we lay so still, I suppose. But we oughtn't to talk." "No; come along: but what are we going to do? We shan't be able to stand in the water very long." They waded very slowly on, hardly disturbing the surface, and straining their ears to catch the slightest sound; but the faint roar of the currents playing among the rocks, and the screams and querulous cries of the sea-birds which flew to and fro across the mouth of the cavern were all they could hear. They were pretty close to the entrance now, but they hesitated to go farther, and remained very silent and watchful, till a thought suddenly struck Vince, who placed his lips close to Mike's ear. "I say," he said, "oughtn't it to be this evening?" "Of course." "Then it isn't. It's to-morrow morning." "Nonsense!" "Well, I mean it's morning, and we've slept all night." "Vince!" "It is, lad. Look--the sun can't have been up very long; and oh, Mike, what a state they must have been in at home about us!" Mike uttered a faint groan. "It's horrid!" continued Vince passionately. "What shall we do?" Mike was silent for a few minutes, and then said sadly,--"They won't have slept all night." "No," said Vince wildly; "and they've been wandering about the place with people searching for us. Mike, it's of no use, we mustn't try to hide any longer. That Jarks daren't hurt us, and we had better go out boldly." "Think so?" "Yes. You see, we can't stay here standing in the water, and if we go back to the sand in there--" Mike shuddered. "I can't go back there," he said. "That's just how I feel," said Vince, speaking in a low, excited tone. "I didn't say much, but I couldn't help being horribly frightened." "It was enough to scare anybody there in the dark, not knowing what might happen to us next," sighed Mike. "We can't go back. If we do we should soon starve. Think we could go to the mouth here and wade out, and then swim to that opening we saw?" "No," said Vince decidedly, as he recalled the aspect of the turbulent cove from where he sat astride the stone; "no man could swim there, and I don't believe that a small boat could live in those boiling waters." "Then we must go boldly out," said Mike. "Who's this fellow? He has no right to come here. Why, my father would punish him severely for daring to do it!" "If he could catch him, Ladle, old fellow. But the man knows it, and that's what frightens me--I mean, makes me fidgety about it. But we must go." "There is one chance, though," said Mike eagerly: "he may have taken fright and gone with all his smuggled stuff." "Of course he may," said Vince eagerly. "Why, here are we fidgeting ourselves about nothing. While we've been sleeping in this seal cavern, he has had his men working away to carry off all that stuff to his ship. Poor old Ladle! He won't even get enough silk to make his mother a dress. Well, are you ready?" he continued, with forced gaiety. "I'm hungry and thirsty, and my poor feet feel like ice." Mike hesitated. "We must go," said Vince, changing his tone again. "Mike, old chap, it's too horrid to think of them at home. Come on." Mike did not speak, but gave a sharp nod; and, summoning all their resolution, and trying hard to force themselves to believe that the smugglers had gone, they waded carefully on, now breathing more freely as they reached the mouth, with the bright light of morning shining full in to where they were, and sending a thrill of hope through every fibre and vein. They paused, but only for a few minutes; and then, after a sign to Mike, Vince took another step or two, and leaned forward till he could peer round the side of the low arch and scan the interior of the outer cave. Then, slowly drawing back, after a couple of minutes' searching examination, he spoke to Mike in a whisper. "There isn't a sign of anybody," he said; "and I can't hear a sound. Come on, and let's risk it." Their pulses beat high as, bracing themselves together, they stepped right from the low archway, moving very cautiously, so as to gaze out as far as they could command at the cove. They fully expected to see some good-sized vessel lying there, or at least a large boat; but there were the sea-birds and the hurrying waters--nothing more. "They must have gone," whispered Vince. "Unless they are where we can't see--round by their cave." "I believe they've gone," said Vince; and they stepped in on to the soft, loose sand, to find everything belonging to them untouched. Then, gaining confidence, Mike stepped boldly inward, right up to the right-hand corner beneath the fissure, and stood listening, but there was not a sound. "Right," he whispered, as he stepped back: "they have gone." But the boy's heart beat faster as he led the way now to the entrance of the inner cave; for there was the possibility of the passage being blocked, and, another thing, it was early morning, and the smugglers might be sleeping still in the soft sand. Vince whispered his fears, and then, going first, he passed into the narrow passage without a sound, and stole cautiously along it till he could crane his head round and look. For some moments he could see nothing, but by degrees his eyes grew accustomed to the soft gloom, and the walls and roof and sandy floor gradually stood out before his eyes, and the next minute, to his great joy, he could see the rope running up into the dark archway and disappearing there. Nothing more: no sound of heavy breathing but his own--no trace of danger whatever. He drew back again and placed his lips to his companion's ear. "It's all right," he whispered; "they must have gone. Shall we step back and go to the far cave and see?" "No," said Mike decisively. "Home." "Yes: home!" said Vince. "Come on." Leading once more, he stepped into the cavern, whose interior now grew plainer and plainer to their accustomed eyes, and, crossing at once to the bottom of the slope, he seized the rope and gave it a sharp tug. "Will you go first?" he whispered. "I don't mind," replied Mike. "No,--you;" and Vince tightened the rope again, feeling that in a very short time they would be able to set the anxieties of all at rest. "Father won't be so angry when he knows," thought the boy; and, hanging there to the rope, he was about half-way up when he let go and dropped to the sand, for a figure suddenly appeared in the dark opening over his head, and before he could recover from his astonishment a piercingly shrill whistle rang through the inner cave. _ |
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