CHAPTER VI
A DISCOVERY
'Reggie,' said Allan, 'there they are at last.'
Reggie slid down from the garden wall, looked towards the road, andsaid, 'Where?'
'They're behind that hill now. They'll be here in no time. You'dbetter call Tricksy, and tell her to be ready.'
Reggie went into the house, and called, standing at the foot of thestaircase, 'Tricksy, it's Graham major and Graham minor with theirPater; and they're almost here.'
Tricksy came downstairs and waited in the hall, somewhat shyly, besideher brothers.
'Oh, I do hope they will be nice,' she whispered apprehensively toReggie, as the dog-cart drew up at the door.
A tall pleasant-faced gentleman was beside the driver, and two boyswere on the back seat wrapped in Inverness capes, and with caps drawnover their brows as a protection against the wind.
As Mr. and Mrs. Stewart were receiving their guests in the hall, Reggieand Tricksy had an opportunity of observing the boys. One was dark,about twelve years of age; thin, alert, with bright, restless hazeleyes; and the other was about as old as Reggie, with blue eyes andreddish-golden hair; almost too pretty to be a boy, Reggie thought;while Tricksy said to herself that he looked rather "nice."'
After greeting the grown-up folk, the new-comers turned to encounterTricksy's solemn, dark eyes and Reggie's bright, twinkling ones.Tricksy shook hands very shyly, and Reggie a little stiffly; then thevisitors were taken upstairs to prepare for lunch.
Tricksy turned to Reggie, whose countenance wore a non-committalexpression; then she looked at Allan and heaved a little sigh.
'What do you think of them, Tricksy?' inquired Allan.
'Well, I think the little one looks rather nice, but the other is alittle proud.'
'Do you think they'd care about our Pirates' Island, and all that?'asked Reggie doubtfully.
'Of course they would. They're no end of a good sort. Hush, they'recoming downstairs again.'
'Are you tired after the steamer?' Allan asked his guest during lunch.
'A bit, not very,' replied the elder lad, whose name was Harry. 'Feela bit as though the floor was rocking.'
'You'll feel like that until you've had a night's rest, anyway,' saidAllan. 'Are you too tired to do anything this afternoon?'
'Not at all,' answered his friend. 'Gerald, you're game to dosomething after lunch, aren't you?'
His brother, who had been trying to make a conversation with Reggie,while Tricksy sat shyly on his other side, looked up with a smile.
'The steamer went close under some fine rocks, not far from thevillage,' he said; 'very high ones, with birds sitting in rows, all theway up, and making an awful screaming.'
'Yes,' said Allan, 'those are the Skegness Cliffs, a greatnesting-place of the birds. We'll take you there after lunch, if it'snot too far.'
The boys looked pleased, and as soon as freed from the restraint oftheir elders' presence they ran to fetch their caps and demanded to betaken to the rocks.
'We had better not go so soon, I think,' said Allan. 'We are expectingHamish and Marjorie, our friends from Corranmore, and we'll ask them togo with us. There's a jolly burn that runs quite near the house;suppose we go and fish in it until they come.'
Fishing-tackle was found for the entire party, and they proceeded tothe banks of the burn, which trickled down the hill-side and across ameadow, widening into little pools fringed with ragged-robin and queeno' the meadow; and finally falling in a little cascade down to theshore.
'What a fine dog this is of yours,' observed Gerald, caressing Laddie,who had been fawning upon the new-comers, and now ended by sitting downbetween Gerald and Tricksy.
Tricksy looked gratified.
'He's my dog,' she said. 'He likes you, I think.'
Gerald stroked Laddie's head and his white ruffle, and the dog made alittle sound to express gratification.
'Tricksy, keep your dog quiet, he'll frighten away the trout,' sang outAllan warningly; and Tricksy requested Laddie to 'trust.'
The sun shone down upon green grass and brown pools, and drew out theperfume of the flowers and heather. Not far distant was the pleasantnoise of the sea, and the calling of the gulls answered the plaintivecry of the plovers which fluttered about the moor and the meadows.
The day was too bright, and the trout which could be seen at the bottomof the pools refused to take. After a little while the strong freshair and sun began to have a drowsy effect upon the anglers.
Gerald rubbed his eyes once or twice, and stifled a yawn; and Tricksyfound that he was disinclined for conversation.
'Hulloa!' cried a voice from the top of a ridge; and Marjorie andHamish came racing down. Laddie's welcoming bark roused Gerald, whojumped into a sitting posture, and looked about him in a surprised way.
'Hulloa, Marjorie,' said Allan; 'glad you've come. This is HarryGraham, and this is Gerald.'
Marjorie looked at the new-comers with approval, and Hamish shook handsgood-naturedly.
'Are we going to fish all afternoon,' said Marjorie, 'or shall we takea scramble?'
'A scramble,' replied Reggie; 'they want to see the rocks.'
'If Gerald isn't too tired,' put in Tricksy considerately; 'he wasasleep a minute ago.'
'No,' protested Gerald, flushing and looking very much vexed; 'Iwasn't. I'm quite ready for a walk.'
'Suppose we take them to the Smugglers' Caves,' suggested Marjorie.'They're the finest sight in the island, I think.'
At the mention of smugglers Harry's eyes began to sparkle, and Gerald'sblue ones opened very wide.
'Are there--are there any smugglers there now?' asked Harry.
'Sometimes there are,' replied Marjorie, 'but I don't expect we shallmeet any. Smuggling isn't what it used to be,' she added somewhatregretfully.
'What luck if we could only come across some,' said Harry. 'Let's goand see the caves anyhow.'
'It's a long walk, across moors and bogs, and steep hills,' saidMarjorie; 'but if you're game, come along.'
Harry, walking beside Reggie, looked at the girl's slight, erect figureas she went in front with Gerald.
'Does she always do what you fellows do?' he inquired, ratherdoubtfully.
'Of course she does,' replied Reggie; 'she's fifteen years old, youknow; a year older than Allan.'
Harry looked at her again, and considered.
'Bit of a tomboy, isn't she?' he inquired again.
'An awful tomboy. We've got her into the way of doing all kinds ofthings. She couldn't be much jollier if she was a boy.'
Harry took another look at her.
'Has she a bit of a temper?' he asked unexpectedly.
'A bit,' acknowledged Reggie, somewhat disconcerted, 'when she'sroused, you know. She's fond of her own way; and she and Allan used toquarrel a good deal at one time; but they seem to have made it up now.'
Reggie added to himself that there was no time to quarrel, now thatevery one's thoughts were occupied with Neil.
Harry looked at Marjorie again.
'Does she ever quarrel with you?' he asked.
'N--no, not much,' he replied, his face darkening slightly.
Harry looked at Marjorie's tall young figure, and then at Reggie'ssmaller and slighter one, and arrived at the conclusion whichparticularly annoyed Reggie; that the girl disdained to quarrel with aboy so much younger than herself.
Marjorie turned her bright face towards them.
'Find it tiring, walking on the heather?' she said. 'It's veryfatiguing when you're not accustomed to it. We might take a rest afterwe've climbed this hill; there's a beautiful view from the top.'
It was a steep climb, and when they reached the summit, all the youngfolk were glad to fling themselves down on the short, fragrant heather.
The breeze came laden with the scent of wild thyme and heather and saltfrom the sea; and the only live creatures save themselves were themountain sheep and the crested plovers, and grey gulls which wheeledabove the heads of th
e wayfarers.
Harry looked about him with brightening eyes.
'What an awfully jolly place this is of yours,' he said. 'I say, you_do_ see a lot from the top of this hill.'
He was right. The hill crest commanded a view of nearly the wholeisland, with green fields and moors, and the white roads stretchingacross them; houses and cottages in their little gardens; and thevillage with the pier jutting out into the sea. One or two largerislands were in the distance; brown rocks and skerries lying like dotsupon the blue water; and away to the east the Highland hills rose amongthe clouds.
'It must be awfully jolly, having an island all to yourselves,'continued Harry.
'Yes,' replied Marjorie, perched on a boulder, 'and it's jollier stillto have an island of your very own, where no one comes but ourselves,and we can do exactly as we like.'
'Where's that?' inquired Harry.
'I may tell them, mayn't I?' asked Marjorie of the others.
'Of course you may,' replied Allan; 'we must take them there some daysoon.'
Marjorie slipped down from her perch.
'Do you see the little island over there?' she said, pointingsouthwards; 'a little black dot on the water, with some bright green inthe middle of it? Well, that's our _own_ island which we have all toourselves, and we've made a place in it that we call our secrethiding-place or Pirates' Den. We must show it to you some day.'
The boys stood up and gazed out to sea, their eyes widening andbrightening.
'I say, this is jolly,' they murmured, rather than said to any one inparticular.
'Hamish,' said Allan, who had been looking at some object on thesouthern side of the island; 'is that your father's gig, that has juststopped before Mrs. Macdonnell's cottage?'
Hamish looked in the direction indicated.
'Yes, I believe it is,' he said. 'It must be true then, what we heardDuncan say, that Mrs. Macdonnell is very ill.'
Such a grieved silence fell upon the island young people that theGrahams looked at them inquiringly.
'They said that she would fall ill,' said Marjorie in a low voice,'if--if she continued to fret so about----'
Allan pushed his cap to the back of his head, and Reggie looked hard inthe direction of the cottage, where the black dot was still standing bythe gate.
'Nothing else found in the ruins?' said Allan in an undertone.
'Nothing yet,' replied Hamish; 'the police are still trying to followup the clue----'
Marjorie's eyes encountered those of the guests, and she looked atAllan and Reggie.
'Are you going to let them know about it?' she asked. 'Might as well,you know; for they are sure to hear of it before long.'
Allan put his hands in his pockets and reflected; then he consultedReggie with a look, after which he turned to Hamish. 'Perhaps we mightas well tell them,' he said, and the others consented.
'Well, Graham major and Graham minor,' he began, to the boys who werewaiting expectantly; 'we are very much bothered about a friend ofours;' and he told them about the robbery of the post-office and Neil'sflight, while the boys listened with wide-open mouths, throwingthemselves about and uttering exclamations of interest.
'You say that you are quite sure he couldn't have taken the letters?'asked Harry, drawing himself into an upright position on the heather.
'Perfectly certain,' replied Allan. 'He would no more have done itthan you or I. No one who knows him would believe such a thing ofNeil.'
'Oh!' interposed Tricksy, in a shocked tone, 'I think Dr. MacGregorbelieved it.'
Hamish became very red and Marjorie's lips tightened.
'And he's so awfully, awfully jolly,' pursued Harry.
'One of the very jolliest people we know,' answered Marjorie. 'Fatherdoesn't really believe it of him. He did everything for us, and was upto all kinds of inventions. We don't seem to have any fun at allwithout him.'
'It's a most extraordinary story,' said Harry, jerking himself into afresh attitude; and both the new boys sat and pondered.
'What do you say to letting them both join the Compact?' suggestedReggie.
Marjorie's eyes said yes; and Hamish, whom Allan consulted with a look,gave a nod.
'What's that; a Compact?' inquired Harry eagerly.
'It's an agreement that we've all made,' said Allan, 'that we'll backNeil up, and show that he didn't commit the robbery.'
'Hooray, what fun,' said Harry; 'I'm game.'
'You might let Gerald join too,' cried Tricksy from where she satbeside her new friend; 'he's quite the right sort, and he only wants tolearn a thing or two to be equal to any of us.'
Gerald wriggled, and blushed to the roots of his golden hair.
'Well, then, you must do all you can to help us,' said Allan, 'and seewhether you can find out who really did it.'
'All right,' said Harry; 'I'll help you to catch the thief.'
'And you must sign an agreement like the rest of us, and you can eachhave a copy to carry about with you always, as we do. See, this is theprincipal copy, that I have to take care of.'
'You can write it out now, with Allan's new fountain pen,' criedTricksy; 'this flat stone will do for a desk, and I've got some piecesof paper that I've been carrying in my pocket in case we might find anynew people to join our Compact;' and she produced with great gravitysome crumpled sheets of note-paper, much soiled at the edges.
'All right,' said Allan, 'this is the agreement; "We hereby promisenever to rest until we show that Neil is innocent and have him broughthome again."'
Reggie held the papers down to keep them from blowing away, while Allanmade out fresh copies of the agreement; then all the documents receivedthe signature of Harry, who wrote his name with much ceremony andhanded the pen to Gerald.
'What an awful lark,' said Harry, who had clambered on to the boulderand sat swinging his legs; 'it will be fine fun tracking the thief.'
Allan began to whistle.
'We haven't found much to track yet,' he said; 'neither have thepolice, who have been at it nearly three weeks. The less you talkabout it the better, except among ourselves, for it isn't a game, this.'
'Come along,' said Marjorie, springing up, as Harry looked somewhatcrestfallen, 'we've dawdled long enough; let's run down the side of thehill, and then we shan't take long to get to the cliffs.'
'All right,' said Harry briskly, 'let's go to the Smugglers' Caves; oh,I say, what a jolly island this is!'
All started to run down the steep descent, bounding from one tuft ofheather to the other, their speed increasing as they neared the bottom.
Allan, Marjorie, and Reggie reached level ground at about the sametime; then they turned to look at Harry and Gerald, who arrived next,looking somewhat shaken, and Hamish, who had stopped to help Tricksy.
'Not far now to the caves,' said Marjorie encouragingly. 'Do you seethat headland, stretching far out into the sea? They are on the sidefarthest away from us. Tired, Tricksy?'
'Not at all,' protested the child, stepping alone and trying to hide alittle roll in her gait, although her small face was beginning to lookpale.
Reggie glanced at her approvingly as Tricksy toiled along besideHamish, hoping that no one observed that she was hanging on to big hand.
'Oh, what a height from the ground,' said Gerald in an awed tone ofvoice, as the moor ended abruptly and they found themselves gazing downfrom the crest of what seemed a sheer precipice, with long lines ofbreakers falling upon the strip of sand at the foot. 'What adisturbance the birds are making, and what strange noises there are.'
'It's the waves echoing among the rocks,' said Marjorie. 'You mustcome here some stormy day when the tide is up; the caves get floodedand the noise is just like thunder.'
'If you'll come a little further along,' said Allan, 'there's a breakin the cliffs where we can get down pretty easily. The tide is out, sowe have lots of time.'
'Can we really climb down there,' said Harry, as they came to where achasm opened in the line of cliff, with rough steps and ledge
s of rockstanding out in the riven walls. Not a bird was to be seen in thegloomy crevasse; although the skuas and black-backed gulls were flyingabout and clamouring before the face of the cliff.
'Come along,' said Allan on the first step. 'Are you a good climber,Harry?'
'Pretty fair,' replied Harry, with a rather wild look in his eyes.Gerald said nothing, but swung himself down with a serious countenance.
'If any one wants help, just sing out,' cried Allan, descending by therocky steps. 'Don't look down, and you'll be all right.'
'Take my hand, Gerald,' said Tricksy graciously to Gerald, whohesitated at a perilous-looking gap.
Gerald flushed pink, and pretended not to have heard the offer ofassistance; and the two strangers braced themselves to theirunaccustomed feat.
The way led round the chasm and downward, sometimes approaching theface of the cliff, where the inquisitive eyes and red bills of thepuffins peered out of the crevices, and whole rows of auks andkittiwakes were thrown into violent agitation by the sight of theintruders; and sometimes leading back to the dark interior of thechasm. The place was full of echoes; the hollow boom of the breakers,the swirling of water round half-submerged rocks, the hoarse cries ofthe gulls and the shrill scream of the smaller sea-birds joining in anuproar which made the air tremble. Many a time, during the descent, itcost the new-comers an effort to avoid being overcome by dizziness.
At last Allan reached the last ledge, and swung himself to the ground;Reggie and Marjorie followed; Tricksy came last, and the Grahamsdropped down with an air of relief.
'Well done for you,' said Allan approvingly; 'it's your first climb ofthe kind, and you haven't shown an atom of funk.'
Gerald's cheeks became a little redder, and Harry bore himself withgreater self-consciousness.
'Only Hamish now,' said Allan, looking up at the cliff; 'how cautiouslythe old fellow is coming down; he has the steadiest head of the lot ofus although he is so slow.'
'"Sleepy Hamish,"' remarked Harry to Gerald in an aside, repeating anickname which he had heard Allan use. Low as the words were spoken,Marjorie heard them, and turned upon the boy like a flash.
'Some people have more in them than they make a show of,' she said.'Perhaps you don't understand that kind of thing, though.'
Harry did not chance to have a reply ready, but he observed to Reggieafterwards that it was a pity Marjorie seemed to be a quick-temperedkind of a girl.
'Here we are,' said Allan, pausing beneath a great overhanging archway,and speaking loudly so as to be heard above the din; for the waves andthe clamouring of the birds made a noise which was almost deafening.
'Can we go in?' asked Gerald.
'Of course we can. There's no danger except in a westerly gale. It'sdark after you get in a little way.'
The young people scrambled and slipped over the sea-weed at the mouthof the cave, and presently found themselves standing on a floor oflight-coloured sand, strewn with shells and sea-drift. The sides ofthe cave were black and shiny with wet, and water dripped slowly fromthe roof.
'Is this where the smugglers used to come?' asked Gerald in an awedtone.
'Yes,' replied Allan; 'the schooners used to sail under the rocks onmoonlight nights when the tide was high, and the cargo was stored inthe caves until the people came secretly to take it away. It was verydangerous work sometimes, for if a storm comes from the west the cavesare often flooded.'
The light which glimmered under the archway did not penetrate far, andthe young people were soon in total darkness. The air was damp andchilly. Strange draughts crossed each other from unexpected quarters,and the water dripping from overhead, awoke weird echoes which seemedto be repeated among far-reaching clefts and passages.
'Strike a light, Hamish,' said Allan, 'and let them see what kind of aplace they're in.'
The match spluttered and blazed, revealing dark rocks gleaming with wetand the black openings to what appeared to be a series of undergroundpassages branching off from the main one.
'The caves are all connected with one another,' explained Allan, 'andhave separate openings to the sea. Light up again, Hamish; strike twothis time, and they'll get a better idea.'
Again there was a splutter, and the flare revealed strange shiftingshadows among the rocks, and a circle of faces that looked unnaturallywhite in the surrounding darkness.
Reggie's eyes were the sharpest.
'Hullo!' he exclaimed, 'there's something in that passage. What can itbe?'
All crowded to examine the mysterious object, and the light flickeredupon a pile of kegs and bales lying half-concealed behind a corner ofrock.
'Smugglers!' declared Marjorie.
'Looks like it,' said Allan, as Hamish struck fresh matches and theothers crowded round, giving utterance to ohs! and ahs! of excitement.
'They're at their old trade again,' said Allan, examining the barrels;'I wonder what Pater will say to this?'
'That's the last match, Allan,' said Hamish, as the light flickered out.
The darkness seemed to come down like a weight, and the young peoplefound themselves groping for each other's hands.
'We had better make the best of our way out of this,' said Allan. 'Tryto move quietly, for we don't know who might be about. Help Tricksy,Hamish; I think she's by you, and here, Tricksy, give me your otherhand.'
They groped their way towards the entrance, and soon were in the strongsunshine at the mouth of the caves.
'Well,' said Allan, 'that was an adventure;' and they looked at oneanother with varying expressions.
'Do you think they may have had anything to do with the robbery?' saidMarjorie.
'Shouldn't wonder,' replied Allan. 'Anyhow, we'll see what Pater says.'
'In the meanwhile,' said Marjorie, 'we had better be quick; thebreakers are close under the rocks, and we're almost cut off already.'
A stream of foaming, angry-looking water was running up into a hollowon the shore, and the young folk could only escape by jumping on to astone in the middle of the flood, and from thence to the other side.
'Jump, Tricksy,' cried Reggie half impatiently, as his little sisterhesitated.
Tricksy, who was pale and overwrought, sprang, but fell short andplunged overhead in the water.
Instantly two or three were in the flood, trying to prevent her beingswept out to sea.
Allan secured her; and gasping, struggling, with water running over herface, Tricksy was pulled on to dry land.
'It isn't so very bad, is it, Tricksy?' inquired Reggie, in a tone ofsomewhat forced cheerfulness; 'what a thing to do, to jump in whenyou're told to jump over!'
Tricksy tried to smile; a miserable attempt, for her teeth chatteredand her lips were blue with the cold.
'Run to Rob MacLean's cottage, Reggie,' said Hamish, throwing off hiscoat and wrapping it round Tricksy; 'ask him to lend us his pony, andwe'll take Tricksy to Corranmore; it's nearer than your house.'
With Hamish running by her side and holding her on to the pony, Tricksywas not long in reaching Corranmore, and when the others arrived shewas already in bed, with Mrs. MacGregor beside her; the little girldrinking hot milk and trying to restrain the tears that _would_ rolldown her cheeks, even when she forced herself to laugh.
'Feeling better, Tricksy?' asked Reggie apprehensively.
'She has had a nasty fall,' said Mrs. MacGregor somewhat reproachfully,'and we may be thankful it is not any worse. She can't possibly gohome to-night; you had better tell your parents that she is safe withus.'
A look of relief overspread Tricksy's tired features.
'Oh, you _are_ a dear,' she exclaimed, springing up and throwing herarms round Mrs. MacGregor's neck, forgetting that the lady had oncesaid that Tricksy Stewart was a spoilt little girl. 'Hooray, I'llsleep with Marjorie and we can talk about what we have seen to-day!'
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