by W. W. Jacobs
Sheheard the bed creak in noisy protest as he climbed in, and ten minuteslater the lusty snoring of a healthy man of full habit resounded throughthe house.
She went to bed herself at last, and, after lying awake for nearly acouple of hours, closed her eyes in order to think better. She awokewith the sun pouring in at the window and the sounds of vigorous brushingin the yard beneath.
"I've nearly got it off," said the sergeant, looking up. "It'sdestroying evidence in a sense, I suppose; but I can't go about with myuniform plastered with mud. I've had enough chaff about it as it is."
Miss Pilbeam stole to the door of the next room and peeped stealthily in.Not a sound came from the cupboard, and a horrible idea that the prisonermight have been suffocated set her trembling with apprehension.
"H'sh!" she whispered.
An eager but stifled "H'st!" came from the cup-board, and Miss Pilbeam,her fears allayed, stepped softly into the room.
"He's downstairs brushing the mud off," she said, in a low voice.
"Who is?" said the skipper.
"The fat policeman," said the girl, in a hard voice, as she rememberedher father's wrongs.
"What's he doing it here for?" demanded the astonished skipper.
"Because he lives here."
"Lodger?" queried the skipper, more astonished than before.
"Father," said Miss Pilbeam.
A horrified groan from the cupboard fell like music on her ears. Thenthe smile forsook her lips, and she stood quivering with indignation asthe groan gave way to suppressed but unmistakable laughter.
"H'sh!" she said sharply, and with head erect sailed out of the room andwent downstairs to give Mr. Pilbeam his breakfast.
To the skipper in the confined space and darkness of the cupboard thebreakfast seemed unending. The sergeant evidently believed in sittingover his meals, and his deep, rumbling voice, punctuated by good-naturedlaughter, was plainly audible. To pass the time the skipper fell tocounting, and, tired of that, recited some verses that he had acquired atschool. After that, and with far more heartiness, he declaimed a fewthings that he had learned since; and still the clatter and rumblesounded from below.
It was a relief to him when he heard the sergeant push his chair back andmove heavily about the room. A minute later he heard him ascending thestairs, and then he held his breath with horror as the foot-steps enteredthe room and a heavy hand was laid on the cupboard door.
"Elsie!" bawled the sergeant. "Where's the key of my cupboard? I wantmy other boots."
"They're down here," cried the voice of Miss Pilbeam, and the skipper,hardly able to believe in his good fortune, heard the sergeant godownstairs again.
At the expiration of another week--by his own reckoning--he heard thelight, hurried footsteps of Miss Pilbeam come up the stairs and pause atthe door.
"H'st!" he said, recklessly.
"I'm coming," said the girl. "Don't be impatient."
A key turned in the lock, the door was flung open, and the skipper, dazedand blinking with the sudden light, stumbled into the room.
"Father's gone," said Miss Pilbeam.
The skipper made no answer. He was administering first aid to a rightleg which had temporarily forgotten how to perform its duties, variedwith slaps and pinches at a left which had gone to sleep. At intervalshe turned a red-rimmed and reproachful eye on Miss Pilbeam.
"He was administering first aid to a right leg."]
"You want a wash and some breakfast," she said, softly, "especially awash. There's water and a towel, and while you're making yourself tidyI'll be getting breakfast."
The skipper hobbled to the wash-stand, and, dipping his head in a basinof cool water, began to feel himself again. By the time he had done hishair in the sergeant's glass and twisted his moustache into shape he feltbetter still, and he went downstairs almost blithely.
"I'm very sorry it was your father," he said, as he took a seat at thetable. "Very."
"That's why you laughed, I suppose?" said the girl, tossing her head.
"Well, I've had the worst of it," said the other. "I'd sooner be upset ahundred times than spend a night in that cupboard. However, all's wellthat ends well."
"Ah!" said Miss Pilbeam, dolefully, "but is it the end?"
Captain Bligh put down his knife and fork and eyed her uneasily.
"What do you mean?" he said.
"Never mind; don't spoil your breakfast," said the girl. "I'll tell youafterwards. It's horrid to think, after all my trouble, of your doingtwo months as well as a night in the cupboard."
"Beastly," said the unfortunate, eying her in great concern. "But what'sthe matter?"
"One can't think of everything," said Miss Pilbeam, "but, of course, weought to have thought of the mate getting uneasy when you didn't turn uplast night, and going to the police-station with a description of you."
The skipper started and smote the table with his fist.
"Father's gone down to watch the ship now," said Miss Pilbeam. "Ofcourse, it's the exact description of the man that assaulted him.Providential he called it."
"That's the worst of having a fool for a mate," said the skipper,bitterly. "What business was it of his, I should like to know? What'sit got to do with him whether I turn up or not? What does he want tointerfere for?"
"It's no good blaming him," said Miss Pilbeam, thinking deeply, with herchin on her finger. "The thing is, what is to be done? Once father getshis hand on you----"
She shuddered; so did the skipper.
"I might get off with a fine; I didn't hurt him," he remarked.
Miss Pilbeam shook her head. "They're very strict in Woodhatch," shesaid.
"I was a fool to touch him at all," said the repentant skipper. "Highspirits, that's what it was. High spirits, and being spoken to as if Iwas a child."
"The thing is, how are you to escape?" said the girl. "It's no goodgoing out of doors with the police and half the people in Woodhatch allon the look-out for you."
"If I could only get aboard I should be all right," muttered the skipper."I could keep down the fo'-c's'le while the mate took the ship out."
Miss Pilbeam sat in deep thought. "It's the getting aboard that's thetrouble," she said, slowly. "You'd have to disguise yourself. It wouldhave to be a good disguise, too, to pass my father, I can tell you."
Captain Bligh gave a gloomy assent.
"The only thing for you to do, so far as I can see," said the girl,slowly, "is to make yourself up like a coalie. There are one or twocolliers in the harbor, and if you took off your coat--I could send it onafterwards--rubbed yourself all over with coal-dust, and shaved off yourmoustache, I believe you would escape."
"Shave!" ejaculated the skipper, in choking accents. "Rub--!Coal-dust!"
"It's your only chance," said Miss Pilbeam.
Captain Bligh leaned back frowning, and from sheer force of habit passedthe ends of his moustache slowly through his fingers. "I think the coal-dust would be enough," he said at last.
The girl shook her head. "Father particularly noticed your moustache,"she said.
"Everybody does," said the skipper, with mournful pride. "I won't partwith it."
"Not for my sake?" inquired Miss Pilbeam, eying him mournfully. "Notafter all I've done for you?"
"No," said the other, stoutly.
Miss Pilbeam put her handkerchief to her eyes and, with a suspiciouslittle sniff, hurried from the room. Captain Bligh, much affected,waited for a few seconds and then went in pursuit of her. Fifteenminutes later, shorn of his moustache, he stood in the coal-hole, sulkilysmearing himself with coal.
"That's better," said the girl; "you look horrible."
She took up a handful of coal-dust and, ordering him to stoop, shampooedhim with hearty good-will.
"She took up a handful of coal-dust and, ordering him tostoop, shampooed him with hearty good-will."]
"No good half doing it," she declared. "Now go and look at yourself inthe glass in the kitchen."
&n
bsp; The skipper went, and came back in a state of wild-eyed misery. EvenMiss Pilbeam's statement that his own mother would not know him failed tolift the cloud from his brow. He stood disconsolate as the girl openedthe front door.
"Good-by," she said, gently. "Write and tell me when you are safe."
Captain Bligh promised, and walked slowly up the road. So far frompeople
