CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH
A Packet for Rusco
During many hours Dick had been solely preoccupied with the problem howto recross the chasm. Penwarden, the smugglers, even the destroyer ofthe bridge, were all forgotten. But now all the circumstances of hisrecent misadventure returned with full force to his mind. A run was tobe attempted. The smugglers' hiding-place, which the revenue officershad sought in vain, must be somewhere near at hand, and the person,whosoever it was, that had flung the bridge down the shaft--for its fallcould not have been accidental--had done so with the intention offorestalling interference.
Dick considered what he had better do. Should he make his way back tothe well, in the hope of being able to climb it secretly and givewarning to the officers? He reflected that it might be too late forthat. Besides, his presence in these underground passages had beenobserved by some one early in the morning; that same person might stillbe lying in wait for him. As this idea occurred to him, he rememberedthat he had left his gun behind in the cave, and for an instant thoughtof returning for it; but a slight sound from the other direction madehim hastily extinguish the candle, and advance cautiously along thepassage; perhaps the bridge-destroyer was coming towards him.
In pitch darkness he stole along, scarcely conscious of the sharp edgesand rough projections of the stone floor on which he trod. In a fewminutes he saw a faint glimmer of reflected light ahead, the source ofwhich was hidden from him by a bend in the passage. On reaching thebend, he descried, moving across the end of the gallery along atransverse one, a procession of men with candles in their hats,hurrying, at short intervals apart, from the direction of the well.Clinging to the wall, confident that in the black darkness he was whollyinvisible, he crept forward. By the time he came within a few yards ofthe transverse passage, this, too, was in darkness, the last of the linehaving passed by.
He hastened to the corner, and peeped round to the right. The last manwas entering the narrow tunnel, which he had noticed casually as he cameby with Sam. The dimness of the flickering light, and the fact that theman's back was towards him, prevented him from forming any conclusion asto the identity of the individual. The light gradually dwindled, untilthe opening of the tunnel was quite indistinguishable.
Waiting for a moment or two, to listen and look along the passageleading to the well, Dick ventured to creep stealthily in the samedirection as the men, and to penetrate into the tunnel. He had advancedin this but a few yards, when he was made to beat a hasty retreat by afaint but growing light at the further end, and the sound of heavyfootsteps approaching. As quickly as possible he tiptoed back in thedarkness, and regained his former station in the side gallery, where hestood eagerly watching. In a few moments a man crossed from right toleft. His face was blackened; before and behind him hung a tub, exactlysimilar to those which Sam had lately broken up. A second man followedat a short interval, loaded in the same way; then a third, and so on,until twenty-two had passed. They seemed by their dress to be for themost part farm-hands, but the light from their candles was too dim toreveal them clearly.
The light diminished, the sound of footsteps died away, and Dick,emerging once more into the passage, saw the end of the procession onthe way to the well. From the other direction there was no sound. Dickfelt an overmastering curiosity to discover how the run was beingworked, and whence the tubs were brought. He hastened to the tunnel,paused for a little at the entrance, straining his ears for theslightest sound of men returning, then went on.
After a few steps he heard a slight creaking from some point ahead. Aglance behind assuring him that there was no present danger in thisdirection, he was emboldened to proceed. There was a sudden bend in thetunnel; at the far end he saw a light; and, hugging the wall as closelyas possible, he crept forward until the scene beyond was clearly inview.
He found himself near the entrance to a small oblong chamber, perhapstwenty feet by sixteen, and scarcely eight feet high. The walls wereshored up by thick balks of wood: the roof was supported by rough beams.The place was dimly illuminated by two lanterns standing on the top of apile of barrels that reached within two feet of the roof. At the farend a man was working a windlass over a hole in the floor. Two barrels,slung on ropes, emerged from the depths, were unhooked by the man, androlled against the wall on the other side of the chamber. A whiff ofcold salt air struck gratefully on Dick's senses; the smugglers'mysterious hiding-place was clearly very near the sea.
Dick was watching the man lower the hooks into the space beneath when hewas startled by the sound of footsteps at no great distance behind him.Looking back, he saw a glimmer of light. Regress was barred; in a fewmoments he would be discovered unless he could find a new place ofconcealment. There was no time for hesitation. The back of the man atthe windlass was towards him; the tackle creaked as more tubs ascended.In the corner of the chamber to the right was the stack of barrels onwhich the lanterns stood. There appeared to be just squeezing spacebetween them and the wall. With his heart in his mouth Dick stoleacross to them on tiptoe, and had barely gained their shelter when theman released the tubs which had just ascended, and added them to thosethat were arranged along the opposite wall.
As Dick was creeping between the barrels and the wall, his foot touchedan obstacle, over which he almost stumbled. Fortunately, having noboots on, he made no sound. He stood still, panting, in desperateanxiety. In the urgency of the moment he had made for the firsthiding-place that offered itself, without reflecting that the carrierswere no doubt returning for these very barrels, and their removal mustreveal him without a possibility of escape. A thrill shot through himas he felt a slight movement in the object at his feet, and he edgedinstinctively away from it, wondering what it could be. The light fromthe lanterns did not reach the floor; indeed, scarcely illuminated thespace behind, they being closed in that direction.
He heard the footsteps drawing nearer, and, peeping through a chinkbetween two barrels, saw, not one, but the whole twenty-two carriersfile into the chamber, which they nearly filled. He suspected that theyhad deposited their burdens at the foot of St. Cuby's Well, whence, inall probability, these were being hoisted to the surface by means of thewindlass, which he remembered having seen near the door when he firstapproached it from the seal cave.
The man at the windlass had raised only a few barrels during theirabsence, and these having been slung on the shoulders of the men who hadfirst entered, they returned to the entrance of the tunnel, waiting fortheir comrades in turn to receive their loads.
"Bean't this lot to go, Maister?" said one of the latter, jerking hishead towards the stack behind which Dick was concealed. Dick shivered,and prepared to dash forth and force his way through the men grouped atthe tunnel, in the hope that their surprise and alarm, and their beingencumbered, would give him time at least to escape instant seizure. Tohis relief the man at the windlass replied sharply:
"No, they bean't. They be for the higher powers; let 'em alone. Andyou come and hoist; I be tired."
The voice was Doubledick's.
While the tubs were being hoisted, and the waiting men talked quietlyamong themselves, Dick had leisure to turn his thoughts towards theobject at his feet. It could hardly be an animal; otherwise it wouldlong since have betrayed him. He gently moved a foot towards it, andtouched it. Again he detected a slight movement. Passing hisstockinged toes over a few inches of the obstruction, Dick gave a startas he recognised by the touch a man's boot. It did not move when hepressed it: clearly it was attached to a leg, the leg to a body--and theconviction flashed upon him that, bound and gagged at his feet, lay thelost Joe Penwarden. To assure himself he bent down quickly, and felthis way upward to the face. His hand encountered the shade over the oldman's sightless eye: it was Joe indeed.
Penwarden was lying on his back, and Dick very soon discovered that hewas bound hand and foot to a plank, so tightly that only the slightestmovement was possible. His mouth was
heavily gagged, but there was nobandage over his single sound eye. Dick could not see him, and durst notspeak even in the lowest whisper, so near was he to the smugglers. Butif Penwarden was to be liberated he must be definitely assured in someway that a friend was at work who was himself in danger; otherwise, onbeing freed, he might make some sound or movement that would betray themboth. Then it occurred to Dick that, while he was unable to seePenwarden's features, Penwarden had probably seen his, for the lanternsshed a faint illumination on the upper part of the space behind thebarrels, to which his head almost reached. This suggested a means ofgiving the old man a warning. Raising himself to his full height helooked downwards and pressed his forefinger to his lips. The sign, ifobserved, would, he knew, be effectual.
Once more he stooped. He drew his knife from his pocket, opened itwithout clicking, and silently cut the rope binding the prisoner's feet.Then, working upward, always with the same slow care, he severed in turnthe ropes that strapped his knees and elbows to the plank, those bindinghis wrists, and finally the gag over his mouth. This last probably gavethe old man the most discomfort, and might have been removed first, butthe use of his limbs was of more urgent importance just now than hisvoice.
By the time that this was done the last of the carriers had received hisload, and the creaking or the windlass had ceased.
"That's all," said Doubledick. "Now get 'ee up-along to well, and lenda hand in the hoisting."
"Be we to wait for 'ee, Maister, when the tubs be all up?" asked a man.
"No, no. You'll do best to carr' the tubs off as quick as may be. I'llgo straight home-along. To-morrer mornin', after church, if ye like yecan come down-along to inn, where there'll be a nibleykin of rum-hotready for every man of 'ee."
The carriers tramped into the tunnel, and the sound of their footstepsdied away.
A voice came up into the chamber from below.
"Iss," said Doubledick in reply. "Stand by while I let down the passel.Belike ye know enough English to understand that."
Dick fancied that he heard a low chuckle from below, and a foreign voicesay, "All right."
Doubledick had already begun to clear away the barrels at the end of thestack nearest to the windlass. It was plain that what he had got to dowas a secret between himself and the men below; the tub-carriers wereignorant of it. Dick moved silently to the other end of the stack, theplace where he had entered, and gazed round to watch the innkeeper'sproceedings. Even now, though there appeared to be no danger ofdetection, the upper part of his face remained covered with a mask. Hehad removed the lanterns, and placed them on the floor; several of thetop row of barrels had been lifted down. His object, without doubt, wasto drag Penwarden forth, and lower him by means of the windlass to themen waiting beneath. Dick felt sure that these were the French crew ofthe lugger that had brought the cargo, and that the "parcel" they wereexpecting was the old exciseman, whom they were to carry to France.
The innkeeper's pre-occupation was Dick's opportunity. In another secondor two the cutting of the prisoner's bonds must be discovered. AsDoubledick was rolling a barrel towards the wall, Dick, moving silentlyon his almost bare feet, rushed like a whirlwind on the man. Doubledickat that moment made a half-turn, as if some instinct warned him ofdanger, but he was too late to prevent Dick from getting a suffocatinggrip round his neck. He gasped, groaned, struggled frantically to freehimself. Both fell to the floor, knocking over one of the lanterns, androlling perilously near the open trapdoor. Dick never let go his gripon the inn-keeper's throat, for it was necessary to prevent the menbelow from suspecting that anything was amiss.
"DICK RUSHED LIKE A WHIRLWIND ON THE MAN."]
Meanwhile Penwarden had scrambled painfully to his feet, and limpedtowards the scene of the struggle. His limbs, cramped and numbed by hisbonds, were as yet almost powerless. But seeing Doubledick's legs foran instant disentangled from those of his assailant, the old mansuddenly threw himself across them, pinning Doubledick to the floor, andso putting an end to his struggles. Dick raised himself, keeping hishands on the man's throat. The heaving and writhing ceased.
While Dick still held him down, Penwarden hobbled behind the barrels,carrying a lantern, found the gag that had been used on himself, andbrought it back to turn it to account with Doubledick. His own handswere still too much numbed to tie an effective knot, but he held the gagbetween Doubledick's teeth while Dick made it fast.
All this time there had come through the hole in the floor the murmur ofvoices. Without relaxing his grip, Dick leant over and peered down. Hewas just able to see that a boat lay beneath; the hole was verticallyabove the sea.
"Ah, mon Dieu!" cried one of the boat's crew, perceiving Dick's head,"ven come ze--ze packet?"
Dick withdrew.
"Answer," he said to Penwarden.
The old man tried to speak, but could give utterance only to a hoarsewhisper. Whereupon Dick, in a voice intended to be an imitation ofDoubledick's, replied:
"In a minute."
His imitation was so entirely unsuccessful that he durst not say more.
The Frenchman's question had suggested a means of dealing withDoubledick. In attacking him, Dick had no definite plan in his mind forsubsequent action. He was concerned only to prevent Penwarden frombeing lowered through the trapdoor. But now that Doubledick was in hispower, it struck him that it would be simple justice to serve him as hehad intended to serve Penwarden. He whispered the suggestion to the oldman, who received it with a low chuckle.
"But they fellers down below will know un," he murmured.
"Will they? They are French; Doubledick has never been to France. Theywon't remove the gag, probably, until they are well out to sea, and if Iknow them, they won't put back and run the risk of meeting the cutter,even if they do discover their mistake."
"Ze packet, ze packet!" came the impatient cry from below.
No more time was lost. The cords that had bound Penwarden were useless,but there was plenty of sling-stuff on the tubs, and in a few secondsenough was slipped off for the purpose. Both Dick and the excisemanwere used to handling rope, and though the latter's fingers were stillsomewhat numb, he was able to lend some feeble assistance to Dick insecuring Doubledick to the plank. At the end of this there was a hook.They attached this to the rope over the windlass, and prepared to lowerthe innkeeper to the hands waiting below.
At the last moment Penwarden slipped off the crepe mask that stillcovered Doubledick's face.
"Look 'ee, Maister Dick," he said hoarsely. "You can swear to thefeller, so can I. You be goin' to Rusco, you miserable sinner, and ifso be you ever come back, I'll swear an information against 'ee forunlawful detainin' of one o' the King's lieges, and Maister Dick willkiss the Book and bear testimony. Good-bye to 'ee, and may the Lord ha'mercy on yer soul."
They let the frenzied man down through the trapdoor, and heard guffawsof laughter from the Frenchmen as they received their expected packet.The boat pulled off towards a lugger that lay a few cables' lengths fromthe cliff. The prisoner was hauled up the side; the men climbed onboard and hoisted the boat in; and in a few minutes the luggerdisappeared into the darkness.
It was not the time to enter upon explanations on either side.Penwarden was eager to follow up the tub-carriers, Dick to release Sam.When the exciseman heard of the boy's situation, he yielded with a sigh,and considered with Dick a means of bringing Sam across the shaft. Theywere not long in deciding that the best plan would be to make use of thequantities of rope at hand, and form a running tackle by which the boymight be drawn over. This was soon done, and taking one of thelanterns, they hastened back to the scene.
"Hoy, Maister, be that thee?" cried Sam out of the darkness when he sawthe approaching light.
"Yes, and Mr. Penwarden is with me. We are coming to bring you away."
"Praise and glory be! I did think I'd never see daylight again. Have'ee got a true and proper bridge?"
"You'll see. Run back to the cave and bring two stav
es and our guns."
They waited at the brink of the shaft until Sam reappeared.
"Now drive the staves into the floor," cried Dick.
"I can't. It be hard stone."
"Well then, go back to the cave again and bring some of those big piecesof rock on the floor."
Sam went obediently. Instructed by Dick, he arranged a number of therocks, four or five feet deep, to form a sort of platform.
"Now knot this rope to the staves," said Dick, flinging it across. "Putit behind the rocks, and pile more rocks on top to hold it down."
While this was being done, he made the other end of the double rope fastto a large boulder near the head of the shaft.
"Now, Sam, all you have to do is to clasp the rope and let yourselfdown. We will do the rest."
"Be it firm and steady?" asked the boy anxiously.
Dick hauled on the rope; it was held firm by the rocks.
"There, you see 'tis quite safe. All you want is a little courage; itwill not take half a minute to get you across."
"I'll send summat fust to prove it," said Sam.
He withdrew a few paces into the passage, and returned, carrying a long,flat box. This he hitched to the rope.
"Haul away, Maister Dick, and let me see wi' my own eyes."
The box was drawn to the further side in a few moments.
"Now are you satisfied?" asked Dick.
"Iss, fay; and I've some more boxes that had better go fust."
Four boxes and the two guns were hauled across before Sam consented toventure himself, and then only because he feared he could carry no morewhen he got to the other side.
"'T'ud be a sin," he said, "to leave all these silks and satins behind."
"How do you know the boxes contain silks and satins?"
"'Cos I opened 'em and felt 'em in the dark. 'Twas like strokin' a cat'sback, wi'out no fear o' scratches. You'll be sure and not let me dropinto the pit, Maister?"
"Yes. Come along; I want my supper."
"Be-jowned, and so do I. Here I come."
He grasped the rope, let himself gently down, and was hauled to theother side.
"Oh, Maister Penwarden," he cried as he landed, "I be 'nation glad tosee 'ee safe and sound. Wheer have 'ee been all this time? You havegied us all a terrible deal o' trouble."
Penwarden growled.
"Never mind about that, Sam," said Dick. "Our trouble is well repaid,and we had better get home as soon as we can."
"True. If you go first and turn the lantern so's it do gie me a light,I'll be able to carr' these boxes wi'out tumblin' and breakin' my head.So for home-along."
On the homeward way Dick related his adventure. The old man said nothinguntil he heard of the discovery of lace and silks.
"Ah!" said he, "and these boxes that young Sam be carr'in' on his headare filled with silks and laces, I s'pose."
"Iss, fay," cried Sam exultantly, "and noble gowns and pinnies they willmake, to be sure."
"Well," said Penwarden, "then I seize 'em in the King's name."
"Rake it all!" exclaimed Sam. "Did the King buy 'em? Did he bury 'em?Did he find 'em? No, the King be a good man, but 'a never did nofree-tradin' in his life, I reckon, and we won't part with 'em, will we,Maister Dick?"
"I know my duty," said Penwarden, "and seized they be. Resist at yerperil."
"Daze me if I don't wish ye'd been carr'd to France," cried Sam. "Arterwhat we've been through for 'ee, too!"
A wordy war ensued that lasted until they reached the door of theTowers, where the boxes were deposited for the night. It required aperemptory command from Mr. Polwhele next day to induce Penwarden torelinquish his claim on them, the old man then being more than everconvinced that the world was a strange mix-up.
The Adventures of Dick Trevanion: A Story of Eighteen Hundred and Four Page 16
