Chapter Eleven.The wreck.By the roaring sound they heard when they awoke, the lads knew that the storm was still raging.They ate sparingly of their store of food for breakfast; and then calculating that it must be once more daylight, they made their way towards the mouth of the cavern. They were not mistaken as to its being day, but how long the sun had risen they could not tell, as the sky was still thickly overcast with clouds.The sea was washing, as before, heavily into the cavern, throwing up all sorts of articles, among which were a number of oranges, melons, and other fruits of a southern clime.The melons were mostly broken, but they got hold of two unbroken, and very welcome they were. The oranges were mostly green, though a few had turned sufficiently red to be eaten.“I would rather have had more substantial food,” observed Jack; “but I am glad enough to get these.”“What’s that?” asked Bill, pointing to the opposite side of the cavern, where a creature was seen struggling in a hollow half filled with water.Jack dashed across at the risk of being carried off by the receding sea; and, grasping a large fish, held it up as he rushed away to escape from the following wave, which came rolling in with a loud roar.“Here’s a prize worth having,” he shouted. “Hurrah! we may spend another week here without fear of starving.”He carried his prize well out of the reach of the water, and a knock on the head put an end to its struggles.The lads piled up their various waifs, contemplating them with infinite satisfaction; but it was evident that what was their gain was somebody else’s loss.“Some unfortunate ship has gone on shore, or else has thrown her cargo overboard,” observed Bill.He went first to one side of the cavern, and then to the other, so as to obtain as wide a prospect as possible.“See! there’s a vessel trying to beat off shore,” he exclaimed; and just then a brig with her foretopmast gone came into view, the sail which she was still able to carry heeling her over till her yard-arms seemed almost to touch the foaming summits of the seas.“She’ll not do it, I fear,” said Jack, after they had been watching her for some time. “It’s a wonder she doesn’t go right over. If the wind doesn’t fall, nothing can save her; and even then, unless she brings up and her anchors hold, she’s sure to be cast on shore.”They watched the vessel for some time. Though carrying every stitch of canvas she could set, she appeared to be making little headway, and to be drifting bodily to leeward.The lads uttered a cry of regret, for down came her mainmast, and immediately her head turned towards the shore.In a few minutes she struck, though no rock was visible, and the sea swept over her deck, carrying her remaining mast, boats, caboose, and round-house overboard, with every person who could be seen. In an instant, several human forms were discernible struggling in the seething waters alongside, but they quickly disappeared.“They are all gone,” cried Jack; “not one that I can see has escaped.”“Perhaps some were below,” observed Bill. “If they were, it won’t much matter, for in a few minutes she will go to pieces.”He was mistaken as to the latter point, for another sea rolling in, lifted the vessel, and driving over the ledge on which she had first struck, carried her between some dark rocks, till she stuck fast on the sandy shore. Had the people been able to cling to her till now, some might possibly have been saved, but they had apparently all been on deck when the vessel struck, and been swept away by the first sea which rolled over her. The seas still continued to sweep along her deck, but their force was partly broken by the rocks, and being evidently a stout vessel, she hung together.It was at the time nearly high-water, and the lads longed for the tide to go down, that they might examine her nearer.“Even if anybody is alive on board, we cannot help them,” observed Jack; “so I vote that we take our fish to the camp, and have some dinner. I am very sharp set, seeing that we had no breakfast to speak of.”Bill, who had no objection to offer, agreed to this; so carrying up their newly-obtained provisions, they soon had a fire lighted, and some of the fish broiling away before it.The fate of the unfortunate vessel formed the subject of their conversation.“I have an idea,” cried Bill. “It’s an ill wind that brings no one good luck. If we can manage to get on board that craft which has come on shore, we might build a boat out of her planking, or at all events a raft; and should the wind come from the southward, we might manage to get across the Channel, or be picked up by some vessel or other. We are pretty sure to find provisions on board. Perhaps one of her boats may have escaped being knocked to pieces, and we could repair her. At all events, it will be our own fault if that wreck doesn’t give us the opportunity of escaping.”Jack listened to all Bill was saying.“I cannot agree with you as to the chance of getting off,” he observed. “As soon as the wreck is seen, the Frenchmen are sure to be down on the shore, and we shall be caught and carried back to prison instead of getting away. The boats are pretty certain to have been knocked into shreds before this, and as to building a boat, that is what neither you nor I can do, even if we had the tools, and where are they to come from?”“Perhaps we shall find them on board,” said Bill. “The vessel has held together till now, and I don’t see why she should not hold together till the storm is over. ‘Where there’s a will there’s a way,’ and I don’t see that we have so bad a chance of getting off.”“Well, I’ll help you. You can show me what we had best do,” said Jack. “I am not going to draw back on account of the risk. All must depend on the weather. If the wind comes off shore, and the sea goes down, I should say that our best chance would be to build a raft. We can do that, if we can only find an axe and a saw, and we might get launched before the Frenchmen find out the wreck. The first thing we have to do is to get on board, and when we are there, we must keep a bright look-out to see that none of the natives are coming along the shore to trap us.”The lads, having come to this resolution, hurried back to the entrance of the cave.They forgot all about the smugglers’ stores, and their intention of making clothes for themselves; indeed, they only thought of getting on board the vessel. They watched eagerly for the tide to go down. The day passed by and the night came on, but the clouds clearing away, a bright moon shed her light over the scene. The wind had also sensibly decreased, and the waves rolled in with far less fury than before.The water, however, seemed to them a long time moving off; still it was evidently going down. Rock after rock appeared, and looking over the ledge they could see the sand below them.Knowing full well that the water would not again reach the beach it had once left till the return of the tide, they leaped down without hesitation, and began to make their way in the direction of the vessel. They had again to wait, however, for, as they pushed eagerly forward, a sheet of foam from a wave which came rolling up nearly took them off their legs.They retreated a short distance, and in a few minutes were able to pass the spot over the uncovered sand. On and on they pressed, now advancing, now having to retreat, till they stood abreast of the vessel. The water still surrounded her, and was too deep to wade through.They looked round on every side, but not a trace of a boat could be discovered, though fragments of spars and the bulwarks of the vessel strewed the beach. Among the spars they found two whole ones, which they secured.“These will help us to get on board if we find no ropes hanging over the side,” observed Bill; “or they will enable us to withstand the sea should it catch us before we can climb up.” They now advanced more boldly.The vessel lay over on her bilge, with her deck partly turned towards the shore, the sea, after she struck, having driven her round.They waded up to her, for their impatience did not permit them to wait till the water had entirely receded. The risk they ran of being carried off was considerable, but, dashing forward, they planted the spars against the side.Bill swarmed up first, Jack followed, and the deck was gained.Scarcely were Jack’s feet out of the water, when a huge sea came rolling up, which would inevitably have carried him off.They knew that they had no time to lose, for the wreck once seen from the shore, crowds of people were certain to visit it to carry off the cargo.The after-part of the vessel was stove in, and nothing remained in the cabin; but the centre part, though nearly full of water, was unbroken. The water, however, was rushing out like a mill-stream, both at the stern and through some huge holes in the bows. Nothing whatever remained on deck.The lads plunged down below, and gained the spar-deck, which was already out of the water. Here the first object their eyes alighted on was a chest.It was the carpenter’s, and contained axes, and saws, and nails, and tools of all sorts.There were a good many light spars and planks stowed on one side.“Here we have materials for a raft at hand!” cried Bill. “We must build one; for I agree with you, Jack, that there’s no use in attempting a boat. It would take too much time, even if we could succeed in making her watertight.”“I said so,” replied Jack. “I wish we had some grub, though; perhaps there’s some for’ard. I’ll go and find it if I can.”Jack made his way into the forepeak, while Bill was cutting free the lashings, and dragging out the spars. Jack returned in a short time with some cold meat, and biscuit, and cheese.“See! we can dine like lords,” he exclaimed; “and we shall be better able to work after it.”They sat down on the chest, and ate the provisions with good appetites.Bill cast a thought on the fate of the poor fellows to whom the food had belonged; their bodies now washing about in the breakers outside.Every now and then they alternately jumped up, and looked east and west, and to the top of the cliff, to ascertain if any one was coming. The vessel had been driven on shore out of sight of both the villages, or they would not have been left long alone. It was to be hoped that no one would come along the cliff and look down upon the wreck.Their meal over, they set to work to plan their raft.They were obliged to labour on deck, as they could not hoist it up through the hold, or they would have preferred keeping out of sight. It would be a hard job to launch it, but that they hoped to do by fastening tackles at either side leading to the ring bolts on deck.As there were no bulwarks to stop them, they laid the foundation, or, as they called it, the keel, projecting slightly over the side. They would thus have only to shove it forward and tip it up to launch it.Their plan was to form an oblong square, then to put on bows at one end; and two pieces crossing each other with a short upright between them, on which to support the steering oar. The interior of the framework they strengthened by two diagonal braces. They lashed and nailed a number of crosspieces close together, and on the top of the whole they nailed down all the planks they could find, which were sufficient to form a good flooring to their raft.They discovered also a number of small brandy casks, which they immediately emptied of their contents, letting the spirits flow without compunction into the water, and then again tightly bunged them down.They fastened ropes around the casks, with which, when the raft was launched, they could secure them to either side, to give it greater buoyancy. They also brought up a couple of sea-chests, which they intended to lash down to the centre, so as to afford them some protection from the sea, and at the same time to hold their provisions.Bill was the chief suggester of all these arrangements, though Jack ably carried them out.They worked like heroes, with all the energy they could command, for they felt that everything depended on their exertions.The night being bright, they were able to get on as well then as in the daytime.
By the roaring sound they heard when they awoke, the lads knew that the storm was still raging.
They ate sparingly of their store of food for breakfast; and then calculating that it must be once more daylight, they made their way towards the mouth of the cavern. They were not mistaken as to its being day, but how long the sun had risen they could not tell, as the sky was still thickly overcast with clouds.
The sea was washing, as before, heavily into the cavern, throwing up all sorts of articles, among which were a number of oranges, melons, and other fruits of a southern clime.
The melons were mostly broken, but they got hold of two unbroken, and very welcome they were. The oranges were mostly green, though a few had turned sufficiently red to be eaten.
“I would rather have had more substantial food,” observed Jack; “but I am glad enough to get these.”
“What’s that?” asked Bill, pointing to the opposite side of the cavern, where a creature was seen struggling in a hollow half filled with water.
Jack dashed across at the risk of being carried off by the receding sea; and, grasping a large fish, held it up as he rushed away to escape from the following wave, which came rolling in with a loud roar.
“Here’s a prize worth having,” he shouted. “Hurrah! we may spend another week here without fear of starving.”
He carried his prize well out of the reach of the water, and a knock on the head put an end to its struggles.
The lads piled up their various waifs, contemplating them with infinite satisfaction; but it was evident that what was their gain was somebody else’s loss.
“Some unfortunate ship has gone on shore, or else has thrown her cargo overboard,” observed Bill.
He went first to one side of the cavern, and then to the other, so as to obtain as wide a prospect as possible.
“See! there’s a vessel trying to beat off shore,” he exclaimed; and just then a brig with her foretopmast gone came into view, the sail which she was still able to carry heeling her over till her yard-arms seemed almost to touch the foaming summits of the seas.
“She’ll not do it, I fear,” said Jack, after they had been watching her for some time. “It’s a wonder she doesn’t go right over. If the wind doesn’t fall, nothing can save her; and even then, unless she brings up and her anchors hold, she’s sure to be cast on shore.”
They watched the vessel for some time. Though carrying every stitch of canvas she could set, she appeared to be making little headway, and to be drifting bodily to leeward.
The lads uttered a cry of regret, for down came her mainmast, and immediately her head turned towards the shore.
In a few minutes she struck, though no rock was visible, and the sea swept over her deck, carrying her remaining mast, boats, caboose, and round-house overboard, with every person who could be seen. In an instant, several human forms were discernible struggling in the seething waters alongside, but they quickly disappeared.
“They are all gone,” cried Jack; “not one that I can see has escaped.”
“Perhaps some were below,” observed Bill. “If they were, it won’t much matter, for in a few minutes she will go to pieces.”
He was mistaken as to the latter point, for another sea rolling in, lifted the vessel, and driving over the ledge on which she had first struck, carried her between some dark rocks, till she stuck fast on the sandy shore. Had the people been able to cling to her till now, some might possibly have been saved, but they had apparently all been on deck when the vessel struck, and been swept away by the first sea which rolled over her. The seas still continued to sweep along her deck, but their force was partly broken by the rocks, and being evidently a stout vessel, she hung together.
It was at the time nearly high-water, and the lads longed for the tide to go down, that they might examine her nearer.
“Even if anybody is alive on board, we cannot help them,” observed Jack; “so I vote that we take our fish to the camp, and have some dinner. I am very sharp set, seeing that we had no breakfast to speak of.”
Bill, who had no objection to offer, agreed to this; so carrying up their newly-obtained provisions, they soon had a fire lighted, and some of the fish broiling away before it.
The fate of the unfortunate vessel formed the subject of their conversation.
“I have an idea,” cried Bill. “It’s an ill wind that brings no one good luck. If we can manage to get on board that craft which has come on shore, we might build a boat out of her planking, or at all events a raft; and should the wind come from the southward, we might manage to get across the Channel, or be picked up by some vessel or other. We are pretty sure to find provisions on board. Perhaps one of her boats may have escaped being knocked to pieces, and we could repair her. At all events, it will be our own fault if that wreck doesn’t give us the opportunity of escaping.”
Jack listened to all Bill was saying.
“I cannot agree with you as to the chance of getting off,” he observed. “As soon as the wreck is seen, the Frenchmen are sure to be down on the shore, and we shall be caught and carried back to prison instead of getting away. The boats are pretty certain to have been knocked into shreds before this, and as to building a boat, that is what neither you nor I can do, even if we had the tools, and where are they to come from?”
“Perhaps we shall find them on board,” said Bill. “The vessel has held together till now, and I don’t see why she should not hold together till the storm is over. ‘Where there’s a will there’s a way,’ and I don’t see that we have so bad a chance of getting off.”
“Well, I’ll help you. You can show me what we had best do,” said Jack. “I am not going to draw back on account of the risk. All must depend on the weather. If the wind comes off shore, and the sea goes down, I should say that our best chance would be to build a raft. We can do that, if we can only find an axe and a saw, and we might get launched before the Frenchmen find out the wreck. The first thing we have to do is to get on board, and when we are there, we must keep a bright look-out to see that none of the natives are coming along the shore to trap us.”
The lads, having come to this resolution, hurried back to the entrance of the cave.
They forgot all about the smugglers’ stores, and their intention of making clothes for themselves; indeed, they only thought of getting on board the vessel. They watched eagerly for the tide to go down. The day passed by and the night came on, but the clouds clearing away, a bright moon shed her light over the scene. The wind had also sensibly decreased, and the waves rolled in with far less fury than before.
The water, however, seemed to them a long time moving off; still it was evidently going down. Rock after rock appeared, and looking over the ledge they could see the sand below them.
Knowing full well that the water would not again reach the beach it had once left till the return of the tide, they leaped down without hesitation, and began to make their way in the direction of the vessel. They had again to wait, however, for, as they pushed eagerly forward, a sheet of foam from a wave which came rolling up nearly took them off their legs.
They retreated a short distance, and in a few minutes were able to pass the spot over the uncovered sand. On and on they pressed, now advancing, now having to retreat, till they stood abreast of the vessel. The water still surrounded her, and was too deep to wade through.
They looked round on every side, but not a trace of a boat could be discovered, though fragments of spars and the bulwarks of the vessel strewed the beach. Among the spars they found two whole ones, which they secured.
“These will help us to get on board if we find no ropes hanging over the side,” observed Bill; “or they will enable us to withstand the sea should it catch us before we can climb up.” They now advanced more boldly.
The vessel lay over on her bilge, with her deck partly turned towards the shore, the sea, after she struck, having driven her round.
They waded up to her, for their impatience did not permit them to wait till the water had entirely receded. The risk they ran of being carried off was considerable, but, dashing forward, they planted the spars against the side.
Bill swarmed up first, Jack followed, and the deck was gained.
Scarcely were Jack’s feet out of the water, when a huge sea came rolling up, which would inevitably have carried him off.
They knew that they had no time to lose, for the wreck once seen from the shore, crowds of people were certain to visit it to carry off the cargo.
The after-part of the vessel was stove in, and nothing remained in the cabin; but the centre part, though nearly full of water, was unbroken. The water, however, was rushing out like a mill-stream, both at the stern and through some huge holes in the bows. Nothing whatever remained on deck.
The lads plunged down below, and gained the spar-deck, which was already out of the water. Here the first object their eyes alighted on was a chest.
It was the carpenter’s, and contained axes, and saws, and nails, and tools of all sorts.
There were a good many light spars and planks stowed on one side.
“Here we have materials for a raft at hand!” cried Bill. “We must build one; for I agree with you, Jack, that there’s no use in attempting a boat. It would take too much time, even if we could succeed in making her watertight.”
“I said so,” replied Jack. “I wish we had some grub, though; perhaps there’s some for’ard. I’ll go and find it if I can.”
Jack made his way into the forepeak, while Bill was cutting free the lashings, and dragging out the spars. Jack returned in a short time with some cold meat, and biscuit, and cheese.
“See! we can dine like lords,” he exclaimed; “and we shall be better able to work after it.”
They sat down on the chest, and ate the provisions with good appetites.
Bill cast a thought on the fate of the poor fellows to whom the food had belonged; their bodies now washing about in the breakers outside.
Every now and then they alternately jumped up, and looked east and west, and to the top of the cliff, to ascertain if any one was coming. The vessel had been driven on shore out of sight of both the villages, or they would not have been left long alone. It was to be hoped that no one would come along the cliff and look down upon the wreck.
Their meal over, they set to work to plan their raft.
They were obliged to labour on deck, as they could not hoist it up through the hold, or they would have preferred keeping out of sight. It would be a hard job to launch it, but that they hoped to do by fastening tackles at either side leading to the ring bolts on deck.
As there were no bulwarks to stop them, they laid the foundation, or, as they called it, the keel, projecting slightly over the side. They would thus have only to shove it forward and tip it up to launch it.
Their plan was to form an oblong square, then to put on bows at one end; and two pieces crossing each other with a short upright between them, on which to support the steering oar. The interior of the framework they strengthened by two diagonal braces. They lashed and nailed a number of crosspieces close together, and on the top of the whole they nailed down all the planks they could find, which were sufficient to form a good flooring to their raft.
They discovered also a number of small brandy casks, which they immediately emptied of their contents, letting the spirits flow without compunction into the water, and then again tightly bunged them down.
They fastened ropes around the casks, with which, when the raft was launched, they could secure them to either side, to give it greater buoyancy. They also brought up a couple of sea-chests, which they intended to lash down to the centre, so as to afford them some protection from the sea, and at the same time to hold their provisions.
Bill was the chief suggester of all these arrangements, though Jack ably carried them out.
They worked like heroes, with all the energy they could command, for they felt that everything depended on their exertions.
The night being bright, they were able to get on as well then as in the daytime.
Chapter Twelve.A raft built—Mysterious disappearance of Jack Peek.Not till their raft was complete did the two boys think of again eating. They had been working, it must be remembered, for several hours since the meal they took soon after they got on board. Having finished the beef and cheese, they lighted a couple of lanterns which they found hung up in the forepeak, and hunted about for more food.They discovered some casks of salt beef, and another of biscuits, a drum of cheese, and several boxes of dried fruit. They had thus no lack of provisions, but they did not forget the necessity of supplying themselves with a store of water.Hunting about, they found two small vessels, which they filled from one of the water-casks.There were several oars below, three of which they took and placed in readiness on deck—one to steer with, and the other two for rowing.They had, lastly, to rig their raft. A fore-royal already bent was found in the sail-room, and a spar served as a mast. How to step it, and to secure it properly, was the difficulty, until Bill suggested getting a third chest and boring a hole through the lid, and then, by making another hole through the bottom, the mast would be well stepped, and it was easy to set it up by means of a rope led forward and two shrouds aft.Knowing exactly what they wanted to do, they did it very rapidly, and were perfectly satisfied with their performance.The tide must come up again, however, before they could launch their raft. It would not be safe to do that unless the wind was off shore and the water smooth. Of this they were thoroughly convinced. Some hours must also elapse before the hitherto tumultuous sea would go down; what should they do in the meantime?Bill felt very unwilling to go away without wishing their friends the Turgots good-bye. He wanted also to tell Jeannette of the smugglers’ store. The Turgots, at all events, would have as good a right to it as any one else, should the proper owners not be in existence.Jack did not want him to go.“You may be caught,” he observed, “or some one may come down and discover the vessel, and if I am alone, even should the tide be high, I could not put off.”“But there is no chance of the tide coming up for the next three hours, and I can go to the village and be back again long before that,” answered Bill.At last Jack gave in.“Well, be quick about it,” he said; “we ought to be away at daylight, if the wind and the sea will let us; and if we don’t, I’m afraid there will be very little chance of our getting off at all.”Bill promised without fail to return. There was no risk, he was sure, of being discovered, and it would be very ungrateful to the Turgots to go away without trying to see them again. He wished that Jack could have gone also, but he agreed that it was better for him to remain to do a few more things to the raft. Before he started they arranged the tackles for launching it; and they believed that, when once in the water, it would not take them more than ten minutes or a quarter of an hour to haul the empty casks under the bottom and to step and set up the mast. They might then, should the wind be favourable, stand boldly out to sea.This being settled, Bill lowered himself down on the sand by a rope, and ran off as fast as he could go.Jack quickly finished the work he had undertaken; then putting his hand into his pocket, he felt the gold pieces.“It’s a pity we shouldn’t have more of these,” he said to himself. “I don’t agree with Bill in that matter. If he does not care about them for himself, I do for him, and he shall have half.”As he said this he emptied his pockets into one of the chests.“I shall want a lantern by-the-bye,” he said; and springing below, he secured one with a fresh candle in it.Having done this, he forthwith lowered himself, as Bill had done, down on the sand, and quickly made his way to the cavern.He had left the basket with the tinder-box, and the remnant of their provisions at their camp, which he soon reached.His desire to obtain the gold overcame the fears he had before entertained of ghosts and spirits.Having lighted his lantern he took up the basket, which had a cloth in it, and pushed forward. The pale light from his lantern, so different from that of a couple of blazing torches, made the objects around look strange and weird. He began not at all to like the appearance of things, and fancied at last that he must have got into a different part, of the cavern; still he thought, “I must have the gold. It would be so foolish to go away without it. It belongs to us as much as to anybody else, seeing that the owners are dead. Their ghosts won’t come to look for it, I hope. I wish I hadn’t thought of that. I must be going right. It would have been much pleasanter if Bill had been with me. Why didn’t I try to persuade him to stop?”Such were the thoughts which passed through Jack’s mind; but he was a bold fellow, and did not like giving up what he had once determined on.He saw no harm in what he was doing; on the contrary, he was serving his friend Bill as well as himself, or rather his mother, for he wanted the gold for her. In the meantime, Bill was hurrying on towards the Turgots’ cottage. He should astonish them, he knew, by waking them up in the middle of the night, or rather so early in the morning; but they would appreciate his desire to wish them good-bye, and would be very much obliged to him for telling them of the treasure in the cavern.It would make their fortunes, and Jeannette would be the richest heiress in the neighbourhood; for, of course, he would bargain that she should have a good share. There might be some difficulty in getting the goods away without being discovered, which would be a pity, as they were of as much value as the boxes of gold. However, he was doing what was right in giving them the opportunity of possessing themselves of the treasure, though he considered that he could not take it himself.He got round to the back door, under the room where Pierre slept. He knew that he would not be out fishing then, as the weather would have prevented him.He knocked at once. No answer came. The third time, and he heard some one moving, and presently Pierre sang out, “Who’s there?”“It’s one you know; let me in,” answered Bill, in a low voice, for he was afraid of any one who might by chance be in the neighbourhood hearing him.Pierre came downstairs and opened the door. Bill explained all that had happened, except about the treasure.“You going away!” cried Pierre. “It would be madness! You will only float about till another storm arises and you will be lost.”“You don’t know what we can do,” answered Bill. “We shall probably be picked up by one of our ships before we reach England; and, if not, we shall get on very well, provided the wind holds from the southward, and after the long course of northerly gales there’s every chance of its doing that.”“I must consult my father before I let you go,” said Pierre.“You would not keep us prisoners against our will,” said Bill, laughing, as if Pierre could only be in joke. “Come, call your mother and father and Jeannette, and let me wish them good-bye. I haven’t many minutes to stop, and I’ve got something to tell them, which I’ve a notion will be satisfactory.”Pierre went to his father and mother’s and Jeannette’s rooms, and soon roused them up. They appeared somewhat indeshabille, and looked very astonished at being called out of their beds by the young Englishman.“What is it all about?” asked Captain Turgot.“We are going away,” replied Bill, “but we could not go without again thanking you for all your kindness; and to show you that we are not ungrateful, I have to tell you how you can become a rich man in a few hours, without much trouble.”On this Bill described how they had found the smuggler’s treasure.Captain Turgot and the dame held up their hands, uttering various exclamations which showed their surprise, mixed with no little doubt as to whether Bill had not been dreaming.He assured them that he was stating a fact, and offered, if Captain Turgot and Pierre would accompany him, to show them the place, as he thought that there would be time before daylight, when he and Jack had determined to set sail.“I am sure he’s speaking the truth,” cried Jeannette; “and it’s very kind and generous of you, Bill, to tell us of the treasure, when you might have carried it off yourself. I know of the cave, for I saw it once, when I was very nearly caught by the tide and drowned, though I don’t think many people about here are acquainted with it; and very few, if any, have gone into the interior.”Captain Turgot and Pierre confessed that they had never seen it, though they had gone up and down the coast so often; but then, on account of the rocks, they had always kept a good distance out.At last Bill and Jeannette persuaded them that there really was such a cave; but on considering the hour, they came to the conclusion that the tide would come in before they could make their escape from it, and they would prefer going when the tide had again made out. Bill, they thought, would only just have time to get on board the vessel, if he was determined to go.“But if you have so much gold, you could purchase a good boat,” said Captain Turgot; “and that would be much better than making your voyage on a raft.”Bill acknowledged that such might be the case, but he was unwilling to risk any further delay. He trusted to his friends’ honour to let him go as he had determined. He had come of his own accord to bid them farewell, and they would not really think of detaining him against his will.The fact, however, was that Captain Turgot doubted very much the truth of Bill’s story. Had any band of smugglers possessed a hiding-place on that part of the coast, he thought that he should have known it, and he fancied that the young Englishman must in some way or other have been deceived.“Where is the gold you speak of?” he asked. “You surely must have secured some for yourself.”Bill replied that Jack had, but that he had not wished to touch it.“Then you give it to us, my young friend,” said Captain Turgot; “where is the difference?”“No! I only tell you of it, that you may act as you think right. If you find out the owners, I hope you will restore it to them; but, at all events, it’s Frenchmen’s money, and a Frenchman has more right to it than I have.”Captain Turgot did not quite understand Bill’s principles, though perhaps Jeannette and Pierre did.“Well, well, my young friend, if go you must, I will not detain you. You and your companion will run a great risk of losing your lives, and I wish you would remain with us. To-morrow, as soon as the tide is out, Pierre and I will visit the cavern, which, I think, from your description, we can find; and we will take lanterns and torches. Again I say I wish you would wait, and if there is a prize to be obtained, that you would share it with us.”Jeannette and Pierre also pressed Bill to remain, but he was firm in his resolution of rejoining Jack, and setting off at once.He was so proud of the raft they had made, that he would have been ready to go round the world on it, if it could be got to sail on a wind, and at all events he had not the slightest doubt about its fitness to carry him and Jack across the Channel.Bill had already delayed longer than he intended, and once more bidding his friends good-bye, he set off for the wreck. He hurried along as fast as he could go, for he felt sure that at daybreak it would be seen, if not from the shore, from the sea, and that people would come and interfere with his and Jack’s proceedings.As he knew the way thoroughly, he made good progress. On getting abreast of the wreck, he looked out for Jack, but could nowhere see him.The water was already coming round the vessel, and in a short time would be too deep to wade through. He thought that Jack must have gone below, but he was afraid of giving a loud shout, lest his voice might be heard. He accordingly, without stopping, made his way on board.Great was his alarm when he could nowhere discover Jack.Could he have gone to the cavern? or could he have been carried off?The latter was not probable, for had the stranded vessel been discovered, people would have remained in her.“He must have gone to the cavern, and to save time, I must follow him,” he said to himself; and sliding down the rope, he made his way as fast as he could towards its mouth.He quickly climbed up, and hurried on as fast as he dare move in the dark, holding out his hands to avoid running against the sides, or to save himself should he fall.He knew that there were no pitfalls or other serious dangers, or he could not have ventured to move even so fast as he did.He shouted out as he went Jack’s name.“How foolish I was not to bring a lantern with me,” he said. “Jack is sure to have taken one if he went to get more gold, and that I suspect is what he has been after; if he has a light, I shall see it, but I don’t.”“Jack! Jack!” he again shouted out; but the cavern only echoed with his voice.Bill was a fine-tempered fellow, but he felt very much inclined to be angry with Jack. All their plans might be upset by his having left the wreck. Even should he soon find him, they would have to swim on board, and set off in their wet clothes; but that was of little consequence compared with the delay.At last his hands touched the rock near their camping-place, and he thence groped his way on; for having so often traversed the cavern in the dark, he found it as easily as a blind man would have done.He soon felt his feet treading on the ashes of their former fires, and feeling about, he discovered the things which Jack had thrown out of the basket.Among them was a candle and the tinder-box. Jack having a lighted lantern, had not troubled himself to bring it.The basket was gone! This convinced him that Jack had been there. He quickly lighted the candle, and as there was not a breath of air, he was able to walk along with it in his hand.The stalactite formations, which appeared on both sides, looked as weird and strange to him as they had to Jack, but he, knowing perfectly well what they were, did not trouble himself about their appearance.He went on, keeping his gaze ahead, in the hopes of meeting Jack. He was sorry that he had not made more determined attempts to persuade Captain Turgot and Pierre to accompany him; for if anything should have happened to his companion, they would have assisted him. But what could have happened? that was the question.Sometimes he thought that Jack might, after all, not have come to the cavern; but, then, who could have carried away the basket?Brave as he was, the strange shadows which occasionally seemed to flit by made him feel that he would much rather not have been there all alone.Suppose, too, the smugglers should have returned, and, perhaps, caught Jack; they would seize him also, and it would be impossible to persuade them that he had not come to rob their store. Still, his chief anxiety was for Jack.He thought much less about himself, or the dangers he might have to encounter.Bill was a hero, though he did not know it, notwithstanding that he had been originally only a London street boy.“I must find Jack, whatever comes of it,” he said to himself, as he pushed on.At last he reached the low entrance of the smugglers’ store-room, as Jack and he had called it. He crept on carefully, and as he gained the inner end of the passage, he saw a light burning close to where the goods were piled up, but no voices reached his ear.If the smugglers were there, they would surely be talking. He rose to his feet, holding out the candle before him. Seeing no one, he advanced boldly across the cavern. There lay a figure stretched upon the ground!It was Jack!
Not till their raft was complete did the two boys think of again eating. They had been working, it must be remembered, for several hours since the meal they took soon after they got on board. Having finished the beef and cheese, they lighted a couple of lanterns which they found hung up in the forepeak, and hunted about for more food.
They discovered some casks of salt beef, and another of biscuits, a drum of cheese, and several boxes of dried fruit. They had thus no lack of provisions, but they did not forget the necessity of supplying themselves with a store of water.
Hunting about, they found two small vessels, which they filled from one of the water-casks.
There were several oars below, three of which they took and placed in readiness on deck—one to steer with, and the other two for rowing.
They had, lastly, to rig their raft. A fore-royal already bent was found in the sail-room, and a spar served as a mast. How to step it, and to secure it properly, was the difficulty, until Bill suggested getting a third chest and boring a hole through the lid, and then, by making another hole through the bottom, the mast would be well stepped, and it was easy to set it up by means of a rope led forward and two shrouds aft.
Knowing exactly what they wanted to do, they did it very rapidly, and were perfectly satisfied with their performance.
The tide must come up again, however, before they could launch their raft. It would not be safe to do that unless the wind was off shore and the water smooth. Of this they were thoroughly convinced. Some hours must also elapse before the hitherto tumultuous sea would go down; what should they do in the meantime?
Bill felt very unwilling to go away without wishing their friends the Turgots good-bye. He wanted also to tell Jeannette of the smugglers’ store. The Turgots, at all events, would have as good a right to it as any one else, should the proper owners not be in existence.
Jack did not want him to go.
“You may be caught,” he observed, “or some one may come down and discover the vessel, and if I am alone, even should the tide be high, I could not put off.”
“But there is no chance of the tide coming up for the next three hours, and I can go to the village and be back again long before that,” answered Bill.
At last Jack gave in.
“Well, be quick about it,” he said; “we ought to be away at daylight, if the wind and the sea will let us; and if we don’t, I’m afraid there will be very little chance of our getting off at all.”
Bill promised without fail to return. There was no risk, he was sure, of being discovered, and it would be very ungrateful to the Turgots to go away without trying to see them again. He wished that Jack could have gone also, but he agreed that it was better for him to remain to do a few more things to the raft. Before he started they arranged the tackles for launching it; and they believed that, when once in the water, it would not take them more than ten minutes or a quarter of an hour to haul the empty casks under the bottom and to step and set up the mast. They might then, should the wind be favourable, stand boldly out to sea.
This being settled, Bill lowered himself down on the sand by a rope, and ran off as fast as he could go.
Jack quickly finished the work he had undertaken; then putting his hand into his pocket, he felt the gold pieces.
“It’s a pity we shouldn’t have more of these,” he said to himself. “I don’t agree with Bill in that matter. If he does not care about them for himself, I do for him, and he shall have half.”
As he said this he emptied his pockets into one of the chests.
“I shall want a lantern by-the-bye,” he said; and springing below, he secured one with a fresh candle in it.
Having done this, he forthwith lowered himself, as Bill had done, down on the sand, and quickly made his way to the cavern.
He had left the basket with the tinder-box, and the remnant of their provisions at their camp, which he soon reached.
His desire to obtain the gold overcame the fears he had before entertained of ghosts and spirits.
Having lighted his lantern he took up the basket, which had a cloth in it, and pushed forward. The pale light from his lantern, so different from that of a couple of blazing torches, made the objects around look strange and weird. He began not at all to like the appearance of things, and fancied at last that he must have got into a different part, of the cavern; still he thought, “I must have the gold. It would be so foolish to go away without it. It belongs to us as much as to anybody else, seeing that the owners are dead. Their ghosts won’t come to look for it, I hope. I wish I hadn’t thought of that. I must be going right. It would have been much pleasanter if Bill had been with me. Why didn’t I try to persuade him to stop?”
Such were the thoughts which passed through Jack’s mind; but he was a bold fellow, and did not like giving up what he had once determined on.
He saw no harm in what he was doing; on the contrary, he was serving his friend Bill as well as himself, or rather his mother, for he wanted the gold for her. In the meantime, Bill was hurrying on towards the Turgots’ cottage. He should astonish them, he knew, by waking them up in the middle of the night, or rather so early in the morning; but they would appreciate his desire to wish them good-bye, and would be very much obliged to him for telling them of the treasure in the cavern.
It would make their fortunes, and Jeannette would be the richest heiress in the neighbourhood; for, of course, he would bargain that she should have a good share. There might be some difficulty in getting the goods away without being discovered, which would be a pity, as they were of as much value as the boxes of gold. However, he was doing what was right in giving them the opportunity of possessing themselves of the treasure, though he considered that he could not take it himself.
He got round to the back door, under the room where Pierre slept. He knew that he would not be out fishing then, as the weather would have prevented him.
He knocked at once. No answer came. The third time, and he heard some one moving, and presently Pierre sang out, “Who’s there?”
“It’s one you know; let me in,” answered Bill, in a low voice, for he was afraid of any one who might by chance be in the neighbourhood hearing him.
Pierre came downstairs and opened the door. Bill explained all that had happened, except about the treasure.
“You going away!” cried Pierre. “It would be madness! You will only float about till another storm arises and you will be lost.”
“You don’t know what we can do,” answered Bill. “We shall probably be picked up by one of our ships before we reach England; and, if not, we shall get on very well, provided the wind holds from the southward, and after the long course of northerly gales there’s every chance of its doing that.”
“I must consult my father before I let you go,” said Pierre.
“You would not keep us prisoners against our will,” said Bill, laughing, as if Pierre could only be in joke. “Come, call your mother and father and Jeannette, and let me wish them good-bye. I haven’t many minutes to stop, and I’ve got something to tell them, which I’ve a notion will be satisfactory.”
Pierre went to his father and mother’s and Jeannette’s rooms, and soon roused them up. They appeared somewhat indeshabille, and looked very astonished at being called out of their beds by the young Englishman.
“What is it all about?” asked Captain Turgot.
“We are going away,” replied Bill, “but we could not go without again thanking you for all your kindness; and to show you that we are not ungrateful, I have to tell you how you can become a rich man in a few hours, without much trouble.”
On this Bill described how they had found the smuggler’s treasure.
Captain Turgot and the dame held up their hands, uttering various exclamations which showed their surprise, mixed with no little doubt as to whether Bill had not been dreaming.
He assured them that he was stating a fact, and offered, if Captain Turgot and Pierre would accompany him, to show them the place, as he thought that there would be time before daylight, when he and Jack had determined to set sail.
“I am sure he’s speaking the truth,” cried Jeannette; “and it’s very kind and generous of you, Bill, to tell us of the treasure, when you might have carried it off yourself. I know of the cave, for I saw it once, when I was very nearly caught by the tide and drowned, though I don’t think many people about here are acquainted with it; and very few, if any, have gone into the interior.”
Captain Turgot and Pierre confessed that they had never seen it, though they had gone up and down the coast so often; but then, on account of the rocks, they had always kept a good distance out.
At last Bill and Jeannette persuaded them that there really was such a cave; but on considering the hour, they came to the conclusion that the tide would come in before they could make their escape from it, and they would prefer going when the tide had again made out. Bill, they thought, would only just have time to get on board the vessel, if he was determined to go.
“But if you have so much gold, you could purchase a good boat,” said Captain Turgot; “and that would be much better than making your voyage on a raft.”
Bill acknowledged that such might be the case, but he was unwilling to risk any further delay. He trusted to his friends’ honour to let him go as he had determined. He had come of his own accord to bid them farewell, and they would not really think of detaining him against his will.
The fact, however, was that Captain Turgot doubted very much the truth of Bill’s story. Had any band of smugglers possessed a hiding-place on that part of the coast, he thought that he should have known it, and he fancied that the young Englishman must in some way or other have been deceived.
“Where is the gold you speak of?” he asked. “You surely must have secured some for yourself.”
Bill replied that Jack had, but that he had not wished to touch it.
“Then you give it to us, my young friend,” said Captain Turgot; “where is the difference?”
“No! I only tell you of it, that you may act as you think right. If you find out the owners, I hope you will restore it to them; but, at all events, it’s Frenchmen’s money, and a Frenchman has more right to it than I have.”
Captain Turgot did not quite understand Bill’s principles, though perhaps Jeannette and Pierre did.
“Well, well, my young friend, if go you must, I will not detain you. You and your companion will run a great risk of losing your lives, and I wish you would remain with us. To-morrow, as soon as the tide is out, Pierre and I will visit the cavern, which, I think, from your description, we can find; and we will take lanterns and torches. Again I say I wish you would wait, and if there is a prize to be obtained, that you would share it with us.”
Jeannette and Pierre also pressed Bill to remain, but he was firm in his resolution of rejoining Jack, and setting off at once.
He was so proud of the raft they had made, that he would have been ready to go round the world on it, if it could be got to sail on a wind, and at all events he had not the slightest doubt about its fitness to carry him and Jack across the Channel.
Bill had already delayed longer than he intended, and once more bidding his friends good-bye, he set off for the wreck. He hurried along as fast as he could go, for he felt sure that at daybreak it would be seen, if not from the shore, from the sea, and that people would come and interfere with his and Jack’s proceedings.
As he knew the way thoroughly, he made good progress. On getting abreast of the wreck, he looked out for Jack, but could nowhere see him.
The water was already coming round the vessel, and in a short time would be too deep to wade through. He thought that Jack must have gone below, but he was afraid of giving a loud shout, lest his voice might be heard. He accordingly, without stopping, made his way on board.
Great was his alarm when he could nowhere discover Jack.
Could he have gone to the cavern? or could he have been carried off?
The latter was not probable, for had the stranded vessel been discovered, people would have remained in her.
“He must have gone to the cavern, and to save time, I must follow him,” he said to himself; and sliding down the rope, he made his way as fast as he could towards its mouth.
He quickly climbed up, and hurried on as fast as he dare move in the dark, holding out his hands to avoid running against the sides, or to save himself should he fall.
He knew that there were no pitfalls or other serious dangers, or he could not have ventured to move even so fast as he did.
He shouted out as he went Jack’s name.
“How foolish I was not to bring a lantern with me,” he said. “Jack is sure to have taken one if he went to get more gold, and that I suspect is what he has been after; if he has a light, I shall see it, but I don’t.”
“Jack! Jack!” he again shouted out; but the cavern only echoed with his voice.
Bill was a fine-tempered fellow, but he felt very much inclined to be angry with Jack. All their plans might be upset by his having left the wreck. Even should he soon find him, they would have to swim on board, and set off in their wet clothes; but that was of little consequence compared with the delay.
At last his hands touched the rock near their camping-place, and he thence groped his way on; for having so often traversed the cavern in the dark, he found it as easily as a blind man would have done.
He soon felt his feet treading on the ashes of their former fires, and feeling about, he discovered the things which Jack had thrown out of the basket.
Among them was a candle and the tinder-box. Jack having a lighted lantern, had not troubled himself to bring it.
The basket was gone! This convinced him that Jack had been there. He quickly lighted the candle, and as there was not a breath of air, he was able to walk along with it in his hand.
The stalactite formations, which appeared on both sides, looked as weird and strange to him as they had to Jack, but he, knowing perfectly well what they were, did not trouble himself about their appearance.
He went on, keeping his gaze ahead, in the hopes of meeting Jack. He was sorry that he had not made more determined attempts to persuade Captain Turgot and Pierre to accompany him; for if anything should have happened to his companion, they would have assisted him. But what could have happened? that was the question.Sometimes he thought that Jack might, after all, not have come to the cavern; but, then, who could have carried away the basket?
Brave as he was, the strange shadows which occasionally seemed to flit by made him feel that he would much rather not have been there all alone.
Suppose, too, the smugglers should have returned, and, perhaps, caught Jack; they would seize him also, and it would be impossible to persuade them that he had not come to rob their store. Still, his chief anxiety was for Jack.
He thought much less about himself, or the dangers he might have to encounter.
Bill was a hero, though he did not know it, notwithstanding that he had been originally only a London street boy.
“I must find Jack, whatever comes of it,” he said to himself, as he pushed on.
At last he reached the low entrance of the smugglers’ store-room, as Jack and he had called it. He crept on carefully, and as he gained the inner end of the passage, he saw a light burning close to where the goods were piled up, but no voices reached his ear.
If the smugglers were there, they would surely be talking. He rose to his feet, holding out the candle before him. Seeing no one, he advanced boldly across the cavern. There lay a figure stretched upon the ground!
It was Jack!
Chapter Thirteen.The raft launched and voyage commenced.Could Jack be dead? What could have happened to him? Bill, hurrying forward, knelt down by his side, and lifted up his head. He still breathed.“That’s a comfort,” thought Bill. “How shall I bring him to? There’s not a drop of water here, and I can’t carry him as far as the spring.”Bill rubbed his friend’s temples, while he supported his head on his knee.“Jack! Jack! rouse up, old fellow! What’s come over you?”Bill held the candle up to Jack’s eyes. Greatly to his joy they opened, and he said, “Where am I? Is that you, Bill! Is it gone?”“I am Bill, and you are in the cavern; but there is nothing to go that I know of. It’s all right. Stand up, old fellow, and come along,” replied Bill, cheeringly.“Oh, Bill,” said Jack, drawing a deep sigh, “I saw something.”“Did you?” said Bill; “the something did not knock you down, though.”“No; but I thought it would,” responded Jack.“That comes of wanting to take what isn’t your own,” said Bill. “However, don’t let’s talk about that. If we are to get off with this tide, we must hurry on board as fast as we can. Don’t mind the gold; I suppose that’s what you came for. Our friends the Turgots will get it, I hope; and they have more right to it than we have.”Bill’s voice greatly re-assured Jack, who, fancying that he saw one of the ghosts he was afraid of, had fallen down in a sort of swoon. How long it would have lasted if Bill had not come to him it is impossible to say; perhaps long enough to have allowed his candle to be extinguished. Had this happened, he would never have been able to find his way out of the cavern. He, however, with Bill by his side, soon felt like himself again.“Let me just fill my pockets with these gold pieces,” he exclaimed. “I have taken so much trouble that I shouldn’t like to go away without them.”“Perhaps the ghost will come back if you do,” Bill could not help saying. “Let them alone. You have got enough already, and we must not stop another moment here.”Saying this, he dragged Jack on by the arm.“Come, if we don’t make haste, our candles will go out, and we shall not be able to see our way,” Bill continued.Jack moved on. He was always ready to be led by Bill, and began to think that he had better not have come for the gold.Bill did not scold him, vexed as he felt at the delay which had occurred. They might still be in time to get on board the wreck and to launch their raft, but it would be broad daylight before they could get to any distance from the shore, and they would then be sure to be seen. Bill only hoped that no one would think it worth while to follow them.Having two lights, they were able to see their way pretty well, though they could not run fast for fear of extinguishing them.Every now and then Jack showed an inclination to stop. “I wish I had got the gold,” he muttered.Bill pulled him on.“The gold, I say, would not do us any good. I don’t want it for myself, and you have got enough to make your mother independent for the rest of her days.”On they went again. Bill was thankful, on reaching the mouth of the cavern, to find that it was still night. It seemed to him a long time since he had quitted the wreck. He did not remember how fast he had gone. They jumped down on the beach, and began to wade towards the wreck, but had to swim some distance.“If we had had our pockets full of gold we could not have done this,” observed Bill. “We should have had to empty them or be drowned. We are much better without it.”They soon reached the side of the vessel, and climbed up on deck. There was plenty of water alongside to launch the raft, and to get the casks under it. The wind, too, if there were any, was off shore, but here it was a perfect calm. They had one advantage through having waited so long; they were beyond the influence of the wave which breaks even on a weather shore, especially after a gale, although the wind may have changed.The tackles having been arranged, they lost no time in launching their raft, which they did very successfully, easing it with handspikes; and in a couple of minutes it floated, to their great satisfaction, safely alongside. Their first care was to lash the casks under the bottom. This took some time, but they were well repaid by finding the raft float buoyantly on the very surface of the water.The cargo had, however, to be got on board, consisting of the three chests, which, of course, would bring it down somewhat. They lowered one after the other, and lashed them in the positions they had intended. The foremost chest was secured over all by ropes, as that had not to be opened, and was to serve only as a step for their mast; the other two chests were secured by their handles both fore and aft and athwartships, the lashings contributing to bind the raft still more securely together.Daylight had now broken, and they were in a hurry to get on with their work, but this did not prevent them from securing everything effectually.They next had to get their stores into the chests; and lastly they stepped and set up the mast, securing the sail ready for hoisting to the halyards, which had been previously rove.They surveyed their work when completed with no little satisfaction, and considered, not without reason, that they might, in moderate weather, run across Channel, provided the wind should remain anywhere in the southward.They well knew that they must run the risk of a northerly wind or a gale. In the first case, though they need not go back, they could make little or no progress; but then there was always the hope of being picked up by an English craft, either a man-of-war or a merchant vessel.They might, to be sure, be fallen in with by a Frenchman, but in the event of that happening, they intended to beg hard for their liberty.Should a gale arise, as Jack observed, they would look blue, but they hoped that their raft would even weather that out. That it would come to pieces they had no fear; and they believed that they could cling on to it till the sea should again go down.They had put on board a sufficient supply of spare rope to lash themselves to the chests.Jack climbed up for the last time on deck, and handed down the three sweeps, taking a look round to see that nothing was left behind.“All right,” he said; “we may shove off now, Bill. You are to be captain, and take the helm, and I’ll pull till we get out far enough to find a breeze. It seems to me, by the colour of the sea, that it’s blowing in the offing, and we shall then spin merrily along.”“All right,” said Bill; “cast off, Jack.”Jack hauled in the rope which had secured the raft to the wreck, and give a hearty shove against it with his oar, he sent the raft gliding off some way ahead. He then got out the other oar, and standing between the two chests, pulled lustily away.The raft floated even more lightly than they had expected. They had so well noted all the rocks, that they could easily find their way between them, and there was ample space, especially thereabouts where the brig had been driven in.Their progress was but slow, though they worked away with all their might; every now and then looking back to ascertain whether they were observed from the shore. No one, however, could be seen on the cliffs above; and people, unless they had discovered the wreck, were not likely at that early hour to come down to the beach.It took them more than half an hour to get clear of the rocks. When once out on the open sea, they began to breathe more freely. They pulled on and on; still, unless they should get the wind, they could not hope to make much progress. The day was advancing. Bill wetted his finger and held it up.“There’s a breeze,” he cried out; “hoist the sail, Jack.”The sail filled as Bill sheeted it home, and the raft began to glide more rapidly over the water.Jack took in the oars, for he wanted to rest, and there was but little use rowing, though it might have helped the raft on slightly.He could now look about him, and as the two harbours to the east and west opened out, he turned his eyes anxiously towards them.If they were pursued, it would be from one or the other. He had little fear from that on the west, as there was no one likely to trouble himself about the matter; but there were officials living near the larger harbour, and they might think it their duty to ascertain what the small raft standing off shore under sail could be about.“I wish that we had got away a couple of hours ago,” said Bill; but he did not remind Jack that it was through his fault they had not done so. He blamed himself, indeed, for having gone to see the Turgots, much as he would have regretted leaving the country without paying them a visit.The farther the raft got from the shore the more rapidly it glided along, the sea being too smooth in any way to impede its progress.Bill’s whole attention was taken up in steering, so as to keep the raft right before the wind.Presently Jack cried out, “There’s a boat coming out of the harbour. She’s just hoisted her sail, and a whacking big sail it is. She’s coming after us. Oh! Bill! what shall we do?”“Try to keep ahead of her,” answered Bill, glancing round for a moment. “The Frenchmen may not think it worth while to chase us far, even if they are in chase of us, and that’s not certain. Don’t let us cry out before we are hurt. Get out the oars, they’ll help us on a little, and we’ll do our best to escape. I don’t fancy being shut up again, or perhaps being carried off to a prison, and forced into a dungeon, or maybe shot, for they’ll declare that we are escaped prisoners.”Jack did not, however, require these remarks to make him pull with all his might; still he could not help looking back occasionally. He was standing up, it should be understood, rowing forward, with the oars crossing, the larboard oar held in the right hand, and the starboard in the left.“The boat’s coming on three knots to our one,” he cried out. “It won’t take her long to be up with us.”“Pull away,” again cried Bill. “We’ll hold on till the Frenchmen begin to fire. If their bullets come near us, it will be time to think whether it will be worth running the risk of being shot.”Jack continued to row with might and main, and the raft went wonderfully fast over the water. It was too evident, however, that the boat was in pursuit of them, and in a few minutes a musket ball splashed into the water a short distance astern of the raft.“That shows that they are in earnest,” said Jack. “We had better lower the sail, another might come aboard us.”“Hold all fast, perhaps they are getting tired of chasing us, and may give it up when they see that we are determined to get away,” replied Bill; not that he had much hope that this was the case, but he stuck to the principle of not giving in as long as there was a chance of escape.Jack had plenty of courage, but he did not like being fired at without the means of returning the compliment.Another shot from the boat came whistling close to them.“It’s of no use,” cried Jack, “we must lower the sail.”“If you’re afraid, take in the oars and lie down between the chests; you’ll run very little risk of being hit there; but for my part, I’ll stand at the helm till the boat gets up with us,” said Bill.Jack would not do this, but pulled away as stoutly as at first.Presently another shot struck one of the oars, and so splintered it that the next pull Jack gave it broke short off. He was now compelled to take in the other.“The next time the Frenchmen fire they may aim better,” he said. “Come, Bill, I’m ready to stand by you, but there’s no use being killed if we can help it.”“The boat isn’t up with us yet,” answered Bill. “Till she gets alongside I’ll hold on, and maybe at the very last the Frenchmen will give up.”“I don’t see any hope of that,” said Jack. “In ten minutes we shall be prisoners. By-the-bye, I turned all my gold into this chest. If the Frenchmen find it they’ll keep it, so I’ll fill my pockets again, and they may not think of looking into them, but they’re sure to rummage the chest.”Saying this, Jack opened the chest, and soon found his treasure, which he restored to his pockets. He asked Bill to take some, but Bill declined on the same ground that he had before refused to appropriate it.Bill again advised Jack to lie down, and, to induce him to do so, he himself knelt on the raft, as he could in that position steer as well as when standing up.Thus they presented the smallest possible mark to the Frenchmen.Shot after shot was fired at them. Their chances of escape were indeed rapidly diminishing.At last the Frenchmen ceased firing.They were either struck by the hardihood of the boys, or had expended their ammunition; but the boat came on as rapidly as before, and was now not half a cable’s length from them.“We must lower the sail,” cried Bill, with a sigh, “or the Frenchmen maybe will run us down;” and Jack let go the halyards.In another minute the boat was up to them.Besides her crew, there were five soldiers on board.A volley of questions burst from the people in the boat; and all seemed jabbering and talking together.As she got alongside the raft, two men leaped out, and seizing Jack and Bill, hauled them into the boat, while another made fast the raft, ready to tow it back to the harbour.Jack and Bill were at once handed aft to the stern-sheets, where they were made to sit down. Immediately the officer in command of the boat put various questions to them, as to who they were, where they had come from, and where they were going.According to their previous agreement they made no reply, so that their captors might not discover that they understood French; still, as far as Bill could make out, the Frenchmen were not aware that they were the lads who had escaped from the old tower.They had no reason to complain of the way they were spoken of by the Frenchmen, who were evidently struck by their hardihood and determination in their persevering efforts to escape. They remarked to each other that their young prisoners were brave boys, and expressed their satisfaction that they were not hurt.When the officer found, as he supposed, that they could not answer him, he forbore to put any further questions.The crew did not appear to be angry at the long pull that had been given them back; indeed, Jack and Bill suspected, from what they heard, that the seamen, at all events, would not have been sorry if they had escaped altogether.On reaching the landing-place in the harbour, they found a party of soldiers, with an officer, who, from what Bill made out, had sent the boat in pursuit of them.As soon as they stepped on shore the officer began to question them, in the same way as the commander of the boat had done.Bill shrugged his shoulders and turned to Jack, and Jack shrugged his and turned to Bill, as much as to say, “I wonder what he’s talking about?”“The lads do not understand French, that is evident,” said the officer to a subordinate standing near him; “I shall get nothing out of them without an interpreter. They do not look stupid either, and they must be bold fellows, or they would not have attempted to made a voyage on that raft. I must have a nearer look at it;” and he ordered the boatmen to bring it in close to the shore, so that he might examine it.He again turned to Bill, and said, “What were you going to attempt to cross the Channel on that?”Bill, as before, shrugged his shoulders, quite in the French fashion, for he had learnt the trick from Pierre, who, when he was in doubt about a matter, always did so.“I forgot; the boy doesn’t understand French,” observed the officer.Bill had some little difficulty in refraining from laughing, as he understood perfectly well everything that was said around him, except when the Frenchmen talked unusually fast.“Let the raft be moored close to the shore, just in its present state,” said the officer; “the general may wish to see it. How could the lads have contrived to build such a machine?”The commander of the boat explained that a wreck had occurred on the shore, and that they had evidently built it from the materials they found on board her, but anything further about them he could not say.“Well, then, I’ll take them up at once to the general, and the interpreter attached to our division will draw from them all we want to know. Come, lads! you must follow me,” he said. “Sergeant, bring the prisoners along with you.”On this Jack and Bill found themselves surrounded by the soldiers; and thinking it possible, should they not move fast enough, that their movements might be expedited by a prick from the bayonets, they marched briskly forward, keeping good pace with the men.
Could Jack be dead? What could have happened to him? Bill, hurrying forward, knelt down by his side, and lifted up his head. He still breathed.
“That’s a comfort,” thought Bill. “How shall I bring him to? There’s not a drop of water here, and I can’t carry him as far as the spring.”
Bill rubbed his friend’s temples, while he supported his head on his knee.
“Jack! Jack! rouse up, old fellow! What’s come over you?”
Bill held the candle up to Jack’s eyes. Greatly to his joy they opened, and he said, “Where am I? Is that you, Bill! Is it gone?”
“I am Bill, and you are in the cavern; but there is nothing to go that I know of. It’s all right. Stand up, old fellow, and come along,” replied Bill, cheeringly.
“Oh, Bill,” said Jack, drawing a deep sigh, “I saw something.”
“Did you?” said Bill; “the something did not knock you down, though.”
“No; but I thought it would,” responded Jack.
“That comes of wanting to take what isn’t your own,” said Bill. “However, don’t let’s talk about that. If we are to get off with this tide, we must hurry on board as fast as we can. Don’t mind the gold; I suppose that’s what you came for. Our friends the Turgots will get it, I hope; and they have more right to it than we have.”
Bill’s voice greatly re-assured Jack, who, fancying that he saw one of the ghosts he was afraid of, had fallen down in a sort of swoon. How long it would have lasted if Bill had not come to him it is impossible to say; perhaps long enough to have allowed his candle to be extinguished. Had this happened, he would never have been able to find his way out of the cavern. He, however, with Bill by his side, soon felt like himself again.
“Let me just fill my pockets with these gold pieces,” he exclaimed. “I have taken so much trouble that I shouldn’t like to go away without them.”
“Perhaps the ghost will come back if you do,” Bill could not help saying. “Let them alone. You have got enough already, and we must not stop another moment here.”
Saying this, he dragged Jack on by the arm.
“Come, if we don’t make haste, our candles will go out, and we shall not be able to see our way,” Bill continued.
Jack moved on. He was always ready to be led by Bill, and began to think that he had better not have come for the gold.
Bill did not scold him, vexed as he felt at the delay which had occurred. They might still be in time to get on board the wreck and to launch their raft, but it would be broad daylight before they could get to any distance from the shore, and they would then be sure to be seen. Bill only hoped that no one would think it worth while to follow them.
Having two lights, they were able to see their way pretty well, though they could not run fast for fear of extinguishing them.
Every now and then Jack showed an inclination to stop. “I wish I had got the gold,” he muttered.
Bill pulled him on.
“The gold, I say, would not do us any good. I don’t want it for myself, and you have got enough to make your mother independent for the rest of her days.”
On they went again. Bill was thankful, on reaching the mouth of the cavern, to find that it was still night. It seemed to him a long time since he had quitted the wreck. He did not remember how fast he had gone. They jumped down on the beach, and began to wade towards the wreck, but had to swim some distance.
“If we had had our pockets full of gold we could not have done this,” observed Bill. “We should have had to empty them or be drowned. We are much better without it.”
They soon reached the side of the vessel, and climbed up on deck. There was plenty of water alongside to launch the raft, and to get the casks under it. The wind, too, if there were any, was off shore, but here it was a perfect calm. They had one advantage through having waited so long; they were beyond the influence of the wave which breaks even on a weather shore, especially after a gale, although the wind may have changed.
The tackles having been arranged, they lost no time in launching their raft, which they did very successfully, easing it with handspikes; and in a couple of minutes it floated, to their great satisfaction, safely alongside. Their first care was to lash the casks under the bottom. This took some time, but they were well repaid by finding the raft float buoyantly on the very surface of the water.
The cargo had, however, to be got on board, consisting of the three chests, which, of course, would bring it down somewhat. They lowered one after the other, and lashed them in the positions they had intended. The foremost chest was secured over all by ropes, as that had not to be opened, and was to serve only as a step for their mast; the other two chests were secured by their handles both fore and aft and athwartships, the lashings contributing to bind the raft still more securely together.
Daylight had now broken, and they were in a hurry to get on with their work, but this did not prevent them from securing everything effectually.
They next had to get their stores into the chests; and lastly they stepped and set up the mast, securing the sail ready for hoisting to the halyards, which had been previously rove.
They surveyed their work when completed with no little satisfaction, and considered, not without reason, that they might, in moderate weather, run across Channel, provided the wind should remain anywhere in the southward.
They well knew that they must run the risk of a northerly wind or a gale. In the first case, though they need not go back, they could make little or no progress; but then there was always the hope of being picked up by an English craft, either a man-of-war or a merchant vessel.
They might, to be sure, be fallen in with by a Frenchman, but in the event of that happening, they intended to beg hard for their liberty.
Should a gale arise, as Jack observed, they would look blue, but they hoped that their raft would even weather that out. That it would come to pieces they had no fear; and they believed that they could cling on to it till the sea should again go down.
They had put on board a sufficient supply of spare rope to lash themselves to the chests.
Jack climbed up for the last time on deck, and handed down the three sweeps, taking a look round to see that nothing was left behind.
“All right,” he said; “we may shove off now, Bill. You are to be captain, and take the helm, and I’ll pull till we get out far enough to find a breeze. It seems to me, by the colour of the sea, that it’s blowing in the offing, and we shall then spin merrily along.”
“All right,” said Bill; “cast off, Jack.”
Jack hauled in the rope which had secured the raft to the wreck, and give a hearty shove against it with his oar, he sent the raft gliding off some way ahead. He then got out the other oar, and standing between the two chests, pulled lustily away.
The raft floated even more lightly than they had expected. They had so well noted all the rocks, that they could easily find their way between them, and there was ample space, especially thereabouts where the brig had been driven in.
Their progress was but slow, though they worked away with all their might; every now and then looking back to ascertain whether they were observed from the shore. No one, however, could be seen on the cliffs above; and people, unless they had discovered the wreck, were not likely at that early hour to come down to the beach.
It took them more than half an hour to get clear of the rocks. When once out on the open sea, they began to breathe more freely. They pulled on and on; still, unless they should get the wind, they could not hope to make much progress. The day was advancing. Bill wetted his finger and held it up.
“There’s a breeze,” he cried out; “hoist the sail, Jack.”
The sail filled as Bill sheeted it home, and the raft began to glide more rapidly over the water.
Jack took in the oars, for he wanted to rest, and there was but little use rowing, though it might have helped the raft on slightly.
He could now look about him, and as the two harbours to the east and west opened out, he turned his eyes anxiously towards them.
If they were pursued, it would be from one or the other. He had little fear from that on the west, as there was no one likely to trouble himself about the matter; but there were officials living near the larger harbour, and they might think it their duty to ascertain what the small raft standing off shore under sail could be about.
“I wish that we had got away a couple of hours ago,” said Bill; but he did not remind Jack that it was through his fault they had not done so. He blamed himself, indeed, for having gone to see the Turgots, much as he would have regretted leaving the country without paying them a visit.
The farther the raft got from the shore the more rapidly it glided along, the sea being too smooth in any way to impede its progress.
Bill’s whole attention was taken up in steering, so as to keep the raft right before the wind.
Presently Jack cried out, “There’s a boat coming out of the harbour. She’s just hoisted her sail, and a whacking big sail it is. She’s coming after us. Oh! Bill! what shall we do?”
“Try to keep ahead of her,” answered Bill, glancing round for a moment. “The Frenchmen may not think it worth while to chase us far, even if they are in chase of us, and that’s not certain. Don’t let us cry out before we are hurt. Get out the oars, they’ll help us on a little, and we’ll do our best to escape. I don’t fancy being shut up again, or perhaps being carried off to a prison, and forced into a dungeon, or maybe shot, for they’ll declare that we are escaped prisoners.”
Jack did not, however, require these remarks to make him pull with all his might; still he could not help looking back occasionally. He was standing up, it should be understood, rowing forward, with the oars crossing, the larboard oar held in the right hand, and the starboard in the left.
“The boat’s coming on three knots to our one,” he cried out. “It won’t take her long to be up with us.”
“Pull away,” again cried Bill. “We’ll hold on till the Frenchmen begin to fire. If their bullets come near us, it will be time to think whether it will be worth running the risk of being shot.”
Jack continued to row with might and main, and the raft went wonderfully fast over the water. It was too evident, however, that the boat was in pursuit of them, and in a few minutes a musket ball splashed into the water a short distance astern of the raft.
“That shows that they are in earnest,” said Jack. “We had better lower the sail, another might come aboard us.”
“Hold all fast, perhaps they are getting tired of chasing us, and may give it up when they see that we are determined to get away,” replied Bill; not that he had much hope that this was the case, but he stuck to the principle of not giving in as long as there was a chance of escape.
Jack had plenty of courage, but he did not like being fired at without the means of returning the compliment.
Another shot from the boat came whistling close to them.
“It’s of no use,” cried Jack, “we must lower the sail.”
“If you’re afraid, take in the oars and lie down between the chests; you’ll run very little risk of being hit there; but for my part, I’ll stand at the helm till the boat gets up with us,” said Bill.
Jack would not do this, but pulled away as stoutly as at first.
Presently another shot struck one of the oars, and so splintered it that the next pull Jack gave it broke short off. He was now compelled to take in the other.
“The next time the Frenchmen fire they may aim better,” he said. “Come, Bill, I’m ready to stand by you, but there’s no use being killed if we can help it.”
“The boat isn’t up with us yet,” answered Bill. “Till she gets alongside I’ll hold on, and maybe at the very last the Frenchmen will give up.”
“I don’t see any hope of that,” said Jack. “In ten minutes we shall be prisoners. By-the-bye, I turned all my gold into this chest. If the Frenchmen find it they’ll keep it, so I’ll fill my pockets again, and they may not think of looking into them, but they’re sure to rummage the chest.”
Saying this, Jack opened the chest, and soon found his treasure, which he restored to his pockets. He asked Bill to take some, but Bill declined on the same ground that he had before refused to appropriate it.
Bill again advised Jack to lie down, and, to induce him to do so, he himself knelt on the raft, as he could in that position steer as well as when standing up.
Thus they presented the smallest possible mark to the Frenchmen.
Shot after shot was fired at them. Their chances of escape were indeed rapidly diminishing.
At last the Frenchmen ceased firing.
They were either struck by the hardihood of the boys, or had expended their ammunition; but the boat came on as rapidly as before, and was now not half a cable’s length from them.
“We must lower the sail,” cried Bill, with a sigh, “or the Frenchmen maybe will run us down;” and Jack let go the halyards.
In another minute the boat was up to them.
Besides her crew, there were five soldiers on board.
A volley of questions burst from the people in the boat; and all seemed jabbering and talking together.
As she got alongside the raft, two men leaped out, and seizing Jack and Bill, hauled them into the boat, while another made fast the raft, ready to tow it back to the harbour.
Jack and Bill were at once handed aft to the stern-sheets, where they were made to sit down. Immediately the officer in command of the boat put various questions to them, as to who they were, where they had come from, and where they were going.
According to their previous agreement they made no reply, so that their captors might not discover that they understood French; still, as far as Bill could make out, the Frenchmen were not aware that they were the lads who had escaped from the old tower.
They had no reason to complain of the way they were spoken of by the Frenchmen, who were evidently struck by their hardihood and determination in their persevering efforts to escape. They remarked to each other that their young prisoners were brave boys, and expressed their satisfaction that they were not hurt.
When the officer found, as he supposed, that they could not answer him, he forbore to put any further questions.
The crew did not appear to be angry at the long pull that had been given them back; indeed, Jack and Bill suspected, from what they heard, that the seamen, at all events, would not have been sorry if they had escaped altogether.
On reaching the landing-place in the harbour, they found a party of soldiers, with an officer, who, from what Bill made out, had sent the boat in pursuit of them.
As soon as they stepped on shore the officer began to question them, in the same way as the commander of the boat had done.
Bill shrugged his shoulders and turned to Jack, and Jack shrugged his and turned to Bill, as much as to say, “I wonder what he’s talking about?”
“The lads do not understand French, that is evident,” said the officer to a subordinate standing near him; “I shall get nothing out of them without an interpreter. They do not look stupid either, and they must be bold fellows, or they would not have attempted to made a voyage on that raft. I must have a nearer look at it;” and he ordered the boatmen to bring it in close to the shore, so that he might examine it.
He again turned to Bill, and said, “What were you going to attempt to cross the Channel on that?”
Bill, as before, shrugged his shoulders, quite in the French fashion, for he had learnt the trick from Pierre, who, when he was in doubt about a matter, always did so.
“I forgot; the boy doesn’t understand French,” observed the officer.
Bill had some little difficulty in refraining from laughing, as he understood perfectly well everything that was said around him, except when the Frenchmen talked unusually fast.
“Let the raft be moored close to the shore, just in its present state,” said the officer; “the general may wish to see it. How could the lads have contrived to build such a machine?”
The commander of the boat explained that a wreck had occurred on the shore, and that they had evidently built it from the materials they found on board her, but anything further about them he could not say.
“Well, then, I’ll take them up at once to the general, and the interpreter attached to our division will draw from them all we want to know. Come, lads! you must follow me,” he said. “Sergeant, bring the prisoners along with you.”
On this Jack and Bill found themselves surrounded by the soldiers; and thinking it possible, should they not move fast enough, that their movements might be expedited by a prick from the bayonets, they marched briskly forward, keeping good pace with the men.
Chapter Fourteen.Again shut up.“I say, Bill, I wonder what the mounseers are going to do with us,” whispered Jack, as they marched along. “Will they put handcuffs on our wrists and throw us into a dungeon, do you think?”Bill acknowledged that he feared such might be the fate prepared for them. They were not, however, ill-treated during their walk. Naturally they felt very much disappointed at being recaptured, but they tried as before to put as bold a face as they could on the matter, and talked away to each other in an apparently unconcerned manner.They found from the remarks of the soldiers that they had a march of a couple of miles or more inland to the place where the troops were encamped, and that they were not to be carried to the old tower.On one account they were sorry for this, as, having made their escape once, they thought that they might make it again, though, of course, they would be more strictly guarded if it was discovered who they were.From a height they reached they saw the camp spread out on a wide level space a short distance off. As they got nearer to it they observed a party of officers on horseback riding towards them, one of whom, from the waving plume in his hat, and from his taking the lead, they supposed was the general.They were right in their conjecture. As he approached with his staff, the officer who had charge of them ordered his men to halt and draw on one side.The general reined in his horse and inquired who they were.The captain explained that two foreign lads, supposed to be English, had been discovered, endeavouring to leave the shore on a small raft of curious construction, such as no sane people would have wished to go to sea on; that there was something very suspicious about their movements, as they had persisted in trying to escape, although fired at by the soldiers, and that he had considered it his duty to bring them up for examination, as he could not understand them or make them understand him.“You acted rightly, Captain Dupont,” said the general. “Let them be brought to my quarters, and I’ll send for Colonel O’Toole to cross-question them.” Bill and Jack understood every word that was said. “We are in for it,” said Bill; “but we must put a bold face on the matter, and speak the truth. We can say that we were living in the cavern for some time, and that when the brig was wrecked, we resolved at once to build a raft, and get back to our own country.”“It would save a great deal of trouble if we were to say that we were wrecked in the brig, and then it would be but natural that we should try to escape from her,” replied Jack.“It would not be the truth, and we should not be believed,” answered Bill. “I would say just what happened—that our ship caught fire and blew up, that we were saved by the fishermen, that some French soldiers got hold of us and carried us off prisoners, and that we made our escape from them. We need not mention the names of our friends, and perhaps the interpreter won’t be very particular in making inquiries.”Bill finally persuaded Jack to agree that they should give a true account of themselves, leaving out only such particulars as were not necessary to mention, such as their visit to the Turgots, and their discovery of the smugglers’ stores.The general, who was making a survey of the country around the camp, rode on with his staff, while Captain Dupont and his men conducted their two young prisoners to head quarters, there to await his return.The general was residing in an old chateau, with a high-peaked roof, and towers at each of the angles of the building.The party passed through the gateway, and proceeded to a room near the chief entrance, which served as a guard-room.The soldiers remained outside, while the captain, with two men to guard the prisoners, entered. Jack and Bill had to wait for some time, during which they were allowed to sit on a bench by themselves.Jack began to make observations on the people around them.“Hush!” whispered Bill, “some one here may understand English better than we suppose, and we shall be foolish to let our tongues get us into a worse scrape than we are in already.”Jack took Bill’s advice, and when he made any remark it was in a whisper.They saw several of the officers who entered looking at them, and they were evidently the subject of their conversation. Jack and Bill had reason to consider themselves for a time persons of some importance, though they had no wish to be so.At last an officer in a handsome uniform entered. He was a red-haired man, with queer twinkling eyes, and a cock-up nose, anything but of a Roman type.Captain Dupont spoke to him, when the lads saw him eyeing them, and presently he came up and said, “Hurroo! now me boys, just be afther telling me what part of the world you come from!”Bill, as agreed on, began his narrative in a very circumstantial manner.“All moighty foine, if thrue,” observed Colonel O’Toole, for he was the officer who had just arrived, having been sent for to act as interpreter.“It’s true, sir, every word of it,” said Bill.“Well! we shall see, afther you repeat it all over again to the gineral, and moind you thin don’t made any changes,” said the colonel.Bill wisely did not reply. Presently the general with his staff appeared, he and a few officers passing on into an inner room. A few minutes afterwards Jack and Bill were sent for.They found the general with Colonel O’Toole and several other persons seated at a table.The general spoke a few words, when the colonel again told the prisoners to give an account of themselves.Bill did so exactly in the words he had before used, Colonel O’Toole interpreting sentence by sentence.“Good!” said the general. “And what could induce you, when you were once safe on shore, to venture out to sea on so dangerous a machine?”The colonel interpreting, turned to Jack.“I wanted to get home and see my mother, for she must fancy I am lost,” answered Jack.“Well, and a very right motive too,” said the colonel; and he explained to the general what Jack had said.“And what induced you to attempt the voyage?” asked the colonel, turning to Bill. “Did you want to get back to see your mother?”“No, sir; I have no mother to see,” answered Bill. “I wanted to get back to do my duty, and fight the enemies of my country.”The general laughed when this was interpreted to him; and observed to the officers around him, “If such is the spirit which animates the boys of England, what must we expect from the men? I must, however, consider whether we shall allow these boys to return home. They are young now, but in a short time they will grow into sturdy fellows.”“They’ve got tongues in their young heads,” remarked the colonel. “I’m not altogether certain that they are quite as innocent as they look. Maybe they were sent on shore as spies, and perhaps are midshipmen disguised as common seamen.”“Let them be searched, then, and ascertain whether they have any papers about them which may show their real character,” said the general.Jack and Bill clearly understood these remarks, and began to feel very uncomfortable.Bill remembered that Jack had got his pockets filled with gold, and Jack remembered it too, and wished that he had left it behind in the cavern as Bill had advised.The colonel, who was in no wise particular as to what work he performed, at once took hold of Bill.“Come, young gintleman,” he said, “let me see what you have got in your pockets, and next your skin; or, if you will save me the throuble, just hand out your orders or any papers you may have about you.”“I have got none, sir,” answered Bill. “I told you the truth, that we are mere ship-boys, and as to being spies as you seem to think, we had nothing to spy out that I know of.”“Well, we will soon see all about that,” said the colonel, beginning to search Bill; but, greatly to his surprise, he found nothing whatever about him, except his knife, the whole of Bill’s worldly wealth, “I told you so, sir,” said Bill, when he had finished. “I spoke only the truth about myself and my companion.” Bill said this, hoping that Jack would escape the search; but the colonel was far too knowing, and presently he seized upon Jack, who, in spite of his efforts to appear unconcerned, began to quake.The first plunge the colonel made with his hand into one of Jack’s pockets brought forth a number of gold pieces. “Hurroo! now, this is your innocence is it, young gintlemen?” he exclaimed, exhibiting a handful of gold to the general. “Let me be afther seeing what your other pocket contains;” and as he spoke he quickly drew forth another handful of gold, some of which, observing that the general and the other officers were examining the first which he had produced, he slipped into his own pocket.“Troth! you’re an arrant young rogue,” he exclaimed. “You either stole these, or they were given you to bribe the people to betray their country.”“They were not given me to bribe any one, and I didn’t steal them,” answered Jack, boldly; “I took them out of the chest which was on our raft, and there was no harm in doing that, I should think.”Bill was somewhat surprised to hear Jack say this. It was the truth, and the idea must have at that moment occurred to him. He was thus saved from having to betray the existence of the boxes of gold in the cavern, which the colonel would not have long allowed to remain unvisited, he suspected, from the little incident which has just been described.The colonel translated fairly enough to the general what Jack had just said.“It is probably the truth,” he remarked; “however, let the boys be detained till we can ascertain more about them. I don’t wish to have them ill-treated. There is a room in the western turret where they can be shut up securely till to-morrow. Colonel O’Toole, see that my orders are carried out; but you can first let them have a view of the army, that they may tell their friends, if they get home, of the mighty force prepared for the conquest of England, and impress on the minds of their countrymen how hopeless is their attempt to resist the armies of France.”Bill understood every word of these remarks, and they raised his hopes that they might be set at liberty and allowed to return home; still, the Irish colonel did not look very amiably at them; perhaps he did not quite like Bill’s observations.“Come along,” he said, turning to them; and, bowing to the general and to the other officers, he conducted them from the room, when the two soldiers, who stood ready outside, again took charge of them.They were led along to a terrace, from whence a view extended over the surrounding country. Here they saw an almost countless number of white tents pitched, with soldiers in various uniforms moving among them.“Can you count those tents?” asked the colonel. “Each tent contains eleven or thirteen men, and one spirit animates the whole—that is, the conquest of perfidious Albion.”“They’ll have a tough job, sir, let me tell them,” observed Bill. “I haven’t seen much of English sojers except the Guards in London, and our Marines on board ship, but I know that one of our Guardsmen would lick a whole tentful of the little chaps I see about here; and I would advise the general to stay quietly at home, and not attempt to take our tight little island.”“The French have wrongs to revenge, as have my gallant people, and bitterly will they revenge them some day, when your king and his nobles are brought in chains to France.”“That won’t be just yet, and may be never,” answered Bill, who was growing bold, and inclined to speak his mind. “I’ll not bandy words with you, boy. Take care what you are about!” exclaimed the colonel, who did not like Bill’s boldness, especially when he saw a broad grin on Jack’s countenance. “If you ever get back to England—and I don’t say you ever will get back—remember what you have seen to-day, and tell those wretched slaves your countrymen what they are to expect.”“We’ll not forget it, sir,” answered Bill, thinking it wiser to be civil; “and I hope the general won’t think it necessary to keep in prison two poor sailor boys who never did any harm to the French, and never wished to do any harm, except to thrash them well in a fair stand-up fight; and you will allow, sir, that that’s all right and fair play.”“Or receive a thrashing from them,” answered the colonel; “however, come along. I must see you stowed safely in the tower, where the general has ordered you to be placed, and moind you kape quiet and don’t kick up a row, as you midshipmen are apt to do.”“We are not midshipmen, sir,” said Bill, who had not forgotten what the colonel had before said. “We are humble boys serving before the mast. Jack, there, is a fisherman’s son, and I am a poor boy out of the London streets. I am only telling you the truth, sir.”“You are a very sharp boy, then,” responded the colonel, looking at Bill.“Yes, sir,” said Bill, “the school I went to is a place where boys are apt to get their wits sharpened. They have little else to depend on.”The colonel still seemed to doubt whether Bill was speaking the truth, and, perhaps fortunately for them, was fully impressed with the idea that he had charge of a couple of midshipmen. Possibly Bill was a lord’s son; and though he railed against English lords, yet, when brought into contact with them, he was inclined to pay them the deepest respect.Owing to the colonel’s idea, Bill and Jack were treated with far more attention than they otherwise would have received.The room into which they were put, though small, had a table and chairs in it, and a bed in one corner.“You will remain here for the present,” said the colonel, as he saw them into the room; “probably before long the general may wish to examine you again, and I would advise you to take care that you tell him only the truth, and confess your object in coming to the country.”Bill made no answer; and the colonel, after again surveying the room, took his departure, locking the door behind him.
“I say, Bill, I wonder what the mounseers are going to do with us,” whispered Jack, as they marched along. “Will they put handcuffs on our wrists and throw us into a dungeon, do you think?”
Bill acknowledged that he feared such might be the fate prepared for them. They were not, however, ill-treated during their walk. Naturally they felt very much disappointed at being recaptured, but they tried as before to put as bold a face as they could on the matter, and talked away to each other in an apparently unconcerned manner.
They found from the remarks of the soldiers that they had a march of a couple of miles or more inland to the place where the troops were encamped, and that they were not to be carried to the old tower.
On one account they were sorry for this, as, having made their escape once, they thought that they might make it again, though, of course, they would be more strictly guarded if it was discovered who they were.
From a height they reached they saw the camp spread out on a wide level space a short distance off. As they got nearer to it they observed a party of officers on horseback riding towards them, one of whom, from the waving plume in his hat, and from his taking the lead, they supposed was the general.
They were right in their conjecture. As he approached with his staff, the officer who had charge of them ordered his men to halt and draw on one side.
The general reined in his horse and inquired who they were.
The captain explained that two foreign lads, supposed to be English, had been discovered, endeavouring to leave the shore on a small raft of curious construction, such as no sane people would have wished to go to sea on; that there was something very suspicious about their movements, as they had persisted in trying to escape, although fired at by the soldiers, and that he had considered it his duty to bring them up for examination, as he could not understand them or make them understand him.
“You acted rightly, Captain Dupont,” said the general. “Let them be brought to my quarters, and I’ll send for Colonel O’Toole to cross-question them.” Bill and Jack understood every word that was said. “We are in for it,” said Bill; “but we must put a bold face on the matter, and speak the truth. We can say that we were living in the cavern for some time, and that when the brig was wrecked, we resolved at once to build a raft, and get back to our own country.”
“It would save a great deal of trouble if we were to say that we were wrecked in the brig, and then it would be but natural that we should try to escape from her,” replied Jack.
“It would not be the truth, and we should not be believed,” answered Bill. “I would say just what happened—that our ship caught fire and blew up, that we were saved by the fishermen, that some French soldiers got hold of us and carried us off prisoners, and that we made our escape from them. We need not mention the names of our friends, and perhaps the interpreter won’t be very particular in making inquiries.”
Bill finally persuaded Jack to agree that they should give a true account of themselves, leaving out only such particulars as were not necessary to mention, such as their visit to the Turgots, and their discovery of the smugglers’ stores.
The general, who was making a survey of the country around the camp, rode on with his staff, while Captain Dupont and his men conducted their two young prisoners to head quarters, there to await his return.
The general was residing in an old chateau, with a high-peaked roof, and towers at each of the angles of the building.
The party passed through the gateway, and proceeded to a room near the chief entrance, which served as a guard-room.
The soldiers remained outside, while the captain, with two men to guard the prisoners, entered. Jack and Bill had to wait for some time, during which they were allowed to sit on a bench by themselves.
Jack began to make observations on the people around them.
“Hush!” whispered Bill, “some one here may understand English better than we suppose, and we shall be foolish to let our tongues get us into a worse scrape than we are in already.”
Jack took Bill’s advice, and when he made any remark it was in a whisper.
They saw several of the officers who entered looking at them, and they were evidently the subject of their conversation. Jack and Bill had reason to consider themselves for a time persons of some importance, though they had no wish to be so.
At last an officer in a handsome uniform entered. He was a red-haired man, with queer twinkling eyes, and a cock-up nose, anything but of a Roman type.
Captain Dupont spoke to him, when the lads saw him eyeing them, and presently he came up and said, “Hurroo! now me boys, just be afther telling me what part of the world you come from!”
Bill, as agreed on, began his narrative in a very circumstantial manner.
“All moighty foine, if thrue,” observed Colonel O’Toole, for he was the officer who had just arrived, having been sent for to act as interpreter.
“It’s true, sir, every word of it,” said Bill.
“Well! we shall see, afther you repeat it all over again to the gineral, and moind you thin don’t made any changes,” said the colonel.
Bill wisely did not reply. Presently the general with his staff appeared, he and a few officers passing on into an inner room. A few minutes afterwards Jack and Bill were sent for.
They found the general with Colonel O’Toole and several other persons seated at a table.
The general spoke a few words, when the colonel again told the prisoners to give an account of themselves.
Bill did so exactly in the words he had before used, Colonel O’Toole interpreting sentence by sentence.
“Good!” said the general. “And what could induce you, when you were once safe on shore, to venture out to sea on so dangerous a machine?”
The colonel interpreting, turned to Jack.
“I wanted to get home and see my mother, for she must fancy I am lost,” answered Jack.
“Well, and a very right motive too,” said the colonel; and he explained to the general what Jack had said.
“And what induced you to attempt the voyage?” asked the colonel, turning to Bill. “Did you want to get back to see your mother?”
“No, sir; I have no mother to see,” answered Bill. “I wanted to get back to do my duty, and fight the enemies of my country.”
The general laughed when this was interpreted to him; and observed to the officers around him, “If such is the spirit which animates the boys of England, what must we expect from the men? I must, however, consider whether we shall allow these boys to return home. They are young now, but in a short time they will grow into sturdy fellows.”
“They’ve got tongues in their young heads,” remarked the colonel. “I’m not altogether certain that they are quite as innocent as they look. Maybe they were sent on shore as spies, and perhaps are midshipmen disguised as common seamen.”
“Let them be searched, then, and ascertain whether they have any papers about them which may show their real character,” said the general.
Jack and Bill clearly understood these remarks, and began to feel very uncomfortable.
Bill remembered that Jack had got his pockets filled with gold, and Jack remembered it too, and wished that he had left it behind in the cavern as Bill had advised.
The colonel, who was in no wise particular as to what work he performed, at once took hold of Bill.
“Come, young gintleman,” he said, “let me see what you have got in your pockets, and next your skin; or, if you will save me the throuble, just hand out your orders or any papers you may have about you.”
“I have got none, sir,” answered Bill. “I told you the truth, that we are mere ship-boys, and as to being spies as you seem to think, we had nothing to spy out that I know of.”
“Well, we will soon see all about that,” said the colonel, beginning to search Bill; but, greatly to his surprise, he found nothing whatever about him, except his knife, the whole of Bill’s worldly wealth, “I told you so, sir,” said Bill, when he had finished. “I spoke only the truth about myself and my companion.” Bill said this, hoping that Jack would escape the search; but the colonel was far too knowing, and presently he seized upon Jack, who, in spite of his efforts to appear unconcerned, began to quake.
The first plunge the colonel made with his hand into one of Jack’s pockets brought forth a number of gold pieces. “Hurroo! now, this is your innocence is it, young gintlemen?” he exclaimed, exhibiting a handful of gold to the general. “Let me be afther seeing what your other pocket contains;” and as he spoke he quickly drew forth another handful of gold, some of which, observing that the general and the other officers were examining the first which he had produced, he slipped into his own pocket.
“Troth! you’re an arrant young rogue,” he exclaimed. “You either stole these, or they were given you to bribe the people to betray their country.”
“They were not given me to bribe any one, and I didn’t steal them,” answered Jack, boldly; “I took them out of the chest which was on our raft, and there was no harm in doing that, I should think.”
Bill was somewhat surprised to hear Jack say this. It was the truth, and the idea must have at that moment occurred to him. He was thus saved from having to betray the existence of the boxes of gold in the cavern, which the colonel would not have long allowed to remain unvisited, he suspected, from the little incident which has just been described.
The colonel translated fairly enough to the general what Jack had just said.
“It is probably the truth,” he remarked; “however, let the boys be detained till we can ascertain more about them. I don’t wish to have them ill-treated. There is a room in the western turret where they can be shut up securely till to-morrow. Colonel O’Toole, see that my orders are carried out; but you can first let them have a view of the army, that they may tell their friends, if they get home, of the mighty force prepared for the conquest of England, and impress on the minds of their countrymen how hopeless is their attempt to resist the armies of France.”
Bill understood every word of these remarks, and they raised his hopes that they might be set at liberty and allowed to return home; still, the Irish colonel did not look very amiably at them; perhaps he did not quite like Bill’s observations.
“Come along,” he said, turning to them; and, bowing to the general and to the other officers, he conducted them from the room, when the two soldiers, who stood ready outside, again took charge of them.
They were led along to a terrace, from whence a view extended over the surrounding country. Here they saw an almost countless number of white tents pitched, with soldiers in various uniforms moving among them.
“Can you count those tents?” asked the colonel. “Each tent contains eleven or thirteen men, and one spirit animates the whole—that is, the conquest of perfidious Albion.”
“They’ll have a tough job, sir, let me tell them,” observed Bill. “I haven’t seen much of English sojers except the Guards in London, and our Marines on board ship, but I know that one of our Guardsmen would lick a whole tentful of the little chaps I see about here; and I would advise the general to stay quietly at home, and not attempt to take our tight little island.”
“The French have wrongs to revenge, as have my gallant people, and bitterly will they revenge them some day, when your king and his nobles are brought in chains to France.”
“That won’t be just yet, and may be never,” answered Bill, who was growing bold, and inclined to speak his mind. “I’ll not bandy words with you, boy. Take care what you are about!” exclaimed the colonel, who did not like Bill’s boldness, especially when he saw a broad grin on Jack’s countenance. “If you ever get back to England—and I don’t say you ever will get back—remember what you have seen to-day, and tell those wretched slaves your countrymen what they are to expect.”
“We’ll not forget it, sir,” answered Bill, thinking it wiser to be civil; “and I hope the general won’t think it necessary to keep in prison two poor sailor boys who never did any harm to the French, and never wished to do any harm, except to thrash them well in a fair stand-up fight; and you will allow, sir, that that’s all right and fair play.”
“Or receive a thrashing from them,” answered the colonel; “however, come along. I must see you stowed safely in the tower, where the general has ordered you to be placed, and moind you kape quiet and don’t kick up a row, as you midshipmen are apt to do.”
“We are not midshipmen, sir,” said Bill, who had not forgotten what the colonel had before said. “We are humble boys serving before the mast. Jack, there, is a fisherman’s son, and I am a poor boy out of the London streets. I am only telling you the truth, sir.”
“You are a very sharp boy, then,” responded the colonel, looking at Bill.
“Yes, sir,” said Bill, “the school I went to is a place where boys are apt to get their wits sharpened. They have little else to depend on.”
The colonel still seemed to doubt whether Bill was speaking the truth, and, perhaps fortunately for them, was fully impressed with the idea that he had charge of a couple of midshipmen. Possibly Bill was a lord’s son; and though he railed against English lords, yet, when brought into contact with them, he was inclined to pay them the deepest respect.
Owing to the colonel’s idea, Bill and Jack were treated with far more attention than they otherwise would have received.
The room into which they were put, though small, had a table and chairs in it, and a bed in one corner.
“You will remain here for the present,” said the colonel, as he saw them into the room; “probably before long the general may wish to examine you again, and I would advise you to take care that you tell him only the truth, and confess your object in coming to the country.”
Bill made no answer; and the colonel, after again surveying the room, took his departure, locking the door behind him.