Cormorant Crag Part 89

Daygo groaned, and Vince watched the sh.o.r.e, which they were fast nearing. Then, springing up, he began to wave his hands frantically.

"Look, Mike! that's my father. Yes; and yours. Ah! they see us, and they're waving their hats. Ahoy! Ash.o.r.e there! Hurrah! we're all right, father."

Mike sprang up too, forgetting his steering; and the boat would have begun to alter her course, but Vince seized the oar and set her right.

"Now then, jump up," he cried, "and show yourself. They see us.

Father's coming nearer down. Mike, we shall be ash.o.r.e in five minutes."

"Oh--oh--oh!" groaned Daygo. "Marcy, young gents, marcy! I know they'll hang me."

Vince turned upon him fiercely, and took out his long Spanish knife, which he opened and whetted upon the gunwale, while the old man's eyes opened so that he showed a ring around the iris.

"What are you going to do, Cinder?" cried Mike, catching him by the arm.

"I'll show you directly," said Vince firmly.

Just then the Doctor and Sir Francis began shouting to the boys; and the people near, among whom were Jemmy Carnach and the Lobster, took off and waved their caps, and cheered.

"Look here, Ladle," whispered Vince: "will you do as I tell you--I mean, do as I do?"

"Yes; anything."

"I'm soaked. Do you mind being the same?"

"Not a bit," cried Mike excitedly.

"Right, then: follow me. It's only fifty or sixty yards now to the tunnel, and we can wade through. Starboard a little more. That's it."

He pressed the oar his companion held, and the boat glided behind the towering rock, hiding the group on sh.o.r.e from their sight; and now Vince bent forward over their prisoner.

"In with the oar, Mike," he said loudly, "and do as I do."

He bent over the old fisherman, whose eyes, were nearly starting out of his head with horror, and with one clean thrust beneath the cord, divided it and set Daygo's wrists free, and then did the same by his ankles.

Then Vince started up.

"There," he cried; "there's our revenge on you, you old ruffian! You've got your boat: sail away, and never let us see you at the Crag again.

Now, Mike, over!"

He set the example; and, as the old man sat up, the two boys dived into the deep clear water together, rose and swam for the tunnel, into which they pa.s.sed, and were soon able to wade on towards the little dock. A minute later each was clasped in his father's arms.

Wet as he was?

Well, it was only sea water.

Need I write about what took place at the Doctor's cottage and at the old manor? I think not. There is surely no boy who reads this and thinks of his mother's tears who cannot imagine the scene far more vividly than I can describe it. For the long mourned ones had returned, as if by a miracle, and all was happiness once more.

That night it was announced that the cutter had gone east, with the schooner close astern; and three days later she was off the Crag, Vince and Mike being ready to meet the lieutenant when he landed and to act as guides.

The officer of the cutter was for making them show the way into the caverns by sea; but on hearing more he had his men furnished with all the picks and bars that could be provided, and then, with an ample supply of lanthorns, the entrance to the dark pa.s.sage was sought, Sir Francis and the Doctor being quite as eager to see the place as the sailors.

Half-way through it was found to be blocked; but a pound of powder well placed and provided with a slow match was left to explode, and as soon as the foul air had cleared away the place was found practicable, and the party descended to find enough cargo left to well lade the cutter.

But the men did not hurry themselves, nor the officers neither; for they found the hospitality at the Mount or at the Doctor's very agreeable.

At last, though, the cutter sailed, but not before an attempt had been made to enter the smugglers' dock; only it was given up as being too risky for His Majesty's Revenue cutter.

Previous to going, the lieutenant, who had become a great friend of the boys, said a few words which afterwards bore fruit. They were these:--

"I say, my lads, why don't you two chaps go to sea? You'd make splendid middies."

They did; but it was not till a year after the announcement which came to the Crag that the two boys' names were down as sharers in the prize money distributed to the officers and men of the cutter.

"And it does seem rum, Ladle," said Vince, as they lay on the thyme-scented gra.s.s, looking out to sea, and occasionally letting their eyes wander towards the great bluff which hid away the Scraw.

"What seems rum?" said Mike wonderingly.

"That we should get a share in poor old Jacques' treasures after all. I wonder what has become of him."

They heard at last that, by the help of one of his men, who had acted as cook on board the lugger, he had escaped to France; and two years later, when they were growing men, they caught sight of old Daygo in Plymouth town, but the old man managed to avoid them, and, for reasons which the reader can easily understand, neither of the young men felt disposed to hunt him out and ask how he came there. Had they done so, they would have found that Joe Daygo had been saving money for many years, and he was living outside the port, where he could see the sea, as "a retired gentleman."

These are his own words.

And the caverns down by the Scraw?

Sixty years' workings of time and tide have made strange alterations there. Huge ma.s.ses have fallen in, rocks have been washed away, and pleasant slopes have taken the place of precipice and dangerous rift; but the sea gulls wheel round the rugged cliffs and rear their young in safety, and upon sunny days, when the fierce currents are running strong, the dark olive-green birds may be seen swimming and diving to bring up their silvery prey to gorge, and afterwards fly off to dry their plumage on shelves and slopes of their home--dangerous surf-girt Cormorant Crag.

The End.