Queensland Cousins Part 14

"Oh, don't, mummie! don't go," Peter pleaded eagerly; "perhaps it's a black-fellow."

"Nonsense, darling," Mrs. Orban said. "You can stay here with Eustace and Nesta if you like, but of course I must go and see what the noise was."

"I'm going with mother," said Eustace st.u.r.dily.

"So am I," said Nesta.

"We'll all go," said Mrs. Orban cheerily; "and I am quite sure Mary will think us mad when she sees us."

So down the pa.s.sage they went, Peter trembling and clinging to his mother. Straight into Mrs. Orban's room they all trooped, and of course, when they got there, there was no one to be seen--not even Mary turning down the beds.

On they went into the boys' room, and all was peaceful there; for Peter had been too frightened to yell till he reached the dining-room, and Sandy had not been roused.

"There, you see," said Mrs. Orban; "what did I tell you? There are far too many of us in the house now for any one to dare to come."

She went on into the kitchen still holding Peter, and Mary and Kate certainly did look surprised.

"Master Peter has been having a nightmare," Mrs. Orban explained, "and I want to rea.s.sure him. Were you in my room just now, Mary?"

"No, ma'am," Mary said; "I haven't been there since dinner."

"Oh, well, then, he must have been dreaming," Mrs. Orban said, still in the same cheery way. "We will just go all through the house and show him everything is all right, and then I will sit by him till he gets to sleep again."

Eustace took a lantern, and on they all went right through the house, very naturally finding no one. Robertson, who was smoking on the veranda, declared that no one had been up or down the steps since he had been out, and Mrs. Robertson, who was in her bedroom lulling the baby to sleep, said no one had been that way either.

After all of which Eustace and Nesta began to breathe freely; but, to tell the truth, at first they had both been a good deal scared by Peter's announcement. They guessed their mother was just making all this show of bravery for Peter's and their sakes, for another visit from the thief was not at all unlikely.

But when Robertson laughed at the notion of any one having been able to pa.s.s him unseen where he stood near the veranda steps, when every nook and cranny had been looked into and no one was forthcoming to prove Peter's tale, every one was certain he had had a bad dream.

"You are a little silly," Nesta said bracingly. "Of course there are always noises in the house."

"But this was a big noise," Peter objected; "something banged."

"Why didn't you say that before?" said Eustace with superiority; then added, out of the vastness of his recent experience, "n.o.body ever bangs when they want to rob a house; they try to be as silent as mice."

"Besides," said Nesta, "there is nothing for any one to steal now, since we keep all our things hidden away."

This was a rule Mrs. Orban had made--that everything of value must be put away under lock and key. She had no fancy to be perpetually paying away rewards for recovered goods. She believed Sink.u.m Fung to be quite capable of setting people to do these little pilferings just in order to obtain the rewards. Disagreeable as was the idea, it frightened her far less than the thought of genuine black-fellows lurking about the place; they were really dangerous, cruel, and lawless.

Mrs. Orban took Peter back with her into the dining-room, and he sat cuddled up on her knee while she finished dinner.

They were all sitting listening to just one "good-night" story before going to bed, when Mary came into the room, gave a frightened glance round, and exclaimed,--

"Lor', ma'am, haven't you got Miss Becky here? I made sure you had."

Every one stared at Mary, and thought she looked rather white and queer.

"Did you, Mary?" asked Mrs. Orban rather hurriedly. "Why?"

"Well, ma'am," said Mary in an unsteady voice, "because she isn't in her bed."

Mrs. Orban sprang to her feet.

"Not in her bed?" she exclaimed. "My good woman, what do you mean?"

Setting Peter down on the ground, she turned swiftly and left the room.

"I just went in to turn down the beds," explained Mary to the twins as they hurriedly followed, "and went over to Miss Becky's corner to take a look at her, and she wasn't there. I didn't stop a minute, I was so took aback, but came straight off to see if maybe she was in the dining-room. You might have knocked me down with a feather when I saw she wasn't."

Mrs. Orban rushed to Becky's bed. She was standing beside it as if petrified when the others entered. The bed was empty. This was no dream. Becky really and truly was not there.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE WITCH.

Of course Peter's story jumped to every one's mind, and with a horrified cry Mrs. Orban fell forward, fainting, on to the empty bed.

The recent hunt through the house had been, as Eustace guessed, a greater strain than she had allowed any one to see; she could not be certain that they were on a wild-goose chase. This, coming on the top of it, was just too much for her.

Instances of children being stolen had from time to time come to her knowledge--stories of little ones silently, mysteriously disappearing and never being heard of again. The twins had heard the same from the servants, among other disturbing stories. This last terrible event seemed just to prove that the first visitor had been no mere plantation hand; the stealing of a baby was more like the work of the native blacks.

Nesta wrung her hands and wept. Eustace dashed away to fetch Robertson. Mary lost her head completely, and n.o.body thought of trying to restore poor Mrs. Orban to consciousness till motherly little Mrs. Robertson appeared on the scene.

Robertson stood in the middle of the room looking the picture of bewilderment.

"This beats everything," he said in an awed voice.

Every one was really too terrified to make a noise. Puzzled glances were exchanged, questions whispered, and Robertson said again,--

"This beats everything! It doesn't seem possible, unless she has been spirited away; for how could any one pa.s.s me on those steps without my seeing them?"

"Could he have swarmed one of the posts?" Eustace asked.

"I shouldn't say he could," Robertson replied, "but it looks as if he did. How could a man swarm a post with a sleeping child in his arms?"

"Black-fellows are dreadfully clever," said Kate.

"Hush," said Mrs. Robertson, "the poor lady is coming to herself.

Don't let her hear you talking like that. Oh dear, how will she bear it?"

The poor woman's eyes were full of tears. She knew well enough what a mother's feelings would be under such awful circ.u.mstances.

"Every corner of the house was searched," said Robertson meditatively.