The Old Tobacco Shop Part 24

When the meal was over, the captain led his guests forth to their respective bedrooms, each carrying a lighted candle from the table. At the top of a stair was a closed door, which he unlocked with his key, and locked after the others had pa.s.sed through. Along the pa.s.sage which ran from this door were doors at intervals in the walls, and these he opened, one after another, showing one of his guests each time into a bedroom and leaving him there. On the stair, Aunt Amanda had whispered into Toby's ear the words, "Don't go to bed. Pa.s.s it along." And these words had been pa.s.sed in a whisper from one to another of the captives.

Aunt Amanda, in her own room, now sat herself down to wait. She blew out her candle, and sat watching the shaft of moonlight which came through the slit that served for a window. She must have fallen asleep, for she came to herself with a start, and found the shaft of moonlight gone. She limped to the door, and found it locked. She took from her dress the pigeon-pie key and unlocked the door. The pa.s.sage-way outside was silent and dark. She felt her way along the wall to the next door, and found it locked. She quietly unlocked it with her key. Toby was sitting within, waiting. He rose without a word, and followed her. They tiptoed from door to door, finding each one locked, and silently released each of the prisoners.

The key fitted every lock on their way down stairs. They reached the ground floor without an accident, and there in the pa.s.sage which they had first seen they stopped to listen. They heard the click of a latch at the rear; a door there opened quietly on a crack and a light shone through; every heart stopped beating for a moment. The door opened wider, and a lighted candle appeared, and over it the wrinkled face of an old woman; she peered out into the pa.s.sage, shading the candle with a trembling hand; the party of quaking runaways stood as still as mice, and held their breath; the old woman blinked for a moment into the darkness, and blew out her candle. All was dark again, and the latch of the door clicked.

The runaways lost no time. They crept silently but rapidly to the entrance door. Aunt Amanda unlocked and opened it, and they pressed out hurriedly. They were standing on the gra.s.s in a flood of moonlight.

Aunt Amanda, whose lameness had been almost forgotten in her excitement, now leaned on Toby, who was holding Freddie's hand, and who led the way to the rim of the forest where the trail lay. There was some difficulty in finding the trail, but they did find it at last, and they filed into the forest. They had not gone more than twenty yards when Toby, who was in advance, saw a great black object directly across their path. He went forward cautiously, in spite of his alarm, and breathed a sigh of joy when he saw what it was: it was a mule, saddled and bridled, and tied to a bush. Further on were other mules, all tethered; there were ten in all, of which eight were saddled and two were laden with packs.

"Blessings on that Ketch," whispered Aunt Amanda.

In a moment the entire party were mounted. In another moment they were going along the trail at a fast walk. The mules knew the way, and there was now no danger of going astray in the forest. Only, where were they to go, after all? If the pirates should catch them, everything would soon be over. If they should manage to elude the pirates, they would still be lost in the wilderness of this unknown Island. What was to become of them not one could tell. The future seemed very dark indeed.

Once or twice they paused, to listen for sounds of pursuit; but they heard nothing; not a sound disturbed the stillness; and the little moonlight which filtered here and there through the trees seemed to make the darkness more intense.

They had gone about half a mile, and were plodding along in drowsy silence, when suddenly, out of the tall bushes beside the trail, seven dark figures sprang upon them and seized the bridles of their mules.

"Ah!" cried Toby. "We are lost! The pirates!"

The mules stood stock still.

"It's no use," said Toby. "We can't escape. They are armed, and we are not. All right, Captain Lingo, don't strike; we surrender. We'll go back with you; don't strike."

"I beg your pardon," said a voice which none of them had ever heard before. "Are you pirates?"

"Ain't you pirates yourselves?" cried Aunt Amanda.

"What?" said the voice. "Is there a lady here? In that case, you are probably not pirates. Perhaps we have been too hasty. I beg your pardon."

"Who are you?" said Aunt Amanda.

"Do you admit that you are not pirates?" said the voice.

"Admit it!" said Aunt Amanda. "We vow and declare it! The very idea!"

"I am sorry to hear it," said the voice. "We are deeply disappointed. We of course cannot doubt the word of a lady, but we were almost sure we had found them. We have been searching for pirates for a long time, and we were advised that they lived somewhere near here. We must have missed our way. Could you perhaps direct us? It is a place called High Dudgeon."

"You bet we could," said Toby, "but we won't. We are running away from there, and you had better run too."

"Then perhaps you happen to know the whereabouts of a place called Low Dudgeon, where the pirates formerly lived?"

"We do," said Toby. "You are about half-way now between High Dudgeon and Low Dudgeon; and you had better get out of this neighborhood as fast as you can."

"This is very interesting," said the voice. "I feel that you will be able to give us some valuable information. If you have no objection, we will walk behind you until we come to a place where there is more light, when we will have a few minutes' conversation on this interesting subject."

The seven dark figures stood aside, and the mules moved onward. The seven figures walked behind.

In five minutes they reached a patch of ground where the moon shone brightly through the trees, and the riders drew in their animals, and turned to look at the figures who now marched sedately up beside them.

These figures stood in a row facing the riders, and six of them turned their heads to the right, looking towards the first in the row, who was probably their leader.

They were seven tall men, dressed in black frock coats and striped trousers, with pearl-gray spats; but instead of high silk hats each wore a small black skull-cap, as more convenient, no doubt, for their rough life in the forest. It could be seen that they were no ordinary men; they looked like professors at college; their faces were thoughtful and even intellectual; each one wore spectacles; they squinted as if from too much poring over books by lamplight. The one at the head of the row was fat, with mutton-chop whiskers, and his frock coat was b.u.t.toned tight over a round stomach. He spoke in the same voice which they had heard in the dark.

"I beg your pardon," said he. "If you will be so kind as to direct us either to High Dudgeon or to Low Dudgeon, we will not fail to gratefully acknowledge--"

"Aha!" said one of the others, in a playful tone. "A split infinitive, Professor!"

"I beg your pardon. A slight inadvertence. To acknowledge gratefully your kind--"

"There's no time to talk now," said Toby. "We are running away from these bloodthirsty cut-throats, and if they catch us we are dead, as sure as you're born. I'll tell you what we will do. We'll all keep on to Low Dudgeon, and we'll go in there, if we can get in, and decide there what we had better do. It looked like a strong tower, and we would certainly be as safe inside there as out of doors, if the pirates should come along."

The Professor looked down the line of his companions. "What is the sense of the Committee on this proposal?" said he. "Ah. Very good. We are agreed. Proceed, my dear sir."

"One minute," said Aunt Amanda. "Excuse my asking, but I should like to know who you are, anyway."

The Professor waved a fat hand towards his companions, and looking at Aunt Amanda, said:

"We belong, madam, to the Society for Piratical Research, under the patronage of his gracious Majesty, the King of this Island. You behold before you a committee of that Society; the Committee on Doubtful and Fabulous Tales, sometimes called for the sake of brevity, from the initials of its t.i.tle, the Daft Committee. As Third Vice-President of the Society for Piratical Research, I have the honour to be Chairman of the Daft Committee. The seat of our Society is far from here, in the princ.i.p.al city of this kingdom, the famous City of Towers, blest as the residence of his gracious Majesty, the most learned and liberal of princes. Our camp, which we made only late this evening, lies at no great distance from this spot. We did not wish to delay our researches until morning, and so, as Third Vice-President of the Society for Piratical Research, and Chairman of the Daft Committee, I--"

"Much obliged," said Toby. "We've no time to listen to any more. We must get on."

The Daft Committee, led by the Third Vice-President, fell in behind the mules, and the whole party moved forward, as rapidly as the mules and the committee could walk.

Aunt Amanda felt far from easy at the prospect of entering Low Dudgeon; but she had told Toby something of Ketch's strange words and manner regarding that place, and she was glad to leave the responsibility to him. Their dark and silent progress through the forest continued, and when they had gone what they thought must have been about half a mile, they knew they must be near their destination. Every eye was watchful and every ear was alert. A grunt from Toby in advance notified the others that they had arrived, and they filed out of the forest into the clearing, and saw before them the squat tower of Low Dudgeon in the moonlight.

The same light as before appeared from within, through the upper slits in the side of the tower. As they drew in their mules at the edge of the clearing, the Daft Committee came up, and the Third Vice-President spoke in a low voice.

"I presume," he said, "that this is Low Dudgeon. I have heard of it, but I have never seen it. It was formerly, some hundred years ago, the headquarters of the pirates. But something occurred here, I do not know what, which impelled the pirates to move. They accordingly built themselves a much better residence, known as High Dudgeon, where I understand they now live. I do not believe that Low Dudgeon has been occupied since. Gentlemen," he said, turning to his companions, "we are fortunate in having found this interesting place at last, after so much trouble. It is the very spot in which to begin our researches."

A murmur of approval arose from the other members of the committee.

"I don't know whether it's occupied or not," said Aunt Amanda. "Ketch told me that no one lives there, and that there's thirteen of 'em; and he seemed to be afraid of the place. And there's a light up there. I don't understand it."

"Gentlemen," said the Third Vice-President, "is it the sense of the committee that we begin our researches in Low Dudgeon?"

Every member of the Daft Committee murmured his a.s.sent.

"If we go into the forest," said Toby, "we may be caught; if we go in here, we are safe for a while, anyway, and we can decide there what we had better do; maybe these gentlemen can send for help. Anyway, let's get in if we can."

The riders dismounted from their mules and tied them to trees; in another moment the whole party were standing before the door of the tower.

"Better knock," said Toby.

They knocked, and knocked again; there was no answer.

"Aunt Amanda," said Toby, "try your key."

Aunt Amanda tried the key, and it fitted; she turned it, and the lock snapped back. Toby thrust open the door.