"But suppose, after all, he has got all the stuff hid away. Some men"s very artful, as you"ll find out some day. Oughtn"t we to go back?"
He paused as he said these words, and then laid his hand firmly on Archy"s shoulder.
"I didn"t tell you," he said, "what I saw when I went back to the farm."
"No! What?" cried the midshipman eagerly.
"That old chap having a gla.s.s of real smuggled spirits."
"How do you know it was?"
"Because I tasted it. No mistake about that, I can tell you. Then he was very eager to get me to go up yonder, and that looks bad. He knows all about it."
"Nonsense! If he knew that the smuggled goods were up there he wouldn"t send us to find them."
"How do you know? That may have been his artfulness, to keep us from searching. If he"d as good as said don"t go up there, and tried to stop us, we should have gone at once."
"But we can"t go back and search, Gurr. Suppose we did go and ransacked the place, and hurt everybody"s feelings, and then found nothing, what should we look like then?"
"Silly," said the master laconically, and for a time he was silent, marching on behind the men. "All comes of being sent on such dooty," he burst out with. "It isn"t right to send gentlemen and officers to do such dirty work. I"ve been ashamed of myself ever since I"ve been on the cutter. Hallo! Here"s the farmer again."
For they had suddenly come upon Shackle driving an old grey horse before him as if going on some farming business, and he started apparently from a fit of musing as he came abreast.
"Ah, gentlemen," he said; "going back?"
"Yes," said Gurr smartly.
"Found the stuff?"
"No."
"I say."
"Well?"
"Are you sure there was anything landed there last night?"
"Of course we are."
"Oh, I didn"t know. Good day, gentlemen, good day."
He went on after his horse chuckling to himself, while the search party made for the track to get back to the cove and row back.
But before they were half way there, Archy who had been thinking deeply, suddenly said to Gurr--
"I say, though, isn"t he right?"
"What about, my lad?"
"Are we sure that a cargo was landed last night?"
"Didn"t you and the skipper find three kegs?"
"Yes, but they might have been there a month ago."
"Why, of course, my lad. Here, let"s go and tell the skipper so. How I do hate being sent upon a wild-goose chase like this!"
The rest of the journey to the cove was performed almost in silence; they then embarked, heartily tired with their walk, and ready enough to take the rest of the burden of their journey on their hands and arms by rowing steadily and well, the tide being in their favour.
"Yes, I do hate these jobs," said the master after a long silence. "See that the people was nodding and winking to one another as we went by their cottages?"
"Yes, I did see something of the kind once or twice," replied Archy.
"Laughing at us, and knowing we should find out nothing, while they knew all the time."
The first thing plainly visible as the boat approached the cutter was the head of Tally gazing contemplatively at them over the side, as if anxious to know what news there was from home, and directly after Ram and Jemmy looked over in a quiet stolid way, as if not troubled in the least by the fact that they were prisoners.
"Well, Mr Raystoke," cried the lieutenant, as the young midshipman sprang over the side; "found the cargo and left two men in charge, eh?"
"No, sir."
"Tut--tut--tut! What is the use of having you for my first officer.
You ought to have searched everywhere, and found it."
"We did search everywhere, sir, nearly, but didn"t find it."
"Oh! What"s that? Nearly? Then where didn"t you search?"
Archy told him and his reasons.
"Humph! Ha! Well, I don"t know: Government has no bowels of compa.s.sion, Mr Raystoke. I"m afraid you ought to have searched the Gloves."
"Hoze, sir, Hoze."
"Oh well, gloves, hose, gloves, all the same; only one"s for downstairs, the other up. Stupid name for a place."
"You think, then, I haven"t done my duty, sir."
"Yes, Mr Raystoke, as an officer I do; but as a gentleman I"m afraid I think I should have done just the same."
"I"m very sorry, sir. I wanted to do what is right."
"And you let your amiability step in the way, sir. That cargo must be run to earth."
"But is it quite certain, sir, that there was a cargo run?"
"My good fellow," cried the little lieutenant impatiently, "if you found a skin lying on the beach, wouldn"t you feel sure that it had once had a sheep in it?"
"Yes, sir, if it was a sheepskin."