"I thought they might be signals."
"Well, my lad, if they be, it"s to bring the smugglers ash.o.r.e, where we may have the luck to be in waiting for "em. But before that the skipper may have seen them, and, though he"s short-handed, they could manage to shake out a sail or two, and manage a gun."
"You would not put back, then, after seeing these lights?"
"Not likely, with the orders we"ve got, sir," said the master; and the men rowed on, and in due time reached the cove, where all was perfectly quiet, the tide falling, and as they landed quite a noisy tramp had to be made over the fine pebbles, in which the men"s feet sank.
A couple of men were left in charge of the boats, the others were formed up, and, after pa.s.sing the cottages of the few fishermen of the place, the party struck off for the top of the cliffs, to follow the rugged, faint track which was more often lost, and the arduous tramp was continued hour after hour, till, partly from the schooner"s lights, partly from his idea of the run of the coast, the late prisoner began to calculate that they must be approaching the land side of the large cliff.
It had been a terrible walk in the darkness, for the cliff tops were as if a gigantic storm had taken place when that part of the coast was formed, and a series of mountainous--really mountainous--waves had run along and became suddenly congealed, leaving sharp-crested hill and deeply grooved valley, which had to be climbed and descended in turn, till the men vowed that the distance was double what it would have been by road, and they certainly were not exaggerating much.
It was only here and there that the party had been able to follow the edge of the cliff. For the most part prudence forced them to keep well in, but at times they had some arduous climbs, and walked along the sides of slopes of thin short gra.s.s, covered with tiny snails, whose sh.e.l.ls crushed beneath their feet with a peculiar crisp sound; and had it been daylight, the probabilities were that they would have given these risky spots a wider berth.
"Call a halt, Gurr," whispered Archy at last; and it was done. Then, giving the master his ideas, the men were allowed a few minutes"
breathing s.p.a.ce before being formed in a line, with a s.p.a.ce of a few yards between the men, one end of the line being close to the edge of the cliff, the other some distance inland.
In this way the men were instructed to walk slowly on, scanning every depression and clump of bared stone carefully, and at a word uttered by the man who felt that he had found any place likely to prove to be an entrance to a cave or quarry, all were to halt, the word was to be pa.s.sed along, and the officers were to examine the place before the line went on again.
The plan was good, and the long line swept slowly along, the halt being called soon after they had started, but the stoppage was in vain, the midshipman and Gurr finding before them only a rough piled-up collection of stones from which the earth had in the course of ages crumbled or been washed away.
On again in the darkness, the officers pacing along portions of the line to urge on the men to be careful, and warning those near the cliff edge.
The advice was needed, for all at once, just as Archy was leaving the edge, there was a faint cry; the halt was called, and the young officer, closely followed by d.i.c.k, went quickly to the spot from whence the cry had come.
"It"s Bob Harris, sir," said the last man they reached. "I see him a moment ago, and heard him cry out, and then he was gone."
With his blood seeming to chill, Archy crept in the darkness close to the cliff edge, to find that it sloped down where he stood.
"Give me your hand, d.i.c.k," he whispered.
"Lie down, my lad, and I"ll go down too," said the sailor in a husky voice, which told of the horror he felt.
It was good advice, and the midshipman was putting it in force just as Gurr came tearing up.
"What is it?" he panted.
"Bob Harris gone over, sir," whispered d.i.c.k.
"And no rope with us!" exclaimed the master. "See anything, my lad?"
"Yes; he is just below here on a ledge. Hi! Are you hurt?"
"No, sir," came up faintly; "but I durstn"t move, or I should go over."
"Lie still, then, till we pull you up. Mr Gurr, I can almost touch him. I could, if some one lowered me a little more."
"No, no, my lad, no, no!" whispered the master. "Here, d.i.c.k, and you,"
he said in short, quick, decisive tones, as he lay down and looked over.
"Now, then, four more men here. Now, who"ll volunteer to lean over and get a good grip of him, while we hold by your legs?"
"I will," said d.i.c.k.
""Spose I"m as strong as any on "em. But who"s going to hold my legs?"
"Two men, my lad, and there"ll be others to hold them."
"Right," said d.i.c.k shortly; and the men lay down, forming themselves into a human chain, the end of which d.i.c.k was lowered slowly down the slope and over the edge.
"Look here, my man," said Archy, as he lay with his head and chest over the edge of the awful precipice, listening to the faint beat of the waves, and involuntarily thinking of his adventure with Ram, "as soon as d.i.c.k grips you, get tight hold of him too."
"Ay," came up in a hoa.r.s.e whisper. "Please be quick. I feel as if I was going."
"Now," said the master, "ready, lads? Steady! You, d.i.c.k, give the word yourself to lower away."
"Ay, ay, sir; lower away." Then again, "Lower away! Lower away!"
The suspense in the darkness seemed strained to breaking point, and Archy lay with his heart beating painfully, watching till it seemed as if the case was hopeless, and that if d.i.c.k, now nearly off the cliff, could grip hold of the fallen man, they would never be able to get him and his burden back.
""Nother inch," came up out of the void. "Touched him. "Nother inch!"
At each order, given in a hoa.r.s.e, smothered way, the men shuffled themselves forward a little, and lowered d.i.c.k down.
"Just a shade more, my lads," came up.
"Can"t!" said one of the men who held one of d.i.c.k"s legs.
"Right. Got him," came up, as a thrill of horror ran along the chain at that word _can"t_. "Haul away!"
How that hauling up was managed the midshipman hardly knew, but he had some consciousness of having joined in the efforts made, by seizing one man of the human chain, and dimly seeing Gurr and two other men of the group now gathered about them lend their aid. Then there was a scuffling and dragging, a loud panting, and, with a few adjurations to "hold on," and "haul," and "keep tight," d.i.c.k and the man he had been lowered down to save were dragged into safety.
"Phew!" panted d.i.c.k. "Look here, Bob Harris--never no more, my lad, never no more!"
"Bravely done, d.i.c.k," whispered Gurr.
"Thank ye, sir. But, never no more. I want to be a good mate to everybody, but this here"s a shade too much."
"And I"d take it kindly, Master Raystoke, sir," said the man the midshipman had gripped, "if nex" time, sir, you wouldn"t mind grappling my clothes only. You"re tidy strong now, and I can"t "answer for my flesh", if you take hold like that."
"Hush! No talking," said the master. "d.i.c.k, take the outside now, and be careful. Form your line again. Bob Harris, take the far left."
"Well, Master Raystoke, sir," grumbled d.i.c.k, "I call that giving a fellow a prize. Saves that chap, and here am I."
"Post of honour, d.i.c.k. Go slowly, and not too near."
"Not too nigh it is, sir," said d.i.c.k, with a sigh; and a minute later the word was given, and they went on once more.
One hundred, two hundred, three hundred yards, but no sign.
Then a discovery was made, and by the midshipman.