"But it really is awkward, Mr Raystoke, isn"t it?"
"Horribly, sir. Got anything to eat?"
"To eat? No, my lad. But--tut--tut--tut! I can"t hear them anywhere."
"Nor I, sir."
"Well, we must not stand here. But what did you say?--I did not see what it was; they went off after a boy?"
The master spoke so civilly now that Archy forgot his anger, and entered into the trouble warmly.
"Yes," he said; "and it was a plan. That boy is as cunning as can be.
We must have been close up to the way into the cave when he started out and led us all away from it."
"Eh?"
"I say he jumped up and dodged about, knowing the place by heart, and kept hiding and running off again, to get us right away from the entrance."
"That"s it--that"s it, Mr Raystoke. Don"t try any more, sir. You"ve hit it right in the bull"s eye."
"You think so?"
"No, sir; I"m sure of it. A young fox. Now as soon as we"ve taken him prisoner, I"ll put the matter before Mr Brough in such a way that the young scamp will be tied up, and get four dozen on the bare back."
"Hadn"t we better catch him first, Mr Gurr?"
"Right, Mr Raystoke. Come on then; and the first thing is to get the men together. We shall catch him, never you fear that. These cunning ones generally get caught first. Now then, sir, let"s listen."
They listened, but there was not a sound.
""Pon my word! This is a pretty state of affairs!" cried the master.
"What do you propose next?"
"Let"s get right up to the top of this place and hail."
"That"s good advice, Mr Raystoke, sir: so come on."
They started at once, and at the end of ten minutes they were at the top of a hill, but upon gazing round they could only dimly see other hills similar to the one on which they stood,--regular earth-waves of the great convulsion which had thrown the strata of the Freestone Sh.o.r.e into a state of chaos,--but nothing more.
"I"ll hail," said Archy; and he shouted, but there was no reply.
"The scoundrels!" cried the master angrily. "They"re all together in some public-house drinking, and glad to get away from us. Eh? What are you laughing at?"
"There are no public-houses out in this wild place, Mr Gurr."
"Eh? Well, no, I suppose not. I"ll hail. Ahoy?"
A faint echo in reply. That was all.
"Which way shall we go?"
"I don"t know, Mr Gurr."
"Can"t make out which is the north, can you?"
"No, sir, nor the south neither."
"Humph! I think I could find the south if you told me which was the north," said the master drily. "Well, we must do the best we can.
Let"s strike along here. I seem to feel that this is the right direction."
Archy felt that it was the wrong direction, but, at he could not point out the right, he followed his leader for about a quarter of a mile, both pausing to shout and listen from time to time.
All at once Gurr came to a dead stop.
"I feel as if we"re going wrong," he said. "You choose this time."
"Let"s try this way," said Archy, selecting the route because it was down hill; but a quarter of an hour of this did not satisfy him, and he too stopped dead short.
"I feel just as much lost as I did in the dark in that cave, Mr Gurr,"
he said.
"Never mind, my lad," said the master good-humouredly. "It"s all an accident, and n.o.body"s fault. Wish I had my pipe."
"Ahoy!" shouted Archy, but there was no reply.
"I"d sit down and wait for morning, only conscience won"t let me."
"Well, let"s try this way," suggested Archy.
"Seems to me, my lad, that it don"t matter which way we take, we only go wandering in and out among the stones and brambles and winding all sorts of ways. Never mind; we must keep moving, so come on."
They trudged on for how long they could not tell, but both were getting exceedingly weary, and as ignorant now ever as to their whereabouts; for, whether the direction they followed was east, west, south, or north, there was no indication in the sky; and they kept on, always cautiously, in dread and yet in hope that they might come upon the edge of the cliff, which would solve their difficulty at once, if they could see the cutter"s lights.
"Though that aren"t likely, Mr Raystoke. Strikes me that he"ll lie there, and not show a light, on the chance of a smuggling lugger coming along, though that"s hardly our luck."
"I don"t know," said Archy bitterly. "Seems just the time for her to come when the skipper"s so short-handed that he can"t attack."
"Yes, we are an unlucky craft and no mistake, and I "most wish sometimes I"d never sailed in her. Look here, for instance, here"s a chance for us."
"Hist! Listen!" whispered Archy.
"What is it?"
"A hail right in the distance."
"No such luck, my lad. I don"t know how I"m going to face Mr Brough.
Hark!"