"Thank you, Nic--thank you. To be sure: you gave me your word of honour you would. But as for that ruffian Bill Solly, I"ll blow him out of the water."
"Better let it rest, father," said Nic. "We escaped a bad fight perhaps. I believe there was a gang of fifteen or twenty of the scoundrels, and I"d rather they had all the fish in the sea than that you should be hurt."
"Thank you, Nic; thank you, my boy. That"s very good of you; but I can"t, and I will not, lie by and have my fish cleared away like this."
"There"ll be more as soon as the rain comes again in the moors, and these are gone now."
"Yes, and sold--perhaps eaten by this time, eh?"
"Yes, father; and there"s as good fish in the sea."
"As ever came out of it--eh, Nic?"
"Yes, father; so let the matter drop."
"Can"t help myself, Nic; but I must have a turn at the enemy one of these times. I cannot sit down and let them attack me like this. Oh, I"d dearly like to blow some of "em out of the water!"
"Better put a bag of powder under the rock, father, and blow away the falls so that the salmon can always get up, and take the temptation away from these idle scoundrels."
"I"d sooner put the powder under my own bed, sir, and blow myself up.
No, Nic, I will not strike my colours to the miserable gang like that.
Oh! I"d dearly like to know when they are going to make their next raid, and then have my old crew to lie in wait for them."
"And as that"s impossible, father--"
"We must grin and bear it, Nic--eh?"
"Yes, father."
"But only wait!"
CHAPTER SIX.
PLOTS AND PLANS.
The rain came, as Nic had said it would, and as it does come up in the high hills of stony Dartmoor. Then the tiny rills swelled and became rivulets, the rivulets rivers, and the rivers floods. The trickling fall at the Captain"s swelled up till the water, which looked like porter, thundered down and filled the pool, and the salmon came rushing up from the sea till there were as many as ever. Then, as the rainy time pa.s.sed away, Captain Revel made his plans, for he felt sure that there would be another raid by the gang who had attacked his place before, headed by Pete Burge and a deformed man of herculean strength, who came with a party of ne"er-do-weels from the nearest town.
"That rascal Pete will be here with his gang," said the Captain, "and we"ll be ready for them."
But the speaker was doing Pete Burge an injustice; for, though several raids had been made in the neighbourhood, and pools cleared out, Pete had hung back from going to the Captain"s for some reason or another, and suffered a good deal of abuse in consequence, one result being a desperate fight with Humpy Dee, the deformed man, who after a time showed the white feather, and left Pete victorious but a good deal knocked about.
So, feeling sure that he was right, Captain Revel made his plans; and, unwillingly enough, but with the full intention of keeping his father out of danger, Nic set to work as his father"s lieutenant and carried out his orders.
The result was that every servant was armed with a stout cudgel, and half-a-dozen st.u.r.dy peasants of the neighbourhood were enlisted to come, willingly enough, to help to watch and checkmate the rough party from the town, against whom a bitter feeling of enmity existed for depriving the cottagers from getting quietly a salmon for themselves.
The arrangements were made for the next night, a stranger having been seen inspecting the river and spying about among the fir-trees at the back of the pool.
But no one came, and at daybreak the Captain"s crew, as he called it, went back to bed.
The following night did not pa.s.s off so peacefully, for soon after twelve, while the watchers, headed by the Captain and Nic, were well hidden about the pool, the enemy came, and, after lighting their lanthorns, began to net the salmon.
Then a whistle rang out, a desperate attack was made upon them, and the Captain nearly had a fit. For his party was greatly outnumbered. The raiders fought desperately, and they went off at last fishless; but not until the Captain"s little force had been thoroughly beaten and put to flight, with plenty of cuts and bruises amongst them, Nic"s left arm hanging down nearly helpless.
"But never mind, Nic," said the Captain, rubbing his bruised hand as he spoke. "I knocked one of the rascals down, and they got no fish; and I don"t believe they"ll come again."
But they did, the very next night, and cleared the pool once more, for the watchers were all abed; and in the morning the Captain was frantic in his declarations of what he would do.
To Nic"s great delight, just when his father was at his worst, and, as his old body-servant said, "working himself into a fantigue about a bit o" fish," there was a diversion.
Nic was sitting at breakfast, getting tired of having salmon at every meal--by the ears, not by the mouth--when suddenly there was the dull thud of a big gun out at sea, and Captain Revel brought his fist down upon the table with a bang like an echo of the report.
"Lawrence!" he cried excitedly. "Here, Nic, ring the bell, and tell Solly to go and hoist the flag."
The bell was rung, and a maid appeared.
"Where"s Solly?" cried the Captain angrily.
"Plee, sir, he"s gone running up to the cliff to hoist the flag," said the girl nervously.
"Humph! that will do," said the Captain, and the maid gladly beat a retreat.--"Not a bad bit of discipline that, Nic. Wonder what brings Lawrence here! Ring that bell again, boy, and order them to reset the breakfast-table. He"ll be here in half-an-hour, hungry. He always was a hungry chap."
The maid appeared, received her orders, and was about to go, when she was arrested.
"Here, Mary, what is there that can be cooked for Captain Lawrence"s breakfast?"
"The gardener has just brought in a salmon he found speared and left by the river, sir."
The Captain turned purple with rage.
"Don"t you ever dare to say salmon to me again, woman!" he roared.
"No, sir; cert"n"y not, sir," faltered the frightened girl, turning wonderingly to Nic, her eyes seeming to say, "Please, sir, is master going mad?"
"Yes; tell the cook to fry some salmon cutlets," continued the Captain; and then apologetically to his son: "Lawrence likes fish."
As the maid backed out of the room the Captain rose from the table.
"Come along, my boy," he said; "we"ll finish our breakfast with him."
Nic followed his father into the hall, and then through the garden and up to the edge of the cliff, pa.s.sing William Solly on his way back after hoisting the flag, which was waving in the sea-breeze.
"Quite right, William," said the Captain as the old sailor saluted and pa.s.sed on. "Nothing like discipline, Nic, my boy. Ha! You ought to have been a sailor."
The next minute they had reached the flagstaff, from whence they could look down at the mouth of the river, off which one of the king"s ships was lying close in, and between her and the sh.o.r.e there was a boat approaching fast.
As father and son watched, it was evident that they were seen, for some one stood up in the stern-sheets and waved a little flag, to which Nic replied by holding his handkerchief to be blown out straight by the breeze.