No, no! it was looming larger and larger, and it was nearer than she had thought. It was--yes, it was a sail. There could be no doubt of it now.
The merchantman was outside, and she was less than half a mile away.
Bill Kisseck and the three men who were to go ash.o.r.e on the west of the Castle Isle must now have landed. Christian was one of them. Within fifty yards five men lay in wait to capture them. See, the "Ben-my-Chree" was fetching away to leeward. She was doubling the island rock and coming into harbor. How awkwardly the man at the tiller was tacking. That was a ruse, lest he was watched. To Mona the suspense of the moment was terrible. The very silence was awful. She felt an impulse to scream.
What about Danny? Had he reached the Lockjaw?
He must have rowed like a man possessed, to be there already. The "Ben-my-Chree" would sweep into harbor at the next tack. Could Danny get up onto the pier in time to see the lamp on the pier go down?
Mona could see the black outline of the Lockjaw headland from where she was stationed. Her heart seemed to stand still. She turned her eyes first to the pier, then to the Lockjaw, and then to the cloud of black sail outside that grew larger every instant.
Look again--the fishing-boat is coming in; she is almost covering the lamp on the pier; she has swept it down; it is gone, and all is blank, palpable darkness. Mona covers her eyes with her hands.
Is Danny ready? Quick, quick, Danny; one minute lost and all is lost! No light yet on the Lockjaw.
Bravo! Mona"s heart leaps to her mouth. There _is_ a light on the Lockjaw Head! Thank G.o.d and poor dear Danny forever and ever.
And now, the lamp down, the gorse burning, the merchantman drawing nearer and nearer, what must Mona herself do? She had promised to give the sign to the men in the castle the instant the light on the pier was run down. Then they would know that it was not too soon to pounce down on Kisseck and his men, with part of their plot--the least dangerous part, but still a punishable part--carried into effect. But Mona did not light her lantern. She never meant to do it so soon. She must first see some reason to believe that Christian and his companions had taken Danny"s warning.
She waited one minute--two, three. No sign yet. Meantime the black cloud of sail in the bay was drawing closer. There were living men aboard of that ship, and they were running on to the rocks. This suspense was agony. Mona felt that she must do something. But what?
If she were to light her lantern now, she might save the merchantman; but then Christian would be pounced upon and taken. If she were not to light her lantern soon, the ship would be gored to pieces on the Castle Isle, and perhaps all hands would be lost. What was Mona to do? The tension was terrible.
She strode up and down the hillside--up and down, up and down.
Three minutes gone--a fourth minute going. Not a sound from the west coast of the castle. Perhaps Christian, Kisseck, and the rest had not landed. She must not let the merchantman be wrecked. Her lantern must be lighted for the crew"s sake. Yes; they were men, living men--men with wives who loved them, and children who climbed to their knees. Mona thought of Christian and of Ruby. It was a fierce moment of conflicting pa.s.sion.
Four minutes at least had gone. Mona had decided to light her lantern, come what would or could. She was in the act of doing so, when she heard footsteps on the cliff behind her. The four strangers had seen the light on the pier go down. They thought it must be time for them to be moving.
Either Kinvig and the other four in the castle had taken their men, or they had missed them. In either case their own time for action had gone.
Mona, in a fever of excitement, affected certain knowledge that Kisseck"s men must be captured. She recommended the police to go down to the sh.o.r.e and wait quietly for their friends. But at that moment they caught sight of Danny"s fire on the Lockjaw Head. They suspected mischief, and declared their intention of going off to it.
At the same moment Mona"s quicker eyes, now preternaturally quick, caught sight of a boat clearing the west coast of the Castle Rock, and sailing fast toward the Lockjaw. It was Christian"s boat. Again Mona felt an impulse to scream.
And now there came loud shouts from the castle. At the sign of Mona"s lantern, Kinvig and his followers had leaped out of their ambush, only to find their men gone. Then they had run off to the creek in which they had left their boat, meaning to give chase--only to find that the boat had disappeared. There had been treachery somewhere. They were imprisoned on the Castle Rock, and so they shouted, loud and long, to their comrades on the cliff.
Mona thought she would have laughed yet louder and longer had she dared.
But the police were still with her, and the desire to laugh was quickly swallowed up in fresh fear. She took the strangers to the high path that led to the Lockjaw. "Follow this," she said, "and take no other, as you value your limbs and necks." She told them to be very careful as they pa.s.sed the open shaft of the old lead mine. It would lie three yards on their right. Away they went.
What had happened to the merchantman? She had seen danger, and was already beating down the bay. She and her crew were safe. Putting down the lantern on the hillside, Mona ran with all speed to Kisseck"s cottage. In the darkness she almost stumbled down the little precipice on to the back of the roof. Running round the path, she pushed her way into the house. Bridget Kisseck was there. In breathless haste Mona told the woman that the police were after Kisseck and his friends; urged her to get pipes, tobacco, cards, ale, spirits, and the like on the table.
The men would be here in three minutes. They must make pretense that they had never been out.
Then Mona ran back to the angle of the two mountain paths, the high path and the low one.
Bridget, who had not comprehended Mona"s instructions, took fright at her intelligence, put on her shawl and bonnet, and, without waiting for her husband, hurried away to the town.
CHAPTER XIV
"BILL IS GONE TO BED"
What was happening to Danny at the Lockjaw Creek?
Throughout two hours and a half he had lain in the cold, motionless and silent, among the rocks outside the castle. When the time came he had leaped into the boat which the police brought with them, and pulled away. He had strained every muscle to reach the Poolvash, knowing full well that if he gained it one minute late it might be indeed the bay of death. Before he had crossed that point at which the two streams meet midway in the strait he could see the "Ben-my-Chree" tacking into the harbor. Then, indeed, he sculled with all his strength. He ran ash.o.r.e.
He mounted to the cliff-head. With the matches in his hand he peered through the darkness to where the lamp still burned on the end of the pier. Yes, he was in time. But what was the red riot that was now rising in his heart?
It was then, and not till then, that the thought came to him, "What am I here for?" What for? Who for? Why? It was a moment of blank bewilderment. Then in an instant, as if by a flash of lightning, everything became plain. Mona, Christian, Ruby--these three, linked together for the first time in the lad"s mind, flashed the truth, the fact, the secret upon him. Danny had at length stumbled into the hidden grave. He saw it all now. What had lain concealed from other and wiser heads, vainer heads, heads lifted above his in lofty pride, was revealed to his simple intelligence and great yearning heart.
Yes, Danny knew now why he was there. It was to save the life of the man who was beloved by the woman whom he loved.
The world seemed in that moment to crumble beneath his feet. He dropped his eyes in deep self-abas.e.m.e.nt, but he raised them again in self-sacrifice and unselfish love. There was no doubt as to what he should do. No, not even now, with the life of Christian in the palm of his hand. Some power above himself controlled him.
"For her sake," he whispered. "Oh, for her sake, for all," he murmured, and at that moment the light on the pier went down.
He struck his matches and lighted the gorse. It was damp, and at first it would not burn. It dried at last and burst into flame. Then the lad crept down to the water"s edge and waited.
The water lay black as the raven outside, but the light of the burning gorse overhead gilded the rolling wavelets at his feet.
In five minutes the dingey of the "Ben-my-Chree" shot into the creek, and four men leaped ash.o.r.e. One was Kisseck, another Christian, and the other two were Paul Corteen and Luke Killip. All were violently agitated.
"What for is all this, you young devil?" cried Kisseck. "What does it all mean?--out with it, quick!--what tricks have you been playing? d.a.m.n his fool"s face, why doesn"t he speak?"
And Kisseck struck the lad, and he fell. Danny got up strangely quiet, strangely calm, with great wide eyes, and a face that no man could look on without fear. Kisseck trembled before it, but--from dread alone and without waiting for a word of explanation--he raised his hand once more.
Christian interposed. Danny told his story; how the police were on the cliff-head as well as the island; how they would certainly make for this spot; how Mona Cregeen would send them along the high path; and how they--Kisseck, Christian, and the others--were to take the low path, get back with all haste to the cottage, and make pretense that they had never been out.
Christian started away. He had climbed the precipitous cliff-head in a minute, the others following. When they reached the top, Danny was side by side with his uncle, staring with wild eyes into his face. Kisseck stopped.
"----, what for do you look at me?" he cried. Then again he lifted his hand and struck the lad and threw him. When Danny rose to his feet after this second blow he laughed aloud. It was a laugh to freeze the blood.
Christian turned back. He took Kisseck by the shoulder. "By ----," he said, between gusts of breath, "touch him again and I"ll pitch you into the sea."
Kisseck was silent and cowed. There was no time to stand quarreling there. "Come on," cried Christian, and he set off to run. He speedily outran the rest, and they lost sight of him.
The two paths that led to the Lockjaw came together within a hundred yards at the end. In the darkness, in the confusion, in the turmoil of soul, Christian missed the lower path and followed the higher one. He did not realize his mistake. Running at his utmost speed, however, he heard footsteps in front of him. They were coming toward him. They were the footsteps of the police. Christian was uncertain what to do. For himself he cared little. But he thought of his father, of Mona, of little Ruby, and then life and fame were dear.
The cliff was on the right of him, as he supposed, the sea on the left.
He reckoned that he must be near to Kisseck"s cottage now. Perhaps he could reach it before the men came up to it. They were drawing very close. Along the higher path Christian ran at his utmost speed.
Ah! here is the cottage, nearer than he had expected. He must have run faster than he supposed. In the uncertain light Christian sees what he takes to be the old quarry. There is no time to go round by the road and in at the front. He must leap down the back of the shallow quarry, light on the thatch, and lie there for a minute until the men have pa.s.sed.
He runs, he leaps, but--he has jumped down the open shaft of the old disused lead mine.
Meantime Kisseck and Danny Fayle, with Corteen and Killip, found the low path and followed it. They heard the strangers pa.s.s on the high path, but they were themselves running softly on the thin gra.s.s, and a cliff was between the police and them. When they got to the angle of the roads and turned down the footpath in front of the house they pa.s.sed Mona. As they entered, "Who was that woman?" said Kisseck.
"Mona," answered Danny.