"Only fancy," said Aleck. "How we did fight to get out from below, and it"s all as simple as can be from up here."
And so it was, for three stones had been drawn down the slope, one partly over the other and the other fitting nicely to either, but only requiring a little effort to pull them back, _after_--
Yes, it was after one smaller wedge-shaped piece had been lifted out by Tom Bodger, this wedge being like a key stone or bolt to hold the others in place so tightly that it was impossible so shift them from below.
Tom Bodger had just removed the last stone into a big recess, which had probably been formed by the smugglers to hold them, when the middy turned round sharply upon a dark figure which had, unseen before, been following them.
"Hallo!" he cried. "Who are you?"
"It"s me, sir--Dunning, sir--the captain"s gardener, sir. Come to see, sir, if I could be of any help."
"No," cried Aleck, sharply, "you"ve come to play the spy, you deceitful old rascal."
"Oh, Master Aleck, sir!" whined the man, "how can you say such a thing?"
"Because I know you by heart. You"ve been hand and glove with the smugglers all through."
"Master Aleck, sir!"
"That will do," cried the lad, indignantly. "I"ve never told my uncle what I"ve seen or heard, but I must now, and you know what to expect."
"Master Aleck!"
"That"s it, is it?" said the middy. "He"s one of the gang, and of course I shall make him a prisoner as soon as we get out. Here, you, Bodger, I order you in the King"s name to take that man prisoner."
"Ay, ay, sir," cried Tom, and he made a move towards the gardener.
But it was ineffective, for the man suddenly thrust out a foot and hooked one of the pensioner"s wooden legs off the stone floor of the slope, giving him a sharp thrust in the chest at the same time.
There is a game called skittles, or, more properly, ninepins, in which if you strike one of the pins deftly it carries on the blow to the next, which follows suit, and so on, till the blow given to number one has resulted in all nine being laid low.
"Jes" like ninepins, Master Aleck," said Tom, "only there"s n.o.bbut three on us. I beg your pardon, sir; I couldn"t help it."
"No, no, no, no, no!" roared Aleck, each utterance being a part of a hearty laugh, for the gardener had knocked Tom over, Tom had upset him, and the blow he carried on to the midshipman had sent the latter rolling down the slope, to come raging up as soon as he could gain his feet and climb back.
"What are you laughing at?" he shouted.
"It was so comic," panted Aleck, wiping his eyes.
"Shall I go arter him, sir?" said Tom.
"No, no. He is half way to the top by now."
"Yes, yes," cried the middy; "and look sharp, or perhaps he"ll be trying to shut us up again."
"Not he," said Aleck; "he won"t stop till he is safe. I don"t believe we shall see the lazy old scoundrel again."
Aleck"s words proved to be true.
Later on he and his party made their way up to the smugglers" cottages, to find them deserted by everyone save Eben Megg"s wife, with three pretty little dark-eyed children.
The woman looked frightened, and burst into tears as she recognised the young officer, who began at her at once.
"You"re a nice woman, you are," he said. "What have you got to say for yourself for keeping me a prisoner below there?"
"I--I only did what I was told, sir," faltered the woman.
"Were you told to fasten us down there to starve?" cried the middy.
"Fasten?--to starve? Were you left down there, sir, when my Eben was knocked down and carried away?"
"Of course we were."
"I didn"t know, sir," sobbed the woman. "If I had, though I was in such trouble, I"d have come and brought you all I could, same as I did before, sir. Indeed I would."
"Humph!" grunted the middy. "Well, you did feed me as well as you could. So you"ve lost your husband, then?"
The woman tried to answer, but only sobbed more loudly.
"There, don"t cry," said the middy, more gently. "We shall make an honest man of him."
"And what"s to become of my poor weans, Master Aleck? We shall all be turned out of the cottage."
"I don"t think you will," said Aleck. "I daresay uncle won"t let anyone interfere with you."
There were busy days during the next week, with men from the sloop and cutter, brought back by the middy"s "despatch," going up and down the zigzag like so many ants, bringing up the princ.i.p.al treasures of the cave, the sailors working with all their might over the greatest haul they had ever made, and chuckling over the amount of prize money they would have to draw.
There was a fair amount of work done and much recovering of valuable gear during two days of the next spring tide, when Aleck and his companion were rowed in one of the sloop"s boats along a narrow channel of deep water right up the cavern. They were poled in, and found so much to interest them that they stayed too long and were nearly shut in once more, for the tide rose fast, and the men had to lie down in the boat and work her out with their hands, and then a wave came in and lifted her, jamming the gunwale against the slimy rock and weeds, threatening a more terrible imprisonment still; but just as matters were very serious and the lives of the party in imminent danger, the water sank a few inches and enabled the men to thrust the boat on into daylight.
That was the last time a boat entered that cave, for during a terrific storm in the ensuing winter the waves must have loosened and torn up some of the supporting stones of the archway, letting down hundreds of tons of rock in a land slide, so that where the cave had lain like a secret, the waves played regularly at high water, working more and more at every tide to lay bare the gloomy recesses to the light of day.
Aleck saw no more of Willie Wrighton, midshipman, for two years, and then he came on a visit to the Den.
The next morning the two young men went for a stroll along the cliffs to have a look at the rocky chaos which had once formed the cave.
As they came near they caught sight of a solitary figure down towards where the archway submerged had lain, and Aleck made put that it was a big, well-built man-o"-war"s man.
"Is that one of your fellows, sailor?" said Aleck, with the appellation he had used when they were prisoners together.
"Yes, he came over with me from Rockabie. Capital fellow he is too.
Don"t you know him again?"
"No," said Aleck, shading his eyes. "Yes, I do. How he is changed!
Why, Eben Megg, I hardly knew you again without your beard."