"Well," he said, "see it now?"
"No," said Aleck.
"Look back, then."
The lad turned, and found that without noticing it he had pa.s.sed a spot where a great piece of rock terminated in a sharp edge, which overlapped a portion of the wall, and as he looked in the direction from which he had come there was a wide opening, quite six feet in height, looking as if a portion of the rock had scaled off the main ma.s.s, forming an opening some three feet wide, and remained fixed. Into this the lad stepped at once, shutting out a portion of the light, and for a few moments it seemed to him that the place ended some seven or eight feet from the entrance; but as he ran his left hand along the wall for safety and guidance, he found that instead of its being solid wall upon his left, he had been touching a mere sheet of stone, which screened another opening leading back to the original direction. Upon holding tight and peering round a sharp corner Aleck found that he was gazing into black darkness; but a breath of cool, moist air and the peculiar odour told their own tale of what was beyond, and to endorse this came the soft, sighing, whispering rush of waves sweeping over pebbles far enough below.
"Now you know the way down, my lad," said Eben.
"Yes, I suppose I do."
"But even if you"d found it all by yourself I suppose you wouldn"t have ventured down."
"What, into that horrible cavern?"
""Tarn"t a horrible cavern, my lad, only a sort of a dark pa.s.sage going straight down for a bit. Had enough, or will you come further?"
"I"ll come, of course," said the lad, firmly.
"All right, then. That"s right; there"s nothing to be afraid of. You do as I do."
It was a faint twilight now where the pair were standing, with a dark forbidding chasm just in front, and Aleck was longing for a lanthorn, which he half expected to see the smuggler produce. But instead of doing so he stepped suddenly into the darkness.
"Now, then," he said, "you"ll do as I do. It"s nothing to what you did just now in jumping, for there"s no danger; only that looked better, for it was in the light. This is in the darkness. That was straight down; this is only a slope, and you"ll hear me slide. I"ll tell you when to come after me."
"I understand," said Aleck; and then suddenly, "What"s that?"
"What"s what, my lad?"
"It felt as if something soft had come right up in my face."
"Wind," said the smuggler.
"But it"s blowing the back of my head now, just as if something touched me," said Aleck, in a husky voice.
"Yes, I know," said the smuggler. "It"s just as if little soft snaky fingers were feeling about your head."
"Yes, just like that," said Aleck, in a husky whisper. "I don"t think it could be the wind."
"Yes, it is. That"s right; only the wind, my lad. The cave"s sucking because the sea keeps on opening and shutting the mouth at this time of the tide, and one minute the air"s rushing in here and the next it"s rushing out. Now do you see?"
"Yes, I think so," said Aleck.
"Then here goes."
Through the dim light the boy now saw his companion"s face for a few moments, and then the smuggler turned round, took another step, spread out his arms to grasp the rocky sides, and the next minute there was a low rustling sound and a puff of wind struck the lad in the face, followed by silence.
"Are you there, Eben?" said Aleck, softly.
"Right, my lad. Now, then, you don"t want no more teaching. Do as I did, and come down."
"How far is it?" said Aleck, hesitating.
"Eight or nine fathom, my lad. Never measured it. Ready?"
"Yes," said the lad, and setting his teeth hard he pressed his hands against the wall on either side, felt about with one foot, drew the other up to it, and then let go and began to slide down a steep slope, the pa.s.sage taking away his breath, so that he was panting hard when his heels met with a sudden check and the smuggler"s voice, sounding like a hollow whisper, said:
"Bottom o" this bit."
"What, is there any more?" faltered Aleck.
"Lots," said the man, laughing. "It"s only a great ziggery-zag crack running right through the rock from top to bottom. There"s nothing to mind, as you"d see if we"d got the lanthorn. They were so close after me that I hadn"t time to get the one I left up yonder in the cliffs.
Now, then, I"m going down again. It"s quite dry, and worn smooth with all sorts of things coming up and folk like us going down. Just the same as before, my lad. I calls it Jacob"s Ladder. Natur" made a good deal on it, and my grandfathers, fathers, and us lot finished it a bit at a time and made it what it is."
There was a rushing sound directly after, and the smuggler"s voice next time he spoke came from a lower stage.
Aleck followed again with more confidence that he would not plunge into some horrible well-like hole full of water with he knew not what horrible, eel-like creatures waiting to attack him. This time the slide down felt comparatively easy, while at another angle of the zigzag, as he followed his unseen guide, Aleck actually began to think that such a way of progression must be bad for the clothes.
"You"ll have to ease yourself down this next one," said Eben, as he was starting for the next descent; "it"s a bit steeper. Let your hands run along the wall over your head, just touching it, and that"ll be enough.
Don"t shove hard, or you"ll be taking the skin off."
"I"ll mind," said Aleck, rather hoa.r.s.ely.
"What"s the matter?" said the man.
"I"ve hurt my head a little against the roof."
"Humph!" grunted the smuggler. "Forgot to tell you about that bit.
It"s the only place where you can touch the top, and you run agen it.
Hurt yerself much?"
"No."
"Then come on."
The rather swift descent was accomplished more easily than Aleck antic.i.p.ated, and he slid down into a pair of hands.
"Now, then, the next bit"s diff"rent," said the smuggler. "You"ll sit down on your heels like to slide, but it arn"t steep, and every now and then you"ll have to give yerself a bit of a shove to help yer down to the next bit, and that"s worse still."
"Worse?" said Aleck, trying to suppress a catching of the breath; but the smuggler detected it.
"Not what you think bad," he said, with a hoa.r.s.e chuckle, "but what we call bad. You have to walk all the way."
"And there are no side places where you might slip into?"
"Not half o" one, my lad. There was a nasty hole at the bottom of the next but one, that seemed to go right down to the end of the world.
P"raps it did, but we brought up big bits o" rock till some on "em caught and got wedged into niches, and then we kept on till we filled it up level, and you wouldn"t know it"s there. Now, then, let"s get down."