There was a faint cheer as the boat was launched, and the receding wave carried her down, down, with that ghastly sucking noise which sounds as though the deep thirsted for its prey. Claud held his breath. He thought the next wave would break over her; but no! The crew bent to their oars, and up she rose, in full sight of the eager mult.i.tude, then again disappeared, only to be seen once more on the summit of a further crest.
And now there was no question but that the wind was shifting. Silence fell on the watchers; silence which lasted long. Breathlessly they eyed the dim white yacht, which now did not seem to approach nearer the coast.
In the long interval, memory returned to Mr. Cranmer, memory of the purpose for which he had come there. Where was G.o.dfrey? Nowhere to be seen. Making his way up to Mr. Fowler, he remarked:
"Don"t you see anything of the boy?"
Henry gave a start of recollection, and cast his eyes vaguely over the crowd. A few minutes" search sufficed to show that G.o.dfrey was not there. By the light of a friendly lantern he looked at his watch. It was past ten o"clock, and the thought of the anxiety at Edge Willoughby smote his conscience.
"We must leave this," he said, reluctantly, "and go back over the top of the cliff. It does not rain now, and thank G.o.d, the wind is falling."
"Will the yacht live?" asked Claud.
"Yes, please G.o.d, she"ll do now," answered Henry. "But I daresay the crew will come ash.o.r.e; they have all been very near death; perhaps they don"t know, as well as I do, how near."
"Do you know the way over the cliff?"
"Know it? I think so. I could walk blindfold over most of the land near here," returned the other, drily.
"I do wonder what can have become of the child," said Claud, dubiously.
"Little cur!" said the ordinary gentle Henry, viciously. "I am not at all sorry if he has a fair good fright; it may read him a lesson."
Unwillingly they turned from the scene of interest, and began their scramble up the chalky slopes, rendered as slippery as ice by the heavy rains. Neither had dined that night, and both were feeling exhausted after the tension of the last few hours. They walked silently forward, each filled with vague forbodings respecting G.o.dfrey.
The wind was still what, inland, would be called a gale, too high to make conversation possible. Overhead, rifts in the night-black clouds were beginning to appear; the waning moon must be by now above the horizon, for the jagged edges of the vapors were silver.
Claud was deeply meditating over his night"s experience; it seemed years since he parted from Wynifred that afternoon. How much had happened since!
His foot struck against something as he walked. Being tired, he was walking carelessly, and, as the gra.s.s was intensely slippery, he came down on his hands and knees, making use of a forcible expression.
Thus brought into the near neighborhood of the object which caused his fall, he discovered that it was neither a stick nor a stone, but a book--a book lying out on the cliff, and reduced to a pulp by the torrents of rain which had soaked it.
"I say, Fowler, what"s this?" he said eagerly, regaining his feet, the whole of the front of his person plastered with a whitish slime. "Here"s a book! Does that help us--eh?"
Mr. Fowler turned quickly.
"Let me look," he said.
To look was easier than to see, by that light; but, by applying the dark lantern which, they carried, they saw it was a book they knew--a copy of the "Idylls of the King," which Osmond had given to Elsa, and which was hardly ever out of her hands.
"Strange!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Henry, "very strange! She said they had not been on the cliffs--did she not say so, Cranmer?"
"Undoubtedly."
"She must have left it yesterday."
"We were all at Heriton Castle yesterday."
"Well--some time. Anyhow, it is her book--here is the name blotted and blurred, in the t.i.tle-page. Let us search round here a little," he added, his voice betraying a sudden, nameless uneasiness.
The search was fruitless. They called till the rocks re-echoed, but in vain. Up and down they walked, in and out among the drenched brambles, slipping hither and thither in the chalky mire. At last they gave it up.
"We must go back and tell them we cannot find him," said Henry, wearily.
Standing side by side on the summit of the heights, they paused, and gazed, as if by mutual consent, seawards.
A pale silver glow came stealing as they looked across the heaving waters. The full dark clouds parted, and through the rift appeared a reach of clear dark sky. Wider and wider grew the star-powdered s.p.a.ce, till at last the waning, misshapen-looking moon emerged, veiled only by a pa.s.sing scud of vapor.
Below them the turbid billows caught the light and glittered; and, among them, riding proudly and in safety, was the beautiful yacht, like a white swan brooding over the tumultuous sea, which was still running high enough to make the n.o.ble little vessel roll and pitch considerably at her anchor.
CHAPTER XXV.
I? what I answered? As I live I never fancied such a thing As answer possible to give!
What says the body, when they spring Some monstrous torture engine"s whole Weight on it? No more says the soul.
_Count Gismond._
In the breezy glitter of the sunshiny morning, a crowd stood on the curving beach of Edge Valley in a state of perplexity something resembling a pack of hounds at fault.
Day had dawned, full of light and motion. Billowy ma.s.ses of white c.u.mulus clouds sailed rapidly over the deep blue sky. The thick turbid sea rolled in, casting up mire and dirt from its depths. News had come to Brent that the fishing-smacks had found a refuge in Lyme harbour, and gay chatter filled the streets, as the happy wives and mothers ran to and fro, laughing as they thought on their terrors of the previous night.
Joy had come in the morning to all but the inhabitants of Edge Willoughby. G.o.dfrey was still missing, and there was no news of him.
Mr. Fowler feared there could be but one solution of the mystery. The boy must have dared the cliff-path, and made a false step, or been swept off bodily by the gale. The sea, which had spared the yacht, most probably had drowned this heir to a great fortune.
The strangest part of the affair was the callousness shown by Elsa. It almost seemed as if she were simply relieved by the absence of her brother, and careless as to its cause. She had, however, come down to the sh.o.r.e with her G.o.dfather, and stood, like one half dazed, among the villagers, answering with painful hesitation the questions put to her as to where she had last seen G.o.dfrey.
The yacht was brought up about half a mile off sh.o.r.e, and an examination of her by telescope had proved her to be a very smart and well-found vessel--a most perfect specimen of her kind. She was painted quite white, with a gold streak running round her, and she was flying a black distinguishing flag, upon which appeared a white swan with outspread wings, and an ensign which appeared to be foreign. The crew could be seen busy about the deck, repairing damages to paint and gear from the gale overnight. Just as Henry had dispatched two search-parties, one along the cliffs, the other along the sh.o.r.e, it was seen that a gig was leaving the yacht"s side, and approaching with rapid strokes, pulled by two men, and a third steering. Mr. Fowler waited, knowing that most probably some injury had been sustained during the gale of the previous night, and that he might be able to make an offer of help.
As soon as the keel touched the shingle, the man in the stern-sheets stood up, and asked if there were an inn in the village. His English was fair, but his accent virulently German. Being answered in the affirmative, he next proceeded, somewhat to the astonishment of the crowd, to ask if there were a magistrate living near.
"I am a Justice of the Peace," said Mr. Fowler, amid a general sensation.
The man touched his cap. His master, Mr. Percivale, would be very glad of a few moments" conversation, if the gentleman"s leisure served. He had a statement to make if the Justice could wait, he would be on sh.o.r.e in twenty minutes.
Henry, wondering greatly as to the statement he was to hear, inquired how much water the yacht drew, and, on being informed, explained that, if Mr. Percivale chose, he could steer her right in, within a few feet of the sh.o.r.e, owing to the peculiarly sudden shelve of the bay.
The man touched his cap again, and, having raised the popular feeling to fever heat by a scarcely intelligible hint that he believed there was murder in the case, pushed off, and rowed back to the yacht as fast as he had come.
The crowd on the beach had increased. Most of the villagers had seen the boat leave the yacht, and hurried down in great eagerness to know what was going forward.
Doubtful as to what course to pursue, Mr. Fowler stood irresolute in their midst, Elsa, Miss Emily Willoughby, Miss Charlotte Willoughby, and Claud Cranmer at his side.
Suddenly a sound of wheels was heard grinding sharply on the sea-road.
Involuntarily all heads were turned in this new direction, and it was seen that one of the Stanton station-flies had come to a stand-still just opposite the a.s.sembled people, and that a lady and gentleman were hastily alighting.