"Yes," gravely a.s.sented the captain.
"Well, sir, Ma.r.s.e Capping, Nelly do stick to it as she _is_ down there.
And, sir, I shall neber feel satisfied into my own mind, till the men dig away all the rubbish and lay open "the secrets of that there prisin house.""
"Joe, it shall be done, if only for the satisfaction of your faithful heart," said the captain.
"And for Nelly"s too, sir. See how she stands and looks up into your face, waiting for you to "cide, just as if she understood all that I was a axing of you, which of course she do."
"Not a doubt of it," a.s.sented the captain.
At that moment the messengers who had been dispatched for shutters and mattresses, returned with the articles, and set them down before Captain Pendleton.
"Now, my men," said the captain, "arrange one of the mattresses upon the shutter, and a.s.sist me to lay my wounded friend upon it."
Ready hands obeyed this direction, and the faintly breathing body of Lyon Berners was laid down in comparative ease.
The same service was performed for poor young Munson, who was badly injured, and also quite unconscious.
"Now, my men, this poor negro has reason to believe that the body of his mistress may be found in the bottom of that vault; I want you therefore to go to work as fast as you can, and remove all the rubbish that has fallen into it, even down to the floor," was the next order given by the captain.
And the men seized their picks and resumed their digging with renewed energy.
"Joe, stay here by your master and this poor fellow; and occasionally wet their lips with this brandy and water, while I go and see to the clearing out of the vault," said Captain Pendleton; and leaving Joe in charge of the wounded men, he followed the workmen to the ruins to urge them to the greatest expedition, adding as a reason for haste:
"It is time that Mr. Berners and Munson should be taken to my house, and placed in bed, to receive proper medical attention. But I cannot consent to leave this spot even to attend to them, until I find out whether the body of Mrs. Berners is really under the ruins."
Thus exhorted, the men worked with tremendous energy, and soon dug away all the pile of rubbish, and laid the depths of the vault open to the torch light. But there was nothing to be seen but the damp and slimy walls and floor, and the little heaps of broken stones and fallen plaster in the corners.
"Not there! Well, then, I didn"t know whether I was a-hoping or a fearing to find her there, or whether I"m glad or sorry now at not finding her there," said Joe, who in his excessive anxiety had at length deserted his post beside the wounded men, and hobbled up to the opened vault.
"You should be glad, for now you have no evidence of her death; but, on the other hand, good reason to hope that she is somewhere alive and well," said Captain Pendleton.
"That"s so too, Marster Capping. But only see what a little story-teller Nelly is!"
"It was her master she scented, and she found him."
"Yes, but she tried to make me believe as her mistess was down there also. And look how she sticks to the story! There she is down there still running round and round like she was crazy, and a snuffing at all the corners!"
"Never mind Nelly, Joe. Come along now. We must take your master and the other poor fellow on to my house. It should have been done before this.
I am sorry for this delay, which has been so fruitless," said Captain Pendleton, as he led the way back to the spot where he had left the injured victims of the explosion.
"Marster Capping," said Joe, as he hobbled after Pendleton, "I have got two horses tied up there into the woods, ef they haven"t been frighted at the blowing up, and done broke loose; and I have got a wagon down by the roadside, if so be as you would like to convey my wounded marster and the t"other gemplan that a way."
"No, Joe; the jolting of a wagon might be fatal to them in their present condition. They must be carried carefully on shutters. But the wagon will be just the thing to convey the dead bodies to Blackville, where an inquest must be held upon them," answered the captain.
And he requested some of the men present to go in search of the horses, and to harness them to the wagon for the required services to the dead, while others he detained to help in care of the wounded.
When the shutters upon which Lyon Berners and Robert Munson lay were each carefully lifted by the hands of four men, and the little procession was about to start, Captain Pendleton called to Joe, saying:
"You must go with me to have your limb looked to, and also to be with your master, who will need familiar faces near him when he comes to himself."
"Yes, sir; Ma.r.s.e Capping Pendulum, I will go. But oh, my Hebbenly Lord, what will I have to tell my poor marster, when he opens his eyes and looks at me?" cried Joe, bursting into tears.
"Come, come, be a man! Stop howling, and do your duty--which is now to follow your master," expostulated the captain.
"Yes, sir, I"ll do it; but I must get Nelly fust. I couldn"t leave her, poor little dog, here to pine away and die in the vault," sighed Joe, who then lifting his voice, cried, "Nelly! Nelly!"
But no dog answered. So Joe hobbled his way back to the opening of the vault, and looking down into it, exclaimed:
"Bless my two eyes! ef there she an"t a-whinin and a-pawin" and a-sarchin" as persemoniously as ever!--Nelly! Nelly!"
At the sound of his voice the little terrier ran up from the vault, and leaped upon him.
Joe stooped and picked her up in his arms, and hugged her affectionately to his bosom, as he said:
"You see it"s no use stayin" here, my poor little dog. Our mistess an"t nowheres about here."
Nelly was however of a different opinion, and she whined and struggled to be released; and when Joe held her faster, she growled and threatened him with her teeth.
"Can"t help it, my little darling. Our mistess an"t nowhere round, and it an"t no use your staying here to grieve yourself to death among the ruins. You"ve got to go along with me--OWTCH! you little devil, you!"
exclaimed Joe, suddenly breaking off in his discourse, and dropping the dog; who, having found that all her efforts to release herself had been in vain, had made her little teeth meet in the fleshy part of the negro"s hand.
"Was there ever sich a vicious little beast?" cried Joe, as he hobbled away, sucking the blood from his wounded member. "Now she may stay there for me. I don"t care ef she do pine herself to death, agrawatin" little brute!"
And so, grumbling and growling, he hobbled after the little procession that was now well on its way through the thicket.
Meanwhile little Nelly ran back into the vault, and re-commenced her irrational investigations.
The hours of the night wore on. The men who had been sent in search of the horses, with great difficulty found and caught them, and brought them back to the scene of the explosion. The dead bodies were bound upon their backs, and they were led through the thicket to the road, where the empty wagon was waiting. As there were five bodies and but two horses, and as only one body could be bound upon one horse at a time, it was necessary to make three trips through the thicket, before they could all be got upon the wagon. So it was a work of time and trouble to remove all the dead from the scene of the catastrophe. At length, however, the last body was bound upon the last horse and led away by the last man that left the spot.
And of all the living crowd that had filled the churchyard and surrounded the ruin, none was left but the little Skye terrier Nelly, who was still at work in the vault.
What was she doing?
She had concentrated her attention and her energies upon one spot--a moderate sized heap of densely packed rubbish in one corner. She was scratching away at this heap; she had already burrowed a hole of some depth; and still she scratched away, with all her might and main, until her strength failed; and then she sat down on her hind quarters and panted until she recovered her breath; and then she re-commenced and scratched away for dear life until something fell on the other side, and with a bark and bound of joy, she leaped through the aperture and ran snuffing along the damp ground.
EUREKA!! the little Skye terrier had discovered what human intelligence had failed to do! She had found the secret subterranean pa.s.sage, and now be sure she will find her mistress.
CHAPTER V.
THE ROBBERS" CAVE.
There"s ae thing yet; there"s twa things yet, To brag on that ye know; They never, never failed a friend, And never feared a foe.--NICOLL.