"Yes, Mr Charles, I"ve done that for many a day. When I first came to live on sh.o.r.e with the captain, "Tom," says he, "we must all die, and as we know not the day we should always be ready," so he showed me the way to be ready, and I"ve kept ready ever since."
"Now, friends," said Tom, addressing the smugglers, "what do you intend to do? I"ve again to tell you that you"ll gain nothing by committing a cruel murder, and you"ll repent of it as long as you live, and longer, far longer."
"Stop his canting mouth, and over the cliff with him! let him preach to the lobsters and crabs if he"s a mind!" exclaimed one of the smugglers, and others joined in the vindictive cry.
Charley and Tom on this found themselves dragged along by the shoulders till their feet were over the cliff.
"Now, over with them, let them drop!" cried one of the men.
"No, no," exclaimed another, "let them grip on to the edge with their hands. They"ll have time to think about that where they"re going, and pleasant thoughts to them!"
This last sally of wit produced a roar of laughter from the savage smugglers who, pa.s.sing their lives in systematically outraging the laws of their country, seemed no longer to be moved by any of the better feelings of our nature. Still Charley and Tom felt grateful for the few moments of existence allowed them, and clutched the edge of the cliff with all the energy of despair. No sooner had they been lowered into their perilous position than they heard the smugglers, with heartless indifference to the agony they were suffering, moving off, some actually laughing, as if enjoying their misery, though none of them apparently were so utterly inhuman as to wait to see them dashed to pieces by their fall.
Charley, light and strong, felt that he could hold on for some time, but at the same time was afraid of struggling and endeavouring to get up on the cliff lest he should lose his gripe altogether. Tom had stuck his hook into the earth, but he in the same way knew that in attempting to climb up on to the top of the cliff, he might slip, and fall to the bottom. Their hope was that somebody might come by and help them, but that was very unlikely.
"Hold on, Mr Charles, hold on, my lad!" cried Tom. "If I could but just get the point of a rock to put my knee on, I would soon be on the firm ground and have you safe in a moment."
"I"m doing my best to hold on," answered Charles, "but the edge is terribly crumbling; I would make the attempt to get up, but I am nearly certain that I should fail."
"Then don"t try, Mr Charles," said Tom, "I"ll shout, and may be one of the coastguard men or somebody else will hear us. Help, ahoy! help!
help ahoy!" he shouted in a voice which age had not weakened, and which might have been heard nearly half a mile off, had any one been near enough.
Charley then joined him in shouting, but no answer came, and Charley felt as a person does in a dreadful dream, every instant growing weaker and weaker.
"Tom, I don"t think that I can hold on many seconds longer," he at last said; "good-bye--I must let go--the earth is crumbling away--I am going--oh?"
At that instant Tom, feeling that Charley"s safety depended on his being able to get on the ground above, made a desperate effort--his hook became loosened, in vain he tried to dig his fingers into the earth, and at the same moment that Charley gave his last despairing cry and lost his hold he lost his; down he came, but not as he expected, on the hard rock a hundred feet below him, but into a shallow pool not five feet from where he had been so long hanging.
"Why, where am I?" exclaimed Charley, who, at the same time, had lodged safely on a green mound close to the pool, and tearing off the handkerchief from his eyes he looked about him; "after all, those smugglers are not so bad as we thought them."
"We are at the bottom of a chalk-pit, Mr Charles," answered Tom, "the fellows have played us a somewhat scurvy trick, but I cannot but say that it was better than sending us over the cliff and breaking our necks; howsomdever, the sooner we get out of it the better as I"m wet to the skin, and would like to take a brisk walk homeward to get dry."
A bright moon was shining, though obscured occasionally by the fast driving clouds which came up from the south-west, and by its light they had no difficulty in clambering out of the pit. They were on the top of some downs, at some distance from the edge of the cliff. However, they could see the now foam-covered sea, and distinguish vessels far off running up the Channel before the gale, and thus could take a tolerably direct road homeward, though neither of them had before been thus far from the Tower. They hurried on, being certain that the smugglers could not leave the coast, and hoping that even if one could be captured he would give information where Margery was to be found.
"Margery! poor dear little Margery, she to be all this time in the power of these ruffians!" Charley kept saying to himself as he and Tom hurried on.
CHAPTER NINE.
A FRIEND IN NEED--MARGERY ESCAPES--MARGERY"S MISSION.
Tom and Charley had gone through so much that they could not calculate at all what hour of the night it then was. They had not noted the hour when they commenced their adventure, but remembered that it was then daylight; they had had no dinner, and they felt very hungry. They were hurrying along a path which led through a hollow, when on the hill above them they saw a female figure. She stopped and looked about, either to find the path or in expectation of some one. What could she want at that hour of the night, in so lone a place? They were under the shadow of a stone wall, and she evidently did not see them. They hesitated whether to remain concealed, as it occurred to both that her appearance there was in some way or other connected with the smugglers. However, after waiting a minute, she came down the hill with the light step of a young girl; when, catching sight of them, instead of retreating she came boldly forward. "Oh, Tom, oh, Mr Charles, I am so glad to see you all right!" she exclaimed, as she got near enough for them to recognise the features of Polly Herring, the smuggler"s daughter. "I heard that something dreadful was going to happen, and I came along to try and stop it."
"And you thought, Polly, that your father was in it, and may be James Trevany, and you did not wish them to get into trouble. Was not that it, Polly?"
"Yes! Tom, that was one reason," answered the girl, frankly; "another was that I wanted to save you and Mister Charles from coming to harm; and now I"ll ask you, if father or James get into trouble, to speak a good word to the captain to help them out of it."
"The captain is a just man, and will return kindness with kindness, no doubt of that," answered Tom. "But I say, Polly, if any one can find out where Miss Margery is, you can, for I am as certain as I stand here that your father, or James, or some of your friends, had a hand in carrying her off. Come, speak the truth, girl; you"ll gain more by helping us to find her than by any other way."
"Yes! it was a cruel shame to carry her away," she muttered, in a low voice; "but I dare not indeed I dare not."
"Dare not do what, Polly?" asked Tom, in a soothing tone.
"Tell where she is, or help you to get her," answered the girl, promptly.
"Then you do know where she is, Polly, and may be who took her away, and all about her," said Tom. "Now what I"ve got to say is this, that just do you do what"s right, and never do you fear what any one can do to you."
The girl still hesitated.
"Just let me ask you a question, Polly," continued Tom. "Is your father in trouble, or James? Tell me that."
"Yes! the revenue men have got some information against them, and are after them both."
"Then depend on"t, Polly, the best thing for them is to give up Miss Margery before they are caught," said Tom; "they"ll gain nothing by giving her up afterwards. The law doesn"t make terms with people."
"But they"re terrible people who"ve got her," answered Polly. "They"d as soon shoot you, or me, or anybody, as look at us, if we came near them."
"We don"t fear terrible men," said Tom, laughing, "just do you put us in the way of getting back Miss Margery, and we"ll say as many good words as we can for thy father, Polly, and for James too, if he needs them."
"But you"ll do no harm to those who have got her, and all you"ll say is that Polly Herring, d.i.c.k Herring"s daughter, helped you to get her back," said the girl, in a tone which showed that she still feared the consequences of what she was about to do.
Charley had not before spoken, but he now thanked her, and urged her to lose no time in restoring Margery to them.
"Come on, then," she said, in a firm voice; "it"s a long way from here, but you may be there and back at the Tower with the little girl before daybreak." These words made Charley"s affectionate heart beat with joy.
Polly added, however, "We must be careful, though, for if we were to fall in with any of our people it would go hard with you and me too."
Polly had well-knit limbs, and, being accustomed to active exercise, led the way at a rapid rate. She seemed well acquainted with the road, for she never stopped or hesitated as to which path to take, and Charley soon totally lost the direction in which he was going, and Tom had no little difficulty in keeping up with her.
They had thus gone on for some distance, when Polly stopped and stood as if listening.
"I hear some coming; we must hide, and quick too, for if they are those I fancy, and they catch us, our lives are not worth much."
A high bank with a hedge on the top of it was on one side, and as she spoke she led the way through a gap, and the adventurers found themselves perfectly concealed from any one pa.s.sing along the road.
Scarcely had they got behind the hedge, when a party of five or six men appeared, talking in subdued tones, but high enough to allow some of their words to be heard. They were uttering oaths and breathing vengeance against the revenue officers and others, by whom their plans had been defeated. From the mood they were in, Charley felt that it would have been very unpleasant to have again encountered them. Polly waited for some time before she ventured into the road, and then she led on, without speaking, as fast as ever. The ground became very rough, and they went up and down hill till the sound of the surf told that they were once more approaching the sea.
As they were ascending a steep, rocky hill, covered with loose stones, a light appeared before them. They crept on cautiously, imitating Polly"s way of proceeding.
"They have taken her there," she whispered, pointing to a cottage, the dim outline of which could be seen. "This very night, if the weather had been fine, they would have carried her across the Channel. There"s no time to lose, for they won"t let her stay long, and if we don"t get her to-day, to-morrow she may be far off from this."
Again she moved on, till she reached a low stone wall, which formed a fence to the garden of the house. "Stay still as death here," she whispered. "There"s a terrible woman lives there. If she was to find out what I was about she"d kill me though I am her own flesh and blood, and you too, and, may be, in her rage, the little girl too." Saying this, Polly stole on towards the cottage.
Charley had expected that he should have been called on to run some personal risk, and to carry off Margery from the grasp of half-a-dozen fierce smugglers or so, and he felt somewhat disappointed at the inactive part he was called on to play. From the words Polly had dropped he guessed that the cottage was the one inhabited by old Dame Herring, who was looked upon by the inhabitants of the country for miles round as a witch, and known to be a very bad character. She took advantage of her evil reputation, and practised on the credulity of the people. It is not necessary to mention her bad practices. A few years before she would very probably have been burnt as a witch; she now ran a risk of being ducked in a horse-pond.
Polly seemed to be a long time absent. Tom had the gift of patience, and was accustomed to wait, and so, though he was fully as anxious as Charley to have Margery safe under his charge, he made no complaint; but Charley began to lose patience, and to wonder what could have become of Polly, contemplating even going to look for her. Those who have had experience in life know that it is much more difficult to wait for an event than to rush forward to meet it; pa.s.sive courage is therefore often the greatest. Still, when difficulties occur, the wisest course is boldly to face them at once. To the eyes of the mult.i.tude the soldier who rushes onward into the thickest of the fight may appear the bravest, and yet he may be a positive coward, urged forward by despair.
The truly brave is he who can stand undaunted to meet the shock of the onset. Charley had to wait and wait till his patience was taxed to the utmost. At length his ear caught a light footstep approaching, and Polly came up to him. "I couldn"t get the little girl out, for she is shut up in a room by herself," she whispered. "I had to wait till they were all asleep, and then I crept out to tell you. Still, I think if you are careful you may manage to get her. I will show you the window of the room where she is shut up, and if you can climb in and awake her without making any noise you may do it; but understand that there are several men sleeping in the cottage with loaded pistols under their heads, which they are very quick to use; and remember that the slightest noise will alarm them. Come along, but you must wait ten minutes to let me get into the cottage before you begin your business."
Charley and Tom, of course, promised to attend to Polly"s injunctions, and eagerly followed her through the garden to the back of the cottage.