the bread cake, andbegan to eat ravenously.
But he recollected himself directly, and placed some to the woundedman's lips.
"Thank ye, lad, no," said Nat, sadly; "but if you could get me a drop o'water, I'd be 'bliged, for I feel just like a flower a-drying up in thesun."
Poor Nat did not look it, whatever he might feel; but almost before hehad ceased speaking, Scarlett had slipped through the hole as the safestway, gone to the opening by the lake, dipped his hat three-parts full ofwater, and borne it back, placing it safely between two boughs at theside of the top, while he climbed out; and the next minute he washolding the dripping felt to Nat's lips.
"Hah!" ejaculated the poor fellow, feebly; "it's worth being chopped abit and lying here for the sake of the appetite it gives you."
"Appetite, Nat?" said Scarlett, taking up the bread.
"'Tite for water, lad. That's the sweetest drop I ever did taste, Iwill say."
"Drink again?"
"Ay, that I will, hearty," whispered Nat; and he partook of another longdraught. "There," he said, "now you give me one bit o' that cake tonibble, and you may go. To get food, didn't you say, sir, just now?"
"I want some--for my father, Nat, but--if--I can have some of this?"
"Take it all, my dear lad, take it all. Where is the master, sir?"
Scarlett told him in as few words as possible, and Nat stared at him.
"No, it's of not a bit o' good, Master Scar," he said sadly. "I knowyou're telling me something, but I bled all the sense out of me, and Ican't understand what you mean. Never mind me. I dare say it's allright."
"But, Nat," cried Scarlett, eagerly, as a thought struck him, and herealised that it was useless to try and impress upon the poor fellowabout the secret passage, "you are lying out here."
"Yes, sir; not a nice place, but cool and fresh."
"Could you, if I helped you, get down that hole, where my father lies?"
"Sir Godfrey?"
"Yes."
"But you said you were going away somewhere, sir."
"Only to get some food, and you have enough for the day. To-night I'llgo out and get more. Do you think you could crawl down?"
"I think I could try, sir, if it comes to that."
"And trying is half the battle, Nat."
"Right, sir; I'll try. That drop o' water seemed to put life in me."
"But--"
Scarlett stopped short, thinking. Some one had been and brought Natfood, for there it was in solid reality, tempting him to eat; and if hetook the poor fellow down into the secret passage, it would no longerprove to be a secure hiding-place, for those who missed the wounded manwould search perhaps and find.
That did not follow, though. They might think that he had crept away;and besides, the case was desperate, and he must risk it.
"You said, `But,' Master Scar," said Nat, feebly, after waiting for hisyoung master to go on.
"Nothing, nothing," said Scarlett, hastily, for his mind was made up."Now then, pass your arms round my neck, clasp your hands together, andhold tightly. I'll draw you out of that place."
"Take the food first, Master Scar. There, stuff it in your wallet,lad."
Scarlett did not hesitate, but placed the precious treasure in thereceptacle, and then bent down. Nat obeyed his instructions, and by astrong effort he was drawn out.
"Have I hurt you much, Nat?" said Scarlett, as he gazed through the dimlight at the pallid face so close to his.
"Well, sir, not to make much bones about it, tidy, pretty tidy. Whatnext, sir?"
"I want to lower you down through the branches into that hole."
"Eh?" ejaculated Nat, forgetting his weakness and the aching pain hesuffered, as he gave quite a start. "No, no, Master Scar, don't dothat."
"But you will be safe there for the present, Nat."
"Safe enough, I suppose, sir," groaned the poor fellow.
"Well, let me lay your legs here, and I can slide you down."
"But I aren't dead yet, dear lad. Don't hurry it so fast as that."
"What do you mean?"
"Going to bury me, aren't you, sir?"
"What nonsense, man! There's a long passage there leading to a vault."
"Yes, sir; that's what I thought. Don't do it till I'm quite gone."
In spite of hunger, misery, anxiety, and pain, Scarlett Markham couldnot refrain from laughing at Nat's perplexed countenance, with soreassuring an effect that the poor fellow smiled feebly in return, tookheart, and allowed himself to be slid down through the opening, the taskbeing so well managed that Nat sank on the stone floor, and whenScarlett loosened his hands, he subsided gently against the wall.
Then, after removing a few of the tracks of his passage, the elasticityof the undergrowth and its springing up helping the concealment,Scarlett descended to his henchman's side, and after a pause helped himalong the passage right to the vault, where, as soon as he had got ridof his burthen, the lad found his father sleeping calmly.
"Aren't it a bit dark, Master Scar, or be it my eyes?" said Nat, feebly.
"Dark, Nat, quite dark. But you will, I hope, be safe here till we canescape."
"Right, sir. I'll do what you tell me, for I feel just like a big babbynow with no legs, and my head all of a wobble, 'cause there's no bone inthe neck. Yes, sir, thank ye, sir. Ease my head down gently. That'sit. That's it. That's it. That's it. Ah!" the poor fellow kept onrepeating to himself, and ended with a low sigh of relief; and whenspoken to again there was no reply.
Scarlett's heart seemed to cease beating, and then it gave a leap.
Had he done wrong in getting the poor fellow down there, exhausted as hewas? How did he know but that he might have caused the wounds to bleedagain?
There was consolation directly after, for he could hear Nat's calm,regular breathing, and, satisfied and relieved, Scarlett stepped now tohis father's side to touch him, but found that he too was still sleepingcalmly, while for the present it seemed that his duty was to keep guard.
He seated himself on the stone floor, with his back in one of theangles, and listened for a time to the regular breathing; then hisravenous hunger made itself known to such an extent that, aftercomforting himself with the promise that he would get food that night,he took out and broke a piece off the bread cake, put it back, thoughtthat those by him might require it, and determined to fight down hishunger.
Hunger won the day.
Scarlett made a brave fight, but he was weak; and, try how he would, hishand kept on going to the pocket wallet, and at last he did what wasquite necessary under the circumstances--he ate heartily and well; andthen, with a guilty feeling; troubling him, he yielded to a secondkindly enemy.
The breathing of his two patients was as regular as clockwork, and thesilence and darkness seemed to increase, with the result that they actedin a strangely lulling way, and with such potency that, after a time,Scarlett started up, and stared about him at the dense blackness around.
"Have I been to sleep?" he muttered, as he drew himself up a little moretightly, and prepared to keep his black watch firmly and well to theend--that is to say, till the time when he would start at dusk for theManor.
The next instant he was on his way there, creeping cautiously throughthe undergrowth, listening to the crackling of the wood he pressed withhis feet, and finally making his way to the old house, where he was ableto embrace his mother and sister, feeling his cheek wet with theirtears, while Mistress Forrester made him up a basket of dainties, suchas would invite the appetite of a wounded man.
How delightful it all was! only he had to start back so soon, and as hehurried away, his mother called him back. "Scarlett! Scarlett!" Howthe words rang in his ears, as he looked back through the darkness--
Scarlett leaped to his feet, with a feeling of shame and contrition.
"I must have been asleep," he exclaimed; and he listened to thebreathing once more. "And what a vivid dream that was! How real itseemed!" he added. "I'll go along to the open
ing, and look out. Thatwill keep me from going to sleep again."
He started down the steps, and climbed out, wondering whether he hadslept a minute, an hour, or a day, and to his delight he found and tookback with him the provision lately placed there by Fred and Samson.
"Well, we shall not starve," said Scarlett, thankfully, as he beganthinking of his dream; but all the same, the voice which had broken inupon him calling his name sounded wonderfully real.
CHAPTER FORTY SIX.
SAMSON DISOBEYS ORDERS.
"Ho! Scar!"
No answer.
"Hoi! Scar Markham!"
The second call was louder, and this time Fred Forrester had thrust hishead down the hole, so that his voice went echoing along the passage,and died away in a whisper; but the only effect it had was to produce alow chuckling sound from Samson.
"What are you laughing at, sir?" cried Fred, angrily.
"Only at you, Master Fred, sir."
"How dare--"
"No, no; don't be cross with me, sir. I only felt as you'd have felt ifyou'd been me, and I'd been you."
"What do you mean?"
"Why, it seemed so rum for us to have slipped down here again,pretending to fish, so as to be laughed at because we hadn't caught any,and for you to turn yourself upside down, with your head in the hole,and your legs up in the air, shouting like that!"
"Don't be a donkey, Samson."
"No, Master Fred; I'll promise you that, faithful like; but it do seemrum. 'Tarn't likely, you know, sir, 'tarn't likely."
"What isn't likely?"
"Why, that aren't, sir. Even if Master Scar is hiding there."
"If? He must be. Nobody else knows of the existence of the place."
"Wouldn't our Nat, sir?"
"No. How could he?"
"Well, sir, I can't say how he could; but he always was a nastyhunting-up-things sort of boy. So sure as I hid anything in my box athome, or anywhere else, he'd never rest till he found it; and as he washiding away here, he may have hunted out this hole, and took possessionlike a badger."
"It might be so," said Fred, thoughtfully; and he approached the holeonce more.
"'Tarn't no good, Master Fred," said Samson, chuckling. "You might justas well go to a rabbit's hole, and shout down that, `Hoi! bunny, bunny,come out and have your neck broken.'"
"Don't talk so," said Fred, angrily.
"No, sir, not a word; but you forget that we're enemies now, and thatit's of no use to call to Master Scarlett or our Nat to come, becausethey won't do it. There's two ways, sir, and that's all I can make out,after no end of thinking."
As Samson spoke, he held up his hand, and went back a few yards toreconnoitre.
"Don't see nor hear nothing, Master Fred," he said, as he returned; "butwe're making a regular path through the wilderness, so plain that soonevery one will see."
"Then we must go for the future to the opening by the lake, and try whatwe can do there."
"And get wet!"
"What did you mean by your two ways of finding out whether they arethere?"
"Well, sir, one's by putting bread and meat bait afore the hole, andcoming to see whether it's been taken."
"But we've tried that again and again, and it is taken," said Fred,impatiently. "What's the other way?"
Samson chuckled, and thrust his hand into his wallet, where he made arattling noise.
"Don't be stupid, Samson," cried Fred, angrily. "What do you mean?"
"These here, sir," cried Fred's follower, drawing something out of thewallet.
"Well, what's that--flint and steel?"
"Tinder box and bit o' candle, Master Fred. That's the best way, afterall."
"Samson!" cried Fred, joyously. "I did not think of that. Come along."
"Stop a moment, my lad; don't let's do nothing rash. Just think a bit."
"I've no time to think."
"Ay, but you must, sir. That there's a long hole, and you're thinkingof going down it."
"Yes, of course."
"Suppose there's somebody at home?"
"That's just what I hope to find."
"But we shall be like a couple of rabbits running into a fox's hole, andhe may bite."
"Not if he knows that we come as friends."
"No, Master Fred, p'raps not; but we're enemies."
"No, we're not, Samson, and you are wasting time."
"Which I don't want to contradict you, Master Fred; but enemies we areby Act o' Parliament, and that you know as well as me."
"Then you are afraid of the adventure?"
"Who says so?" growled Samson.
"I do, sir. So you had better go back, and I'll make the venturealone."
"I wish you was somebody else, Master Fred."
"Why?"
"Oh, I'd know, sir."
"Give me the flint and steel and the candle."
"What for, sir?"
"To light," cried Fred, impatiently.
"Nay, I'm going to light that candle, and I'm going along with you,Master Fred. Why, what would the colonel say if he found out that I'dleft you in the lurch?"
"Better leave me than give me a coward for a companion."
"Well, I do call that cruel to a man as only wanted to tell you what arisk it was. Never know'd me to be a coward yet, Master Fred, never! Ionly wanted you to understand the worst. Come along, sir."
Before Fred could interfere, Samson had taken two or three strides, andthen made a leap right on to the dead branches which masked the entranceto the hole. The result was as might be expected; he crashed throughfeet first, and disappeared.
"Samson!" exclaimed Fred, as he dashed to the opening.
"I'm all right, sir, so far," said the rough fellow, looking up with agrim smile on his face. "That's the worst of being a coward and afraid.It makes you rush at things, instead of taking 'em coolly. Here, letme help you down."
"I can manage," replied Fred, quietly, as he felt annoyed with himself."Better draw your sword."
"No, sir," said Samson, coolly; "if I do they'll think I'm afraid; andbesides, there's no room to give it a good swing for a cut, and thepoint's blunt since I used it for digging up potatoes."
"No, no; I can get down," said Fred, quickly, as Samson once moreoffered his help, and the next moment he was also standing in the oldpassage, peering before him, and listening.
All was as silent as the grave, and a chilly feeling of dread came overthe lad, as he wondered whether poor Nat had, after all, only crawled inthere to die, just as some unfortunate wounded creature seeks a hole tobe at rest.
"What nonsense! when he took the food we put there," he muttered thenext moment.
"What say, sir? Shall I strike a light?"
Samson did not wait for an answer to his first question beforepropounding the second.
"Yes. Go a few steps forward out of the light," whispered Fred, "andthen we are not likely to be heard."
"Not from outside," grumbled Samson; "but how about them inside?They'll come down and spit us like black cock on a big skewer."
"What are you muttering about?" whispered Fred, as his companion wentforward and knelt down.
"I was only saying, don't blame me if they come down on us with swordsthat hasn't been used to dig potatoes, Master Fred."
"Let me come by you, and I'll stand on guard while you strike a light."
"No, sir; I shan't," said Samson, gruffly.
"What's that?"
"You heared, sir."
"Yes, I did hear," whispered Fred, angrily; "and please remember, sir,that I am your officer."
"Can't remember that now, Master Fred, only that you're to be took careof. I had strict orders to be always ready to shove my big body infront of you when anybody was going to" (_nick_, _nick_) "cut at you"(_nick_, _nick_, _nick_)--"Look at that!--with a sword."
"Who gave you those orders?" said Fred, sharply.
"Your mother, sir, 'fore we" (_nick_, _nick_) "started for the wars atfirst." (_Nick_, _nick
_) "I shall never get a light."
Samson was down upon his knees, striking a piece of flint sharply upon athin bar of steel turned over at each end, so as to form a double hook,which the operator grasped in his left hand, while Fred stood gazingstraight before him, sword drawn, and the point held over his man'shead, ready to receive any attack.
At every stroke with the flint, a number of sparks shone out for amoment, lighting up the striker's face, but though he kept on nickingaway, there was no result.
"Why, Samson," whispered Fred, as he mastered a curious sensation ofemotion at the man's words, which brought up the memory of a pair oftender, loving eyes gazing into his at the moment of farewell, "you haveforgotten the tinder!"
The nicking sound ceased on the instant, and Samson began