*CHAPTER V*
*A MIDNIGHT EXCURSION*
"I know!" said Arthur that evening, coming up to Jack, who waspractising skittles in an alley behind the house. He looked up slyly inJack's face.
"You do, do you? And what do you know?"
"About you."
"Well, I suppose you do. I'm Jack Hardy, son of Major James Hardy, lateof the East India Company's service, and--"
"Didn't he touch you at all?"
"Who? Father? Yes, he used to lay it on pretty thick when I was ayoung un like you."
"Jan Lamiger, I mean."
"Oh, that's it, is it? And what do you know about Jan Lamiger, may Iask?"
"Tony told me. He says Jan Lamiger has got two black eyes and a greennose. Oh! don't I wish I'd seen it! Just don't I!"
"Well, my young cockchafer, you hold your tongue about it. I don't wantit all over the country that a king's officer has been sparring with alout like Jan Lamiger."
"All right. You needn't be stuck up about it. Did he go squash?"
"Your language is not very choice, Master Bastable. Hullo! There'sGudgeon's chimney on fire again."
"It's always on fire."
"What do you mean?"
"So it is--in the winter."
"Well, I s'pose he doesn't have fires in the summer, but it isn't winteryet."
"I don't care. I've seen the chimney smoking away like that oftenenough; sometimes twice a week."
"That's rather curious, isn't it? Doesn't he ever have 'em swept?"
"I don't know. I asked Bill Gudgeon about it once, and he said theycan't afford sea-coal, and burn up all their muck like that."
"Just the sort of answer I should expect from him. Well, there's yourtutor coming to teach you a, b, ab, b, a, b, bab. Cut away!"
"I say!"
"Well, what is it now?"
"I hate Frenchmen."
"A very wise and proper thing for an English boy."
"And I hate lessons."
"Very wrong. You'll grow up a dunce and disgrace to the name ofBastable. Cut!"
"Bother!"
He made a wry mouth and went slowly away. Jack smiled.
"He'll do!" he said to himself. "But I wonder why Gudgeon's chimneysseem so uncommonly foul. I think I must pay Bill's father a visit someday."
He mentioned the matter of the chimney to Mr. Bastable when thatgentleman returned later in the day, after starting the chase for therogues who had dared to disturb the peace of law-abiding Luscombe. Mr.Bastable laughed.
"Yes, Gudgeon has an uncommon quantity of muck on his farm," he said,"but some good stuff, too--some uncommonly good stuff."
Jack did not regard this as a very satisfactory explanation.
That night he was roused from a very heavy sleep by a touch on his arm.
"Who's that?" he cried, springing up at once.
"Only me," said Arthur in a whisper. "I say, Jack, I heard some onemoving about below. It seemed to be in De Fronsac's room."
"Well, he's stumping about doing some more poetry perhaps. Go to bed."
"But I believe he's gone out."
"'Tis rather a close night. Perhaps he wanted air."
"I believe he knows something about that fellow who was shot. I watchedhis face."
"Oho!"
Jack was surprised to find that the boy's suspicions jumped so nearlywith his own.
"Look here, who've you told that to?"
"Only you."
"That's all right. I'm going out."
"So am I," was the quiet rejoinder.
"I don't think so. I'm not going to make a row opening doors. I'mgoing out at the window."
"If you do, I will, too."
"All right. Go and pull on some things and be back here in fifty-nineseconds. Sharp!"
The boy hurried away.
De Fronsac's room was just below, on the ground floor. It had once beena parlor, but little used, and when the tutor begged to have it for hisbedroom, Mrs. Bastable made no objection. It had French windows openingon to the lawn, and De Fronsac said it would be so convenient for him,for he could go out before the household was astir, and compose poems onthe Dawn, or satiric odes to the Monstair.
Arthur was back as soon as Jack had pulled on his coat, breeches, andboots.
"Ever climb down a rain-pipe?"
"No."
"Well, you've got to now. I'll go first, to be ready to pick up thepieces. Hist! What's that?"
Jack had spoken in a whisper. Now through the open window he heard asound as of a latch falling. Going to the window he peered cautiouslyout from behind the curtain. For a few moments he saw nothing. It wasa dark night, but the moon was rising, and he thought he detected a darkfigure moving along in the shadow of the wall. The figure wentfurtively on until the wall ended and a fence began; then Jack lostsight of it.
"You were right, Arthur," whispered Jack. "Don't look like making uppoetry, either. Come along."
Looking out to make sure that the figure was no longer in sight, heslipped over the window-sill, slid down the rain-pipe with a sailor'sease, and in a few seconds stood on the lawn. Arthur hesitated for amoment at the sill, then, plucking up his courage, he let himself overand grasped the pipe. For a few feet he managed well enough; then helost his head and his grip together, and came down with a rush, to becaught by Jack, who staggered under his weight.
"Well tried, youngster. No damage done?"
"No," replied Arthur, not thinking it necessary to tell that he had twoor three grazes on his wrists and legs, and that he had knocked his noseagainst one of the joints of the pipe.
The two boys hurried down the garden, passed through a gap in the fencemade by removing two of the palings, and set off in the reversedirection, toward the front of the house. Jack chose this course almostby instinct; somehow he felt sure that De Fronsac was making toward thecliff. Between this and the house ran the highroad. On reaching theroad, Jack looked up and down: it ran straight for at least a third of amile in each direction. No figure was in sight; yet Jack was sure thatunless De Fronsac had actually run he could not have already got so faras a third of a mile ahead; and the road lay so white in the moonlightthat no person could move along it without being plainly seen.
"No good going on unless we can see him," said Jack.
"Perhaps he has gone by the beach," suggested Arthur.
"Right. The tide's full, but there's always room to walk at the foot ofthe cliffs. We'll chance it."
They ran across the road, vaulted the low wall on the other side, anddoubled over the two fields separating them from the edge of the cliffs.As they approached the steep zigzag leading down to the shore they wentmore carefully. They did not immediately begin the descent, but madetheir way to a jutting portion of the cliff whence they could get a goodview of the shore on either hand.
"We can't see him if he's down there," said Arthur, still in a whisper.
"No, the shadow's too black," replied Jack. "And we can't hear him,either. Wish it was sand! The rollers make such a noise on thatshingle, and the tide's too high for any one to walk on the sands."
But he had hardly finished speaking when, looking to the left, he saw ablack shade on the shingle, at a point where a mass of rocks at the footof the cliff interrupted the direct path. It moved a few yards, andagain disappeared. That was enough for Jack.
"There he is!" he whispered. "Take care, youngster; we don't want anybroken necks."
Quickly lowering himself over the steep side of the cliff until his feettouched the zigzag path, he began to race down as quickly as the needfor quietness permitted, Arthur following somewhat less rapidly. At thefoot he waited for his cousin, then both set off toward the village, thedirection in which they had seen the shadow move.
He almost wished now that he had refused to let Arthur come with him,for while the sound of one person running on the loose shingle mightpass unheard, it was not so l
ikely that two could run with the samesecurity. But he did not care to send the boy back now, so they went ontogether, more slowly than he would have done alone.
De Fronsac must have walked rapidly, for it was not until they hadnearly reached the village that they caught another glimpse of him.Then, however, the gap in the cliff brought him well into view, and theboys had no difficulty in following. He kept straight on across thedeserted harbor and on to the footpath at the other side running up thecliff,--a short cut for pedestrians leading to the highroad a littleshort of Gudgeon's farm. Not far up, however, the path forked, a narrowtrack leading down again to the beach, which it reached about twohundred yards farther east.
Jack had to wait until De Fronsac had disappeared before he followed himacross the open space around the harbor, for if he had chanced to turnhe must have caught sight of any one behind. Thus, when the boysreached the fork of the path, they were uncertain whether to continue upthe cliff, or to turn down to the right.
"Listen!" said Jack.
Holding their breath they waited. Was that a faint sound from above?
"Let us chance it," said Jack, and up they went, following the steepwinding path until it brought them once more to the highroad. Theyglanced up and down; there was nothing to be seen, only Gudgeon's farmabout a stone's throw to the right, and the bare white road windingdown-hill past it and up-hill to the left. They were again at fault;presumably De Fronsac, to avoid the very loose shingle near the village,had chosen the cliff path, only to turn to the right and continue hisroad by the beach.
"If that's it," said Jack, "we can easily make sure. Remain here by thewall so that you can't be seen. I'll go on."
He ran on tiptoe along the road past Gudgeon's house standing black andsilent, crossed the little bridge over the chine, and, vaulting thewall, hastened to the edge of the cliff. He should now at least belevel with the Frenchman if he was still walking along the beacheastward, for on the road Jack had run much faster than was possible onthe shingle.
Here again, however, the cliff cast a black shadow. He could seenothing; nor, listening intently, could he detect any sound from below,save the slow wash of the high tide. But in a few moments his practisedear caught another sound. Surely that was the faint thud of oars workingin row-locks out at sea. Yes: a quarter of a mile eastward he saw aboat cross the white path of the moonbeam across the water and creepshoreward. And beyond, straining his eyes, he thought he saw in theshimmering moonlight the shape of a larger vessel, motionless.
"Whew!" he whistled softly, "that's the Frenchman's little game!"
He was convinced that there must be some connection between the approachof the boat and De Fronsac's suspicious movements. What was it? Hethought of Arthur, remaining by himself in Gudgeon's field.
"Better fetch the youngster," he said to himself.
He raced back to the spot and told Arthur what he had seen.
"You had better come with me. Who knows what this will lead to?"
They returned together and hurried along the cliffs, keeping well awayfrom the edge to avoid being seen.
"She's making for Laxted Cove," said Arthur when he saw the boat.
"How far away?"
"About half a mile. We'll have to fetch round it and approach from theother side if we're to see what's going on."
"Come on, youngster; hold your wind."
They pounded along at a steady pace over the rough bent. The surfacewas very irregular, and more than once the boys tripped and almost fellheadlong as some sudden irregularity of the ground betrayed their steps.In spite of all their haste, by the time they had reached a point beyondthe cove whence they could look down in security, the boat had alreadybeen beached, and men were landing.
The boys lay flat on their faces, peering over the edge of the cliffthat fell here almost perpendicular to the beach. The men below werespeaking in low tones; Jack caught a few words of French, he thought.They were apparently impatient to be off. He could not distinguishtheir faces, nor even their dress, for having come up the beach from thewater-line they were now in the shadow of the cliffs.
Suddenly there was a low hail; immediately afterward the sound offootsteps. From the darkness of the undercliff there stepped three mencarrying a heavy bundle. They staggered somewhat noisily across theshingle toward the waiting boat. Behind them two other figures came outof the blackness and stood just below the boys, as if watching theproceedings.
The three men met those who had landed from the boat. Jack saw thebundle transferred from the one party to the other, and with a start herecognized that it was the form of a man, well trussed up. It wascarried to the boat and stowed with scant ceremony in the bows. Thenthe boat was pushed off, the men wading until she was fairly afloat.They sprang on board, gave a low farewell to the men on the beach, andseizing the oars pulled rapidly out to sea.
The men who had borne the prisoner watched the receding boat until itwas lost to sight, then trudged off toward the village. The other twohad already disappeared. Jack wished he could have seen who they were,but the man nearest him had been all the time in shadow, and the othershad been too far away to be recognized.
"I say, Jack," said Arthur, "what shall you do?"
"That's just what I'm wondering. If I'd only got a few men here I'd godown to the village and demand an explanation of this strange business,in the king's name. But if I went alone I'd make a fool of myself."
"I'd go with you."
"Then there'd be two fools instead of one. They could knock us on thehead and send us to join that bundle on the boat. I wonder who he is.Surely they haven't decoyed De Fronsac here and carried him off to theMonster!"
"He wouldn't like that, would he?"
"Well, we can't do anything at present. We'd better get back."
"Shall you tell father?"
"Don't know. I'll tell you that to-morrow morning."
They went back over the cliffs. They had just crossed the chine when abig figure suddenly loomed up to the left, appearing from the zigzagpath leading down to the shore. There was no time to avoid a meeting;indeed, so suddenly had the man appeared from round a bend in the paththat unless he and the boys had started back simultaneously there musthave been a collision. The moonlight shone full in the face of the bigman, and Jack recognized him even as Arthur whispered:
"I say! old Gudgeon!"
Gudgeon recognized the boys at the same moment.
"Oh, Mr. Hardy, sir!" he said, "you put me in quite a flutter. And you,too, Master Bastable; well to be sure! As if I had not had enoughflutters for one night! Did you hear a boat, sir?"
"Saw it, too."
"There now! I was kept up late attending to some lambs" ("Pretty oldmutton!" thought Jack.), "and I thought I heard people moving, and Icame out, and I was sure I saw a boat putting out to sea. It gave mequite a start. Perhaps it was some of those smugglers--a rough lot. Butgracious me! 'tis very late for two young gentlemen to be out; your goodmother would be in a terrible flutter, Master Bastable, if she knew."
"I say, are you going to tell her?"
"I have to consider my duty, Master Bastable. As to Mr. Hardy, of coursehe's a king's officer, and can keep any hours the king likes to let him.But a boy like you, Master Bastable! Really, Mr. Hardy, sir, I'msurprised at you. But I keep myself to myself, I do, and don't meddlewith no man's business as don't concern me. So this time, MasterBastable, I won't think it my duty to tell your lady mother what I seedthis night."
"I'm going to tell her myself, and what--"
"Avast there!" interrupted Jack, "you ought to be very much obliged toMr. Gudgeon, you young donkey, for not rounding on you. Good night, Mr.Gudgeon."
And he hauled Arthur away.
"You young idiot!" said Jack, when they were out of earshot. "You weregoing to say you would tell your mother all you had seen. We mustn't onany account let them know what we have found out. That would put themon their guard at once. Better say nothing at all just yet."
<
br /> "All right. But why?"
"Because there's something going on which I don't understand. DeFronsac may be in it; Gudgeon certainly is; and if they think we knowtoo much it will spoil things. Not a word to any one, mind."
"I say, how am I going to get back into your room? I got down therain-pipe, but I couldn't climb up it."
"Don't worry yourself, we'll find a way."
On reaching the house they saw that De Fronsac's windows were shut.Jack quickly swarmed up the pipe and entered his room. In about aminute down came the end of a knotted sheet. Arthur caught it, and in afew minutes was standing beside Jack.
The family were seated at the breakfast-table next morning when DeFronsac came in.
"Pardon, Madame," he said, "I am late. Last night I see a fine moon; itdrew me out towards de so beautiful sea over dere"--he pointed in adirection exactly contrary to that taken by the figure followed by theboys--"and I compose a little poem on de Minotaur--who is, of course,dat Monstair Bonaparte."
"That's strange, Monsieur," said Jack, at whom Arthur had been staringvery hard while the Frenchman spoke. "I could not sleep last night, andwent out for a stroll, and I could have sworn I saw you coming just theopposite way."
"Ah! I see you also. I see you drough my curtains--ven you climb up depipe. To mariners dat is, of course, as easy as the staircase; but asfor me, I shudder."
"Gave you the flutters, eh, Monsieur?"
"Myself I vould say de tr-r-rembling. De poem I compose, Madame, itbegin--
"'_Is dere a creature vizout shame?_ _Napoleon--so is he name._ _Is dere a creature vizout heart?_ _Ah! yes!--de Monstair Bonaparte._'"
"Yes, but Monsieur," persisted Jack, "I saw some one uncommonly like yougoing the other way, towards Laxted Cove."
"Ah, Monsieur Jack, ve have a proverb, 'In the dark all cats are gray.'Dat you see some vun, it is certain; but me--no, Monsieur Jack, how canit? I vas composing my poem--over dere."