CHAPTER 4
IN THE VAULT
Let us hob and nob with Death--_Tennyson_
Though nothing of the vault except the roof was visible from where Ilay, and so I could not see these visitors, yet I heard every wordspoken, and soon made out one voice as being Master Ratsey's. Thisdiscovery gave me no surprise but much solace, for I thought that if theworst happened and I was discovered, I should find one friend with whomI could plead for life.
'It is well the earth gave way', the sexton was saying, 'on a night whenwe were here to find it. I was in the graveyard myself after midday, andall was snug and tight then. 'Twould have been awkward enough to have thehole stand open through the day, for any passer-by to light on.'
There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear morecoming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that theywere carrying burdens. There was a sound, too, of dumping kegs down onthe ground, with a swish of liquor inside them, and then the noise ofcasks being moved.
'I thought we should have a fall there ere long,' Ratsey went on, 'whatwith this drought parching the ground, and the trampling at the edge whenwe move out the side stone to get in, but there is no mischief donebeyond what can be easily made good. A gravestone or two and a few spadesof earth will make all sound again. Leave that to me.'
'Be careful what you do,' rejoined another man's voice that I did notknow, 'lest someone see you digging, and scent us out.'
'Make your mind easy,' Ratsey said; 'I have dug too often in thisgraveyard for any to wonder if they see me with a spade.'
Then the conversation broke off, and there was little more talking, onlya noise of men going backwards and forwards, and of putting down of kegsand the hollow gurgle of good liquor being poured from breakers into thecasks. By and by fumes of brandy began to fill the air, and climb towhere I lay, overcoming the mouldy smell of decayed wood and the dampnessof the green walls. It may have been that these fumes mounted to my head,and gave me courage not my own, but so it was that I lost something ofthe stifling fear that had gripped me, and could listen with more ease towhat was going forward. There was a pause in the carrying to and fro;they were talking again now, and someone said--
'I was in Dorchester three days ago, and heard men say it will go hardwith the poor chaps who had the brush with the _Elector_ last summer.Judge Barentyne comes on Assize next week, and that old fox Maskew hasdriven down to Taunton to get at him before and coach him back; makingout to him that the Law's arm is weak in these parts against thecontraband, and must be strengthened by some wholesome hangings.'
'They are a cruel pair,' another put in, 'and we shall have new gibbets onRidgedown for leading lights. Once I get even with Maskew, the other maygo hang, ay, and they may hang me too.'
'The Devil send him to meet me one dark night on the down alone,' saidsomeone else, 'and I will give him a pistol's mouth to look down, andspoil his face for him.'
'No, thou wilt not,' said a deep voice, and then I knew that Elzevir wasthere too; 'none shall lay hand on Maskew but I. So mark that, lad, thatwhen his day of reckoning comes, 'tis _I_ will reckon with him.'
Then for a few minutes I did not pay much heed to what was said, beingterribly straitened for room, and cramped with pain from lying so long inone place. The thick smoke from the pitch torches too came curling acrossthe roof and down upon me, making me sick and giddy with its evil smelland taste; and though all was very dim, I could see my hands were blackwith oily smuts. At last I was able to wriggle myself over without makingtoo much noise, and felt a great relief in changing sides, but gave sucha start as made the coffin creak again at hearing my own name.
'There is a boy of Trenchard's,' said a voice that I thought wasParmiter's, who lived at the bottom of the village--'there is a boy ofTrenchard's that I mistrust; he is for ever wandering in the graveyard,and I have seen him a score of times sitting on this tomb and looking outto sea. This very night, when the wind fell at sundown, and we were hungup with sails flapping, three miles out, and waited for the dark to getthe sweeps, I took my glass to scan the coast-line, and lo, here on thetomb-top sits Master Trenchard. I could not see his face, but knew him byhis cut, and fear the boy sits there to play the spy and then tellsMaskew.'
'You're right,' said Greening of Ringstave, for I knew hisslow drawl; 'and many a time when I have sat in The Wood, and watched theManor to see Maskew safe at home before we ran a cargo, I have seen thisboy too go round about the place with a hangdog look, scanning the houseas if his life depended on't.'
'Twas very true what Greening said; for of a summer evening I would takethe path that led up Weatherbeech Hill, behind the Manor; both because'twas a walk that had a good prospect in itself, and also a sweet charmfor me, namely, the hope of seeing Grace Maskew. And there I often satupon the stile that ends the path and opens on the down, and watched theold half-ruined house below; and sometimes saw white-frocked Graciewalking on the terrace in the evening sun, and sometimes in returningpassed her window near enough to wave a greeting. And once, when she hadthe fever, and Dr. Hawkins came twice a day to see her, I had no heartfor school, but sat on that stile the livelong day, looking at the gabledhouse where she was lying ill. And Mr. Glennie never rated me for playingtruant, nor told Aunt Jane, guessing, as I thought afterwards, the cause,and having once been young himself. 'Twas but boy's love, yet serious forme; and on the day she lay near death, I made so bold as to stop Dr.Hawkins on his horse and ask him how she did; and he bearing with me forthe eagerness that he read in my face, bent down over his saddle andsmiled, and said my playmate would come back to me again.
So it was quite true that I had watched the house, but not as a spy, andwould not have borne tales to old Maskew for anything that could beoffered. Then Ratsey spoke up for me and said--''Tis a false scent. Theboy is well enough, and simple, and has told me many a time he seeks thechurchyard because there is a fine view to be had there of the sea, and'tis the sea he loves. A month ago, when the high tide set, and thisvault was so full of water that we could not get in, I came with Elzevirto make out if the floods were going down inside, or what eddy 'twas thatset the casks tapping one against another. So as I lay on the ground withmy ear glued close against the wall, who should march round the churchbut John Trenchard, Esquire, not treading delicately like King Agag, orspying, but just come on a voyage of discovery for himself. For in thechurch on Sunday, when we heard the tapping in the vault below, my younggentleman was scared enough; but afterwards, being told by ParsonGlennie--who should know better--that such noises were not made byghosts, but by the Mohunes at sea in their coffins, he plucks up heart,and comes down on the Monday to see if they are still afloat. So there hecaught me lying like a zany on the ground. You may guess I stood atattention soon enough, but told him I was looking at the founds to see ifthey wanted underpinning from the floods. And so I set his mind at ease,for 'tis a simple child, and packed him off to get my dubbing hammer. AndI think the boy will not be here so often now to frighten honestParmiter, for I have weaved him some pretty tales of Blackbeard, and hehas a wholesome scare of meeting the Colonel. But after dark I pledge mylife that neither he nor any other in the town would pass the churchyardwall, no, not for a thousand pounds.'
I heard him chuckling to himself, and the others laughed loudly too, whenhe was telling how he palmed me off; but 'he laughs loudest who laughslast', thought I, and should have chuckled too, were it not for makingthe coffin creak. And then, to my surprise, Elzevir spoke: 'The lad isa brave lad; I would he were my son. He is David's age, and will make agood sailor later on.'
They were simple words, yet pleasing to me; for Elzevir spoke as if hemeant them, and I had got to like him a little in spite of all hisgrimness; and beside that, was sorry for his grief over his son. I was somoved by what he said, that for a moment I was for jumping up and callingout to him that I lay here and liked him well, but then thought better ofit, and so kept still.
The carrying was over, and I fancy they were all sitting on th
e ends ofkegs or leaning up against the pile; but could not see, and was stillmuch troubled with the torch smoke, though now and then I caught throughit a whiff of tobacco, which showed that some were smoking.
Then Greening, who had a singing voice for all his drawl, struck upwith--
Says the Cap'n to the crew,We have slipt the revenue,
but Ratsey stopped him with a sharp 'No more of that; the words aren'tto our taste tonight, but come as wry as if the parson called _OldHundred_ and I tuned up with _Veni_.' I knew he meant the last versewith a hanging touch in it; but Greening was for going on with the song,until some others broke in too, and he saw that the company would havenone of it.
'Not but what the labourer is worthy of his hire,' went on Master Ratsey;'so spile that little breaker of Schiedam, and send a rummer round tokeep off midnight chills.'
He loved a glass of the good liquor well, and with him 'twas always thesame reasoning, namely, to keep off chills; though he chopped the wordsto suit the season, and now 'twas autumn, now winter, now spring, orsummer chills.
They must have found glasses, though I could not remember to have seenany in the vault, for a minute later fugleman Ratsey spoke again--
'Now, lads, glasses full and bumpers for a toast. And here's toBlackbeard, to Father Blackbeard, who watches over our treasure betterthan he did over his own; for were it not the fear of him that keeps offidle feet and prying eyes, we should have the gaugers in, and our storeransacked twenty times.'
So he spoke, and it seemed there was a little halting at first, as ofmen not liking to take Blackbeard's name in Blackbeard's place, or raisethe Devil by mocking at him. But then some of the bolder shouted'Blackbeard', and so the more timid chimed in, and in a minute therewere a score of voices calling 'Blackbeard, Blackbeard', till the placerang again.
Then Elzevir cried out angrily, 'Silence. Are you mad, or has the liquormastered you? Are you Revenue-men that you dare shout and roister? orcontrabandiers with the lugger in the offing, and your life in your hand.You make noise enough to wake folk in Moonfleet from their beds.'
'Tut, man,' retorted Ratsey testily, 'and if they waked, they would butpull the blankets tight about their ears, and say 'twas Blackbeard pipinghis crew of lost Mohunes to help him dig for treasure.'
Yet for all that 'twas plain that Block ruled the roost, for there wassilence for a minute, and then one said, 'Ay, Master Elzevir is right;let us away, the night is far spent, and we have nothing but the sweepsto take the lugger out of sight by dawn.'
So the meeting broke up, and the torchlight grew dimmer, and died awayas it had come in a red flicker on the roof, and the footsteps soundedfainter as they went up the passage, until the vault was left to the deadmen and me. Yet for a very long time--it seemed hours--after all had goneI could hear a murmur of distant voices, and knew that some were talkingat the end of the passage, and perhaps considering how the landslip mightbest be restored. So while I heard them thus conversing I dared notdescend from my perch, lest someone might turn back to the vault, thoughI was glad enough to sit up, and ease my aching back and limbs. Yet inthe awful blackness of the place even the echo of these human voicesseemed a kindly and blessed thing, and a certain shrinking lonelinessfell on me when they ceased at last and all was silent. Then I resolved Iwould be off at once, and get back to the moonlight bed that I had lefthours ago, having no stomach for more treasure-hunting, and being gladindeed to be still left with the treasure of life.
Thus, sitting where I was, I lit my candle once more, and then clamberedacross that great coffin which, for two hours or more, had been amid-wall of partition between me and danger. But to get out of the nichewas harder than to get in; for now that I had a candle to light me, I sawthat the coffin, though sound enough to outer view, was wormed throughand through, and little better than a rotten shell. So it was that I hadsome ado to get over it, not daring either to kneel upon it or to bringmuch weight to bear with my hand, lest it should go through. And nowhaving got safely across, I sat for an instant on that narrow ledge ofthe stone shelf which projected beyond the coffin on the vault side, andmade ready to jump forward on to the floor below. And how it happened Iknow not, but there I lost my balance, and as I slipped the candle flewout of my grasp. Then I clutched at the coffin to save myself, but myhand went clean through it, and so I came to the ground in a cloud ofdust and splinters; having only got hold of a wisp of seaweed, or ahandful of those draggled funeral trappings which were strewn about thisplace. The floor of the vault was sandy; and so, though I fell crookedly,I took but little harm beyond a shaking; and soon, pulling myselftogether, set to strike my flint and blow the match into a flame tosearch for the fallen candle. Yet all the time I kept in my fingers thishandful of light stuff; and when the flame burnt up again I held thething against the light, and saw that it was no wisp of seaweed, butsomething black and wiry. For a moment, I could not gather what I hadhold of, but then gave a start that nearly sent the candle out, andperhaps a cry, and let it drop as if it were red-hot iron, for I knewthat it was a man's beard.
Now when I saw that, I felt a sort of throttling fright, as though onehad caught hold of my heartstrings; and so many and such strange thoughtsrose in me, that the blood went pounding round and round in my head, asit did once afterwards when I was fighting with the sea and near drowned.Surely to have in hand the beard of any dead man in any place was badenough, but worse a thousand times in such a place as this, and to knowon whose face it had grown. For, almost before I fully saw what it was, Iknew it was that black beard which had given Colonel John Mohune hisnickname, and this was his great coffin I had hid behind.
I had lain, therefore, all that time, cheek by jowl with Blackbeardhimself, with only a thin shell of tinder wood to keep him from me, andnow had thrust my hand into his coffin and plucked away his beard. Sothat if ever wicked men have power to show themselves after death, andstill to work evil, one would guess that he would show himself now andfall upon me. Thus a sick dread got hold of me, and had I been a womanor a girl I think I should have swooned; but being only a boy, and notknowing how to swoon, did the next best thing, which was to put myself asfar as might be from the beard, and make for the outlet. Yet had I scarceset foot in the passage when I stopped, remembering how once already thissame evening I had played the coward, and run home scared with my ownfears. So I was brought up for very shame, and beside that thought how Ihad come to this place to look for Blackbeard's treasure, and might havegone away without knowing even so much as where he lay, had not chancefirst led me to be down by his side, and afterwards placed my hand uponhis beard. And surely this could not be chance alone, but must rather bethe finger of Providence guiding me to that which I desired to find. Thisconsideration somewhat restored my courage, and after several feints toreturn, advances, stoppings, and panics, I was in the vault again,walking carefully round the stack of barrels, and fearing to see theglimmer of the candle fall upon that beard. There it was upon the sand,and holding the candle nearer to it with a certain caution, as though itwould spring up and bite me, I saw it was a great full black beard, morethan a foot long, but going grey at the tips; and had at the back,keeping it together, a thin tissue of dried skin, like the false partingwhich Aunt Jane wore under her cap on Sundays. This I could see as it laybefore me, for I did not handle or lift it, but only peered into it, withthe candle, on all sides, busying myself the while with thoughts of theman of whom it had once been part.
In returning to the vault, I had no very sure purpose in mind; only avague surmise that this finding of Blackbeard's coffin would somehow leadto the finding of his treasure. But as I looked at the beard andpondered, I began to see that if anything was to be done, it must be bysearching in the coffin itself, and the clearer this became to me, thegreater was my dislike to set about such a task. So I put off the evilhour, by feigning to myself that it was necessary to make a carefulscrutiny of the beard, and thus wasted at least ten minutes. But atlength, seeing that the candle was burning low, and could certainly lastlitt
le more than half an hour, and considering that it must now begetting near dawn, I buckled to the distasteful work of rummaging thecoffin. Nor had I any need to climb up on to the top shelf again, butstanding on the one beneath, found my head and arms well on a level withthe search. And beside that, the task was not so difficult as I hadthought; for in my fall I had broken off the head-end of the lid, andbrought away the whole of that side that faced the vault. Now, any lad ofmy age, and perhaps some men too, might well have been frightened to setabout such a matter as to search in a coffin; and if any had said, a fewhours before, that I should ever have courage to do this by night in theMohune vault, I would not have believed him. Yet here I was, and hadadvanced along the path of terror so gradually, and as it were foot byfoot in the past night, that when I came to this final step I was notnear so scared as when I first felt my way into the vault. It was not thefirst time either that I had looked on death; but had, indeed, always aleaning to such sights and matters, and had seen corpses washed up fromthe _Darius_ and other wrecks, and besides that had helped Ratsey to casesome poor bodies that had died in their beds.
The coffin was, as I have said, of great length, and the side beingremoved, I could see the whole outline of the skeleton that lay in it. Isay the outline, for the form was wrapped in a woollen or flannel shroud,so that the bones themselves were not visible. The man that lay in it waslittle short of a giant, measuring, as I guessed, a full six and a halffeet, and the flannel having sunk in over the belly, the end of thebreast-bone, the hips, knees, and toes were very easy to be made out. Thehead was swathed in linen bands that had been white, but were now stainedand discoloured with damp, but of this I shall not speak more, andbeneath the chin-cloth the beard had once escaped. The clutch which I hadmade to save myself in falling had torn away this chin-band and let thelower jaw drop on the breast; but little else was disturbed, and therewas Colonel John Mohune resting as he had been laid out a century ago. Ilifted that portion of the lid which had been left behind, and reachedover to see if there was anything hid on the other side of the body; buthad scarce let the light fall in the coffin when my heart gave a greatbound, and all fear left me in the flush of success, for there I saw whatI had come to seek.
On the breast of this silent and swathed figure lay a locket, attached tothe neck by a thin chain, which passed inside the linen bandages. Awhiter portion of the flannel showed how far the beard had extended, butlocket and chain were quite black, though I judged that they were made ofsilver. The shape of this locket was not unlike a crown-piece, only threetimes as thick, and as soon as I set eyes upon it I never doubted butthat inside would be found the diamond.
It was then that a great pity came over me for this thin shadow of man;thinking rather what a fine, tall gentleman Colonel Mohune had once been,and a good soldier no doubt besides, than that he had wasted a nobleestate and played traitor to the king. And then I reflected that it wasall for the bit of flashing stone, which lay as I hoped within thelocket, that he had sold his honour; and wished that the jewel mightbring me better fortune than had fallen to him, or at any rate, that itmight not lead me into such miry paths. Yet such thoughts did not delaymy purpose, and I possessed myself of the locket easily enough, finding ahasp in the chain, and so drawing it out from the linen folds. I hadexpected as I moved the locket to hear the jewel rattle in the inside,but there was no sound, and then I thought that the diamond might cleaveto the side with damp, or perhaps be wrapped in wool. Scarcely was thelocket well in my hand before I had it undone, finding a thumb-nickwhereby, after a little persuasion, the back, though rusted, could beopened on a hinge. My breath came very fast, and I shook so that I had adifficulty to keep my thumbnail in the nick, yet hardly was it openedbefore exalted expectation gave place to deepest disappointment.
For there lay all the secret of the locket disclosed, and there was nodiamond, no, nor any other jewel, and nothing at all except a littlepiece of folded paper. Then I felt like a man who has played away all hisproperty and stakes his last crown--heavy-hearted, yet hoping againsthope that luck may turn, and that with this piece he may win back all hismoney. So it was with me; for I hoped that this paper might have writtenon it directions for the finding of the jewel, and that I might yet risefrom the table a winner. It was but a frail hope, and quickly dashed; forwhen I had smoothed the creases and spread out the piece of paper in thecandle-light, there was nothing to be seen except a few verses from thePsalms of David. The paper was yellow, and showed a lattice of foldswhere it had been pressed into the locket; but the handwriting, thoughsmall, was clear and neat, and there was no mistaking a word of what wasthere set down. 'Twas so short, I could read it at once:
The days of our age are threescore years and ten;And though men be so strong that they comeTo fourscore years, yet is their strength thenBut labour and sorrow, so soon passeth itAway, and we are gone.--Psalm 90, 21
And as for me, my feet are almost gone;My treadings are wellnigh slipped.--73, 6
But let not the waterflood drown me; neither letThe deep swallow me up.--69, 11
So, going through the vale of misery, I shallUse it for a well, till the pools are filledWith water.--84, 14
For thou hast made the North and the South:Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.--89, 6
So here was an end to great hopes, and I was after all to leave the vaultno richer than I had entered it. For look at it as I might, I could notsee that these verses could ever lead to any diamond; and though I mightotherwise have thought of ciphers or secret writing, yet, rememberingwhat Mr. Glennie had said, that Blackbeard after his wicked life desiredto make a good end, and sent for a parson to confess him, I guessed thatsuch pious words had been hung round his neck as a charm to keep thespirits of evil away from his tomb. I was disappointed enough, but beforeI left picked up the beard from the floor, though it sent a shiverthrough me to touch it, and put it back in its place on the dead man'sbreast. I restored also such pieces of the coffin as I could get at, butcould not make much of it; so left things as they were, trusting thatthose who came there next would think the wood had fallen to pieces bynatural decay. But the locket I kept, and hung about my neck under myshirt; both as being a curious thing in itself, and because I thoughtthat if the good words inside it were strong enough to keep off badspirits from Blackbeard, they would be also strong enough to keepBlackbeard from me.
When this was done the candle had burnt so low, that I could no longerhold it in my fingers, and was forced to stick it on a piece of thebroken wood, and so carry it before me. But, after all, I was not toescape from Blackbeard's clutches so easily; for when I came to the endof the passage, and was prepared to climb up into the churchyard, I foundthat the hole was stopped, and that there was no exit.
I understood now how it was that I had heard talking so long after thecompany had left the vault; for it was clear that Ratsey had been asgood as his word, and that the falling in of the ground had beenrepaired before the contraband-men went home that night. At first I madelight of the matter, thinking I should soon be able to dislodge this newwork, and so find a way out. But when I looked more narrowly into thebusiness, I did not feel so sure; for they had made a sound job of it,putting one very heavy burial slab at the side to pile earth againsttill the hole was full, and then covering it with another. These wereboth of slate, and I knew whence they came; for there were a dozen ormore of such disused and weather-worn covers laid up against the northside of the church, and every one of them a good burden for four men.Yet I hoped by grouting at the earth below it to be able to dislodge thestone at the side; but while I was considering how best to begin, thecandle flickered, the wick gave a sudden lurch to one side, and I wasleft in darkness.
Thus my plight was evil indeed, for I had nothing now to burn to give melight, and knew that 'twas no use setting to grout till I could see to goabout it. Moreover, the darkness was of that black kind that is neverfound beneath the open sky, no, not even on the darkest night, but lurksin close and covered places and strains the eyes in tr
ying to see intoit. Yet I did not give way, but settled to wait for the dawn, which must,I knew, be now at hand; for then I thought enough light would comethrough the chinks of the tomb above to show me how to set to work. Norwas I even much scared, as one who having been in peril of life from thecontraband-men for a spy, and in peril from evil ghosts for riflingBlackbeard's tomb, deemed it a light thing to be left in the dark to waitan hour till morning. So I sat down on the floor of the passage, which,if damp, was at least soft, and being tired with what I had gone through,and not used to miss a night's rest, fell straightway asleep.
How long I slept I cannot tell, for I had nothing to guide me to thetime, but woke at length, and found myself still in darkness. I stood upand stretched my limbs, but did not feel as one refreshed by wholesomesleep, but sick and tired with pains in back, arms, and legs, as ifbeaten or bruised. I have said I was still in darkness, yet it was notthe blackness of the last night; and looking up into the inside of thetomb above, I could see the faintest line of light at one corner, whichshowed the sun was up. For this line of light was the sunlight, filteringslowly through a crevice at the joining of the stones; but the sides ofthe tomb had been fitted much closer than I reckoned for, and it wasplain there would never be light in the place enough to guide me to mywork. All this I considered as I rested on the ground, for I had sat downagain, feeling too tired to stand. But as I kept my eye on the narrowstreak of light I was much startled, for I looked at the south-westcorner of the tomb, and yet was looking towards the sun. This I gatheredfrom the tone of the light; and although there was no direct outlet tothe air, and only a glimmer came in, as I have said, yet I knew certainlythat the sun was low in the west and falling full upon this stone.
Here was a surprise, and a sad one for me, for I perceived that I hadslept away a day, and that the sun was setting for another night. And yetit mattered little, for night or daytime there was no light to help me inthis horrible place; and though my eyes had grown accustomed to thegloom, I could make out nothing to show me where to work. So I took outmy tinder-box, meaning to fan the match into a flame, and to get at leastone moment's look at the place, and then to set to digging with my hands.
But as I lay asleep the top had been pressed off the box, and the tindergot loose in my pocket; and though I picked the tinder out easily enough,and got it in the box again, yet the salt damps of the place had soddenedit in the night, and spark by spark fell idle from the flint.
And then it was that I first perceived the danger in which I stood; forthere was no hope of kindling a light, and I doubted now whether even inthe light I could ever have done much to dislodge the great slab ofslate. I began also to feel very hungry, as not having eaten fortwenty-four hours; and worse than that, there was a parching thirst anddryness in my throat, and nothing with which to quench it. Yet there wasno time to be lost if I was ever to get out alive, and so I groped withmy hands against the side of the grave until I made out the bottom edgeof the slab, and then fell to grubbing beneath it with my fingers. Butthe earth, which the day before had looked light and loamy to the eye,was stiff and hard enough when one came to tackle it with naked hands,and in an hour's time I had done little more than further weary myselfand bruise my fingers.
Then I was forced to rest; and, sitting down on the ground, saw that theglimmering streak of light had faded, and that the awful blackness ofthe previous night was creeping up again. And now I had no heart to faceit, being cowed with hunger, thirst, and weariness; and so flung myselfupon my face, that I might not see how dark it was, and groaned for verylowness of spirit. Thus I lay for a long time, but afterwards stood upand cried aloud, and shrieked if anyone should haply hear me, calling toMr. Glennie and Ratsey, and even Elzevir, by name, to save me from thisawful place. But there came no answer, except the echo of my own voicesounding hollow and far off down in the vault. So in despair I turnedback to the earth wall below the slab, and scrabbled at it with myfingers, till my nails were broken and the blood ran out; having all thewhile a sure knowledge, like a cord twisted round my head, that no effortof mine could ever dislodge the great stone. And thus the hours passed,and I shall not say more here, for the remembrance of that time is stillterrible, and besides, no words could ever set forth the anguish I thensuffered, yet did slumber come sometimes to my help; for even while I wasworking at the earth, sheer weariness would overtake me, and I sank on tothe ground and fell asleep.
And still the hours passed, and at last I knew by the glimmer of lightin the tomb above that the sun had risen again, and a maddening thirsthad hold of me. And then I thought of all the barrels piled up in thevault and of the liquor that they held; and stuck not because 'twasspirit, for I would scarce have paused to sate that thirst even withmolten lead. So I felt my way down the passage back to the vault, andrecked not of the darkness, nor of Blackbeard and his crew, if only Icould lay my lips to liquor. Thus I groped about the barrels till nearthe top of the stack my hand struck on the spile of a keg, and drawingit, I got my mouth to the hold.
What the liquor was I do not know, but it was not so strong but that Icould swallow it in great gulps and found it less burning than my burningthroat. But when I turned to get back to the passage, I could not findthe outlet, and fumbled round and round until my brain was dizzy, and Ifell senseless to the ground.