CHAPTER XXI
MIKE CONNELL TO THE RESCUE
On the very day that the White Pine logging expedition had been socompletely disbanded, the tug _Broncho_ had been sent up the coast ina hurry after a supply of timber. She reached Laughing Fish Cove inthe evening after Peveril's departure from his camp, and spent thenight there awaiting him. Her captain was greatly perplexed by thefailure of any of the party to put in an appearance, and the more sowhen he learned from the fishermen that Peveril had returned aloneonly to depart again on foot soon afterwards.
By morning he dared not wait longer, for his instructions were tostart back immediately with such logs as had been collected. He alsoimagined that, having picked up all the timber they could find, andbecoming tired of waiting for him, the wreckers might have set out forRed Jacket on foot. So, taking in tow the raft that he found in thecove, he started down the coast, arriving at his destination that sameevening.
Mike Connell, who had been anxiously awaiting Peveril's coming, was atthe landing to meet his friend, and was much disappointed at hisnon-appearance. After gaining all the news concerning the missingparty that Captain Spillins could give him, he hastened back to RedJacket, and went at once to the Trefethen cottage with a faint hopethat Peveril might be there.
The inmates of the little house had also pleasantly anticipated thereturn of the young man in whom they were so interested, and had madesuch simple preparations as came within their means for welcoming him.Now their disappointment at Connell's report was mingled with acertain anxiety that increased as they discussed the situation.
"I'm feared lad's got into some trouble along of they furriners,"reflected Mark Trefethen, as he puffed thoughtfully at his short pipe."Not but he'll find way outen it, though, for he's finely strong andhandy wi' his fists. Still, there's always the knives and deviltry ofthey furriners to be reckoned with."
"They do tell as hit's a cruel country up yon, full o' thieves andmurderers, to say naught o' smuggling pirates," put in his wife;"which, as I were saying to Miss Penny no longer ago than yesterday,when me and 'er was looking in at company store, the same as MaisterPeril should be running this blessed minute if 'e 'ad 'is rights,'Miss Penny,' sez I, 'that pore young man'll never get it in thisworld, now 'e's gone for a sailor, mark my words,' little thinkingthey'd so soon come true."
"If I was a man," said Nelly Trefethen, at the same time casting ameaning glance at her sweetheart, "I'd not be sitting here wonderinghow he's to be got out of trouble, especially if he'd done for me whathe has for some."
"No more will I," spoke up Mike Connell, "for I'm going to find him,which is what I came to say along with telling the news."
"And I'll go with you!" exclaimed Tom Trefethen, springing to hisfeet, as though for an immediate start.
"No, Tom; glad as I'd be of your company, it's best I should go alone,seeing as I know that country well, and one man can get along in itwhen two couldn't. Besides, you are needed here, while I'm not."
In spite of young Trefethen's protests, the Irishman remained firm inhis decision to set forth alone in search of his friend; and as heleft the house Nelly, who with the others accompanied him to the door,managed to give his hand an approving squeeze.
Although Major Arkell gave orders for the tug to return to LaughingFish in search of the missing loggers the moment her services could bespared, it was not until twenty-four hours after bringing in the raftthat it was possible for her to do so.
In the meantime Mike Connell, starting at the break of day, andwalking briskly northward, reached the cove that still held Peveril'sdeserted camp that same afternoon.
Through an intimacy with several of his countrymen who were successfulpeddlers of Ralph Darrell's smuggled goods, Connell had learned muchconcerning that section of country, and the various operationsconducted within its limits. He had at one time seriously contemplatedgoing into the peddling business himself, and had made so manyinquiries in regard to its details that he was even familiar with"Darrell's Folly," though it was a place he had never visited.
Knowing it to be a headquarters for smugglers, and believing that, ifPeveril had really got himself into trouble, it would be in connectionwith some of those people, he felt that it was a likely locality inwhich to search for information. Accordingly he headed directly forit, only going a short distance out of his way to visit Laughing FishCove. Having heard that the fisher-folk were in league with thesmugglers, he did not care to betray his presence to them, and so didnot show himself in the little settlement, but only skirted it, untilcertain that his friends were not there. Then he proceeded towards hisdestination by the same trail that Peveril had followed only twonights before.
As he walked slowly along the narrow pathway, trying to invent someplausible excuse for presenting himself before the irascible old manwho, he had heard, excluded all strangers from "Darrell's Folly," hissteps were arrested by the sound of voices approaching from theopposite direction. In another moment he saw three men hurryingtowards him, gesticulating wildly and talking loudly in an unknowntongue.
As they drew near he recognized in them the three car-pushers recentlydriven from the White Pine Mine. It also flashed into his mind thatthese were the men whom he had urged to make a cowardly attack on theyoung fellow he had then considered an enemy, but for whom he was nowsearching as for a dear friend.
The new-comers also recognized him, and, regarding him as of onepurpose with themselves in all that concerned Peveril, did nothesitate to advance and speak to him. After an exchange of greetings,Connell broached the business in hand by asking if they had seenanything in those parts of the chap who had driven them from WhitePine.
The men glanced at each other hesitatingly for a moment, and thenRothsky answered:
"Yes, my friend, indeed we have seen him, and to our sorrow, since itis but now that he has driven us from another job, better even thanthat."
"How so?" inquired Connell, pricking up his ears.
"It is this way: We are working, at good wages, for the old fool overyonder, when that devil of a Per'l comes and tries to steal ourtimbers. Then the boss compels us to seize him and put him in hisboat, which we tow far out in the lake. Then, as he makes a try toescape, the boss, who is like a man crazy, shoots him with a pistolthrough the head, and we all see him fall without life in the bottomof his boat. He is so very dead that he does not even move, and so islet go to drift, him and his boat, while we return to shore."
"A fine way of treating trespassers, bedad!" exclaimed Connell; "butall the same, there is folks who would call it murder."
"Yes, was it not? But wait. All that was three days ago; and yet, butone hour since, two of us have seen the ghost of this beast Per'lstanding on the black rocks, with the white face of death, the wethair of the drowned, and his clothing torn by the teeth of fishes. Hesaid not one word, but waited for us, and would have dragged us to thebottom if we had not fled in time. Now, with such things allowed, wecan no longer work in this place, and so, for the second time, has hedriven us from our good job."
"It's a cruel shame and an outrage on dacency, nothing less!" criedConnell, in pretended indignation. "At the same time, Rothsky, man,I'd like to have been with you, for do you know I've never laid eyeson a ghost at all, but would like mightily to have the exparience.Would ye mind tellin' me now where could I find this one, just for thepleasure of the sensation?"
"No, no, Mist Connell! Don't go near it, for you'll be going to yourdeath if you do."
"But, if I'm willing to risk it why not?"
So the Irishman insisted that they should permit him to share withthem the glory of having seen a ghost, and finally won from them fulldirections how to discover the place from which they had fled interror. The sly fellow even made pretence of wishing them to go backwith him, and, when they declined to consider his invitation, declaredthem to be a set of cowards, and set forth alone.
"It's my belief," he said to himself, as he made his way towards theplace where they had told him he would find a boat,
"that them divilsof Dagos have played some dirty trick on Mister Peril. If there'd beenbut two of them I'd found some way of extorting a confession fromtheir lying mouths, but odds of three to one is too big to risk. So Ihad to blarney them; but maybe I'll be able to help the lad some way;and, anyhow, here's for the trying."
It was dusk when Connell, having found the boat, pulled unobserved outof the land-locked basin, and by the time he reached the ledge, wherehe had been told he would find Peveril's ghost, darkness had so closedin that he could not tell whether it was occupied or not until he hadleft his craft and explored its limited area.
"Mister Peril!" he called, softly; "come out, if you're hiding, forit's only me, Mike Connell, come to take you away from this--Oh, badcess to it, he's not here at all, and it's a great song-and-dance themDagos give me! Now I'll have to go and beg a night's lodging of theold man, and maybe he'll give me a job in place of them as has justleft him. In that case I'll find out something, or me name's not--Holysmoke! where's me boat? Bad luck to the slippery craft! It's goneentirely, and here I am left to spend the cruel night alone on a bitof a rock in the sea. If I was in jail I'd be better off."
It was only too true. The light skiff, carelessly left to its owndevices, had been caught by a gentle breeze and borne without a soundbeyond sight or hearing.
As the second prisoner claimed by the black ledge that day stooddismally bemoaning his hard fate, a light flashed out above him, and,glancing upward, he saw what he took to be a man in the act of hangingtwo lanterns to a bit of a tree. It was a danger-signal warning thesmugglers to keep away, and Mary Darrell was placing it by order ofher father, who feared Peveril might still be lingering in thatvicinity.
"Hey, lad," cried Connell, noting her slight figure, "will you help afellow-creature in distress by tossing down the end of a rope?"
"Are you really still there?" exclaimed the girl, in a tone of dismay,and striving to peer down through the darkness.
"I am that, but most anxious to get away."
"And if I do let down the rope, will you promise to depart at once thesame way you came?"
"I'll promise anything if you'll only let me up."
"Well, then, there it is. I know I am doing wrong, but I can't leaveyou down there all night, for you would be dead by morning."
"True for ye," answered Connell, as he began briskly to climb therope, hand over hand.
As his face appeared within the circle of lantern-light, the poorgirl, who was waiting with trembling anxiety, uttered a cry of terrorand fled into the gloom of the cavern.
"Well, if that don't bate my time!" exclaimed the new-comer, as hegained a foothold on the ledge. "Whatever could the lad be frightenedof?"