CHAPTER XXII
THE SIGNAL IS CHANGED
Peveril had been amazed and disgusted at the sudden turning about anddeparture of the boat that had so nearly effected his rescue. Ofcourse, on recognizing the oarsmen, he understood why they declined tohelp him, though it did not enter his mind that they regarded him as asupernatural being.
"What cowards they are!" he reflected, bitterly. "They are determinedto kill me though, that is evident, and I don't believe they will becontent with simply leaving me here to die of exposure. It's more thanlikely they will roll rocks down on me from the cliffs during thenight. There's a cheerful prospect to contemplate, with darknessalready coming on, too!
"That young fellow seemed willing enough to help me, only he was boundto do it in his own way; but now I suppose those wretches will preventhim from making any more efforts in my behalf. What is he doing withthat gang of murderers, I wonder? Apparently he is about as farremoved from that class as a person can be. Well, that's neither herenor there. The one thing to be considered just now is, how am I toget out of this fix? I wonder if there is any possibility of that cordbearing my weight."
The cord thus referred to was the one by which the basket of food hadbeen lowered. As it still hung close at hand, Peveril gave it a sharppull. Although it yielded slightly, it did not break, and, encouragedby this, he threw his whole weight on it as a conclusive test of itsstrength. The result was sudden, surprising, and wellnigh disastrous.The cord gave way so readily that Peveril sprawled at full length onthe rocks, while, at the same time, something heavy fell with a rushdown the face of the cliff and struck with great force close besidehis head.
Springing to his feet in alarm at this most unexpected happening, theprisoner found to his amazement and also to his delight that he hadpulled down the derrick-tackle by which he had descended. To be sure,the block at its lower end had very nearly dashed out his brains, butwhat did he care for that so long as he had been given the benefit ofthe miss? For a moment he was puzzled to know how his pull on the cordcould have effected so desirable a result, but, upon an examination ofthe tackle, he laughed aloud at the simplicity of the proposition. Forwant of something better to hold her end of the cord, Mary Darrell hadtied it to the block of the derrick-tackle, intending, of course, todraw up the basket again as soon as her starving guest had emptied it.Then, absorbed in a suddenly evolved plan for releasing him from hispredicament and at the same time preserving her father's secret, shehad gone away and neglected to do so.
Peveril was not slow to avail himself of the means of escape thusprovided, and a few minutes later stood once more within the portal ofthe great cavern. His first care was to haul up the tackle and disposeit as he imagined it to have been left, with the attached cord hangingdown the face of the cliff.
"There!" he said, when this was done to his satisfaction. "The youngfellow is almost certain to come back for another look at me, and,though I fancy he'll be somewhat surprised to find me gone, it willnever enter his head that I am up here. Then when he leaves I willsimply follow his lead, and so find the way out of this mysteriousplace. Perhaps, though, I can discover it for myself."
Thus thinking, Peveril made as careful an examination of the cavernwalls as the fading light would permit, but could find no sign of anopening. Finally, deciding to carry out his original plan, he selecteda hiding-place, and, settling himself in it as comfortably aspossible, began to await with what patience he might the return of hisyoung friend.
By this time the cavern was quite dark, save for a dim twilight at itsopening; and, having nothing to distract his attention, he began torealize how very weary he was after the exertions and nervous strainof the past three days. He had also just eaten a hearty meal. It islittle wonder then that, within five minutes, and in spite of hisstrenuous exertions to keep awake, he fell fast asleep. Fortunatelyhe did not snore, nor make any sound to betray his presence, butunfortunately, also, his slumber was so profound that when, a littlelater, Mary Darrell and her father softly entered the gallery andcautiously proceeded to its mouth for a look at the prisoner, whomthey supposed still to be on the black ledge, he did not waken.
Puzzled as they were at his disappearance, they were also greatlyrelieved to have him gone. They never for a moment imagined that hecould have regained the cavern, and so, after drawing up the basket,they retired as they had come, leaving Peveril undisturbed to his nap.
While it was not certain that the expected smuggling schooner wouldreach the coast that evening, she might do so, and, with thecautiousness marking all of his operations, Ralph Darrell decided thatit would not do for her cargo to be landed while there was a chance ofa stranger, who was at the same time an enemy, being in theneighborhood. He felt assured that the young man who had somysteriously appeared and disappeared that day must be an enemy; for,though Mary had not mentioned his name, she had described him as beingthe one who had recently attempted to steal his logs from theland-locked basin. Now he had no doubt that the chap was arevenue-officer who had come to spy out his smuggling operations, andonly pretended to be in search of wrecked timber as a cloak for hisreal designs. Else why should he still hang around, and especially inthe vicinity of the cavern, where there were no logs?
Mary even declared a belief that he had been in their carefullyconcealed hiding-place, but, of course, she must be mistaken. Still,no more cargo must be landed until the spy was located and driven fromthat region.
"I sha'n't need to carry on the business much longer," said the oldman to himself; "but so long as I choose to remain in it I don'tpropose to be interfered with."
So Mary was directed to go and display two lanterns at the mouth ofthe cavern as a signal that no goods were to be landed that night,while her father went out for the final look at his precious miningproperty that he took every evening just after the men had quit work.
Ralph Darrell's heart was bound up in the new work he had recentlybegan, and so anxious was he to push it that he was engaging alllaborers who came that way. As yet his force was very small, but hewas in hopes of speedily increasing it. Thus, to discover that threeof his strongest men had suddenly thrown up their jobs and left himwithout warning filled him with anger. So furious was he, even afterhe entered the house, that poor Mary, who had just returned badlyfrightened from the cavern, dared not confess to him that, through herown carelessness, another stranger had been admitted to the hiddenstorehouse of the cliffs.
Perhaps by morning this unwelcome visitor would have disappeared, asthe other had done; and, at any rate, he could never find the secretpassage, for it was too carefully concealed. By morning, too, herfather would be restored to his ordinary frame of mind, and it wouldbe easier to tell him what she had done, if, indeed, it should provenecessary to tell him at all.
In the meantime Mike Connell was much puzzled by the nature of theplace in which he found himself after his climb, as well as by theabrupt disappearance of the lad upon whom he had counted for guidance.The darkness, with its accompanying profound silence, so affected himthat, while he called several times, "Whist now! Where are you? Comeout o' that, young feller, and have done with your foolin'!" he did soin an awed tone but little above a whisper.
"All right; stay where you are then!" he added, after listening vainlyfor a reply. "If it's a game of hide-and-seek ye want, I can soonaccommodate you, seeing as how you've been so kind as to leave me acouple of glims, though it's only one of them I'll need."
Thus saying, the new-comer removed one of the two lanterns that hadbeen hung out as a warning to the smugglers, and unwittingly changedthe danger-signal into one of safety and invitation by so doing. Withthe lantern thus acquired to light his footsteps, he began a carefulsurvey of the cavern, hoping to discover either an exit from it or hisvanished guide.
With his previous knowledge of the principal industry of that region,it did not take him long to conjecture the meaning of the bales andboxes upon which he soon stumbled.
"Holy smoke!" he cried; "it's a cave of smugglers you've b
roke into,Mike Connell, no less, and a sorrowful time ye'll have of it if thefolks comes home and catches you at the trespassing! Where the divilis the back door, I wonder, for the one in front is no good at all?Saints preserve us! What's that?"
With this last exclamation the frightened Irishman began to retreatslowly backward, holding his lantern so that, while it revealed hisown terror-stricken face, its light also fell full on the form ofRichard Peveril standing before him and staring in blankest amazement.
"Plaze, good Mister Spook--I mean yer Honor--Oh, Holy Fathers! whatwill I say?" stammered the poor fellow, in such faltering accents thatPeveril broke into a roar of laughter.
"Mike Connell!" he cried; "wherever did you come from? and what hashappened? You look as though you had seen a ghost!"
"And haven't I?" retorted the other, still staring dubiously. "Is ityourself, lad? But sure it must be, seeing you have a voice of yourown, which is a thing never yet given to a spook. Glory be togoodness, Mister Peril, that I've found you just as I'd lost youentirely, and meself as well!"
"But how do you happen to be here?" asked the still bewilderedPeveril.
"Sure I just came, thinking you might want me."
"Which way did you come?"
"Through the front door, the same as yourself."
"But I came in by a back entrance."
"Then we'd best be getting out that way, for I'm afeard there'll soonbe others here as won't be pleased to see us."
"We can't, for that way is barred," answered Peveril; "but let us sitdown and try to arrive at some understanding of this mysteriousaffair."
So, for nearly an hour, the two talked over the situation; and, thougheach frequently interrupted the other with questions or exclamations,they finally gained a pretty clear comprehension of their position. Atthe end of the conference Peveril exclaimed:
"Then, so far as I can see, we are shut up here like two rats in atrap."
"Yes," cried Connell, "and here comes the rat-catchers after us now!"
As he spoke he pointed to the outer entrance, where the head andshoulders of a man had just appeared above the rocky ledge.