*CHAPTER II*
*HOLDING THE FORT*
Aghast--horrified--the boys looked at each other in silence. Most boyswould have blubbered and given up the game. Not so these two lads.Their faces turned a shade paler, but a stern heroic light shone fromtheir eyes, as they calmly awaited events.
A moment later the constable and the keeper came struggling through thebrushwood.
"Here they are, Beagle! Caught at last. It's the two of them. The sameold birds," cried Old Click joyfully, as he caught sight of theprisoners. "Good dog! Good old Charlie! There's a dog for you,Beagle! Not another like him for twenty miles around. See how he's runthe vagabonds to earth!"
"He's a good dog, I admit, Mr. Click, but he hasn't quite run them toearth yet, seeing that they're a good forty feet above the ground; butwe've got them tree'd and cornered this time, proper, eh?"
"Ho, there! Come down, ye young varmint. Come down this minute, ort'ull be worse for you," shouted the keeper.
"I shall come down when I please," said Jamie.
"All right, you son of a poacher. I'll sit down till you do as I tellyou. I don't mind a rest and a smoke, but I won't move from this spottill you do come down."
"Won't you move, though? You old fox. You shan't stay there if youhave tree'd us. Take that, and that," and as he spoke Jamie hurled withall his might a chunk of dead wood, which he had torn from a witheredbranch. "I'll teach you to call me names. My father was a better manthan you, any day."
The missile hit the keeper on the knee, as he sat on the grass, and gavehim a nasty shock. Up he jumped in a rage, and for a couple of minuteshe fairly danced and limped around the tree, in spite of hisdetermination a minute ago not to move. He clenched his fist and shookit at the youngsters.
"I'll have the law on ye--ye young jackanapes. What's that, Beagle, but'battery and assault,' and what's the penalty for it?"
"Twenty strokes of the birch, Mr. Click, and ten years' imprisonment,or, more likely, transportation for life."
"Aye, that's it--transportation. Like your father got, you younggallows-bird."
This second taunt about his father made the blood rush to the lad'sface, and he hurled another chunk of wood at the irate keeper, whichnarrowly missed his head, but hit the hound instead, which set up afrightful yell and bolted into the wood, and despite all theblandishments of its master refused to come anywhere near the zone offire again.
The boys were as agile as monkeys aloft, and they quickly got severalmore pieces of dead timber ready for their captors. Things were turningout much better than they feared, and they were not having the worst ofit, so far, at least. How it would all end it was impossible to say,but there was just this chance, that they might drive away the two menby their determined assault, until an opportunity occurred for them toslip down the tree; and once on the ground, with even a dozen yardsstart, they could easily leave their pursuers behind. As for thehound--well, another chunk of wood would about settle him.
Both the keeper and the constable were now very chary about showingthemselves, after the narrow escape of the former, for the boys were soexpert with the missiles, and so determined in their opposition that thetwo men kept behind the tree trunks, some twenty or thirty feet away.Both boys had their pea-shooters, with a plentiful supply of drywicken-berries, and whenever their opponents showed so much as an inchof face they were mercilessly pelted.
"You young rascals. You shall pay dearly for this. Do ye know ye'reinsulting the law?" cried the constable, trying hard to dodge thepea-shooters as he spoke.
"Why don't you go home?" called out Jack. "If either of you come nearthe tree again, we'll break every bone in your body. We've plenty ofwood here."
This game was continued for more than half-an-hour, at the end of whichtime the two men got behind a thick holly bush near by, and began toconsult together.
The next moment the boys would have been free, for while the keeperswere thus engaged, their prisoners were preparing to slide down the treeand make a dash for it, when, observing this, the men rushed towards thetree just in time to prevent them.
"Come back, Jamie! Come back----" cried his companion, hurling at thesame instant another piece of wood at Beagle, who made a desperatespring, and tried to catch hold of Jamie's legs, as he hung danglingfrom a branch. The missile took effect, and the constable quicklyretreated, roaring like the "Bull of Bashan."
The next moment Old Click emerged from the wood with an armful ofbracken, with which he quickly kindled a fire. Soon a thick column ofsmoke arose, and drifted towards the tree. More and more bracken andbrushwood were piled on, and the smoke became chokingly dense up therein the tree, for the fire had been lit with the express purpose ofsmoking them out.
The boys plied them valiantly with wood-chunks and wicken-berries, buttheir ammunition soon failed them. The smoke had become dreadful now.They were nearly choked with it, and were already half-blinded. Whatcould they do? Still they held out. They mounted to the very top ofthe tree, and sat there with their faces buried in their hands to keepthat suffocating smoke from their eyes and nostrils.
"Coming down now, sir?" asked the keeper, who had now begun to lightanother fire at the root of the tree, for he saw that there was no moreammunition aloft, but he had counted without his host.
"No, you villains! Take that!--and that!" shouted Jack, at the sametime hurling down through the smoke first one boot and then another, asa last resort.
The second boot caught Old Click in the middle of the back as he wasstooping down to tend the fire, and made him give vent to a yell whichresounded through the woods. This incident evoked a bit of high-soundingEnglish that I will not here repeat--suffice it to say that the yellbrought Beagle, who had gone to fetch a woodman's axe, running to thespot to see what had happened.
The keeper sat down on the grass for a few moments, and the boys wereafraid that they had killed him, but in a little while he sprang upagain and cried out angrily--
"I'll give you two minutes to come down, gentlemen. At the end of thattime I shall cut down the tree."
There was no answer, and at the end of the two minutes the keeper spokeagain.
"Will you come down and go quietly to the lock-up?" Still no answer,and the next moment----
"Chip!--chip!" went the axe, and at every stroke the tall tree shook.The trunk was more than half-way through now, and the whole stemtrembled with the blows, when a voice called from aloft, through thesmoke--
"Stop! Mr. Click, if you please."
Quite willing to take a brief rest and to enjoy the discomfort of theyoungsters, the keeper stayed his axe for a moment.
"We'll come down, Mr. Click, if you won't take us to the lock-up. We'veonly had six of your beastly trout, and they were not worth two-penceeach, but we're willing to pay you for them, and to come down, if youwon't take us before the magistrates. We've done nothing to deserveit," said Jack, as he prepared to descend.
"Do you hear that, Beagle? That's what I call trying to bribe an honestman. What do you call it?"
"That's it--bribery and corruption," replied the constable.
"The terms of surrender are unconditional, you young jackanapes." Andwith that Click went to work with the axe again. The tree quivered, andgave signs that it was about to fall.
"Stop! Stop! We're coming down." And then, realising that the gamewas up, the two chums quietly slid down the trunk into the arms of theircaptors, and were triumphantly marched off to the lock-up.
It was getting dark when they reached this ugly little building, butthey were unceremoniously thrust inside, and when the key grated in thelock and the two men had left them, with only the rats for theircompanions, they were just a little bit "skeered."
"Jamie! Where are you?" asked Jack, when they had been left alone inthe silence and the darkness for some minutes.
"Here! Here!" cried his companion, and they crept along the wall untilthey were able to tou
ch each other. Then they cowered down in a corner,against the wall.
"We'll get out of this before morning, else my name's not Jack Elliot,and then we'll do that which we've often spoken about. We'll runaway--we'll go to sea--we'll tramp to Liverpool, and we'll find a shipgoing abroad, and we'll get taken aboard somehow--and--and we'll sticktogether, and make our fortunes. What say you, Jamie?"
"Jack, you're a brick. Give me your hand. I'll go with you, and we'llstick together. I've no father and no mother, and no friends--exceptyou. All the world's against us. Old Click and Beagle have been tryingto catch us for months, and now they've done it. They'll brag about it,and the whole village will laugh at us."
"Yes, they've threatened to turn us out of school, and now they'llperhaps send us to prison, just for taking a few trout, as though Goddidn't make the trout, and the streams, and the woods for all of us.And to-morrow they'll bring us before the magistrates----"
"Will they, though? They won't have the chance. Just hold this, whileI get a light, and then we'll examine the place," and Jamie pulled apiece of tar-band out of his pocket, unravelled the end, and handed itto his companion. Next, he took out his tinder-box, and quickly threw ashower of sparks on to the tow, which produced a little flame, about thesize of a rushlight. Then they began to look around them.
It was a common type of village lock-up, built of rough, undressedstones from the neighbouring quarries. It had massive oaken doors,which had been securely locked, and there were no windows, for the onlyopening was a small aperture, eighteen inches square, and about sevenfeet from the ground, and it was caged by several rusty iron bars. Thefloor was flagged with stones and covered with rushes.
The place was used merely as a temporary lock-up for poachers and otherlaw-breakers before their transference to the county gaol, and wassituated just outside the village. In a few minutes they had examinedthe doors, the walls and the floor, but they sought in vain for any spotthat offered a chance of escape.
"The grating, Jack! Let's try the grating. I reckon that's our onlychance. Here, give me a leg! Let me climb on to your shoulders and trythe bars." This was no sooner said than done.
"Here's luck! The middle bar is filed through at one end, and here onthe ledge is a rusty file, thick with cobwebs. How jolly! Some one'sbeen at this game before, and it's never been discovered. Half thework's been done for us, but it must have been many years ago. Ibelieve if we can file through the other end of this bar we can squirmthrough."
"I wonder who did it?"
"Blessings on his head, whoever or wherever he is. May he never want afriend!"
It was indeed a long time ago since the file had been used. It had lainthere for twelve years hidden by cobwebs and dust, and the poacher whohad used it had been transported.
For the next half-hour the two boys took turns filing away at that thickiron bar, standing or kneeling on each other's shoulders. Suddenly atthe end of that time voices were heard, and then footsteps approaching.
"Sh! Sh! Put out the light, Jamie, quick! Some one is coming." Thelight was extinguished, and the prisoners sat down quietly on therush-strewn floor.
Who could it be? Had the magistrates sent some one already to removethem to the county gaol? If so, their chances of escape were alreadycut off. They determined to wait quietly and see, for this was all theycould do.
Nearer and nearer came the sounds they had previously heard. Thefootsteps halted outside the heavy doors. The rays of light from alanthorn flashed through the interstices and the openings. Some one wasexamining the lock. Who could it be? The boys' hearts quaked with fearlest their efforts at escape should be foiled. Then they heard thevoices of their captors.
"They ain't broke gaol yet, Beagle! The lock's safe and sound. We'vegot them safe--this time," said Old Click.
"Have you, though?" whispered Jack, under his breath.
"Hullo, there, ye young varmints! Who's master now? You won't do anymore poaching in Hawk Woods, I'll warrant," said the keeper, who seemedto have come purposely to poke fun at them. Then Jamie pretended to sobpiteously.
"Oh, it's crying ye are, is it? Ah, well, it's too late for repentancenow. Ye should ha' thought o' that before."
"Come away now, Mr. Click. They're safe till the morning, anyhow. Thenwe can bring them before the magistrates and have them whipped, and sentto prison, and perhaps transported. Come away," said Beagle.
"I'd like to see the man who would dare to whip me," cried out Jack, hisvoice ringing with anger and defiance.
"Tut, tut! my little man! When a boy begins training so early for thegallows, what can he expect? Howsoever, 'tis no use argefying, so I'lljust bid ye good-night." After which they both went off chuckling andsaying--
"'Twill be a lesson for them. T' squire and schoolmaster seemedmightily pleased over it."
To do the janitors justice, however, I must here say that it was notintended to punish the lads further than by letting them spend the nightin the lock-up, in the hope that this might teach them a severe lesson.To this course Jack's father and the schoolmaster, who had been alreadyinformed, quite agreed.
The lads, however, took it more seriously, and felt convinced fromprecedents within their memory that the full severity of the law wouldbe meted out to them, and they determined to prevent it by escaping andrunning away from Burnside and saving their families this terribledisgrace, for Jamie still looked upon his aunt as his guardian, andthough Jack had no mother or sisters, he had a father and brothers.Besides, they were just at that age when romance begins; for all theirheroes had commenced life by running away.
As soon, therefore, as their janitors were out of hearing, they set towork again with the rusty old file, which by this time had lost much ofits rust and had begun to bite keenly. It was hard work, but theirfreedom and their future were at stake. They were hungry, too, forsince dinner they had tasted nothing but those few trout which they hadtaken from the burn.
It was damp and chilly too, but they did not feel the cold, for theywere aglow with the exercise and flushed with the promise of victory.
"Hurrah! It's through at last!" exclaimed Jamie, as the file slippedand the heavy bar fell upon the floor with a jangle and a jar.
"Bravo, old fellow! Well done."
Jamie put the file in his pocket, and swung himself up by the remainingbars. There was now an aperture about eleven inches square, and thoughit required a bit of a struggle to squeeze through that awkward gap, yetthey had both done more difficult things than that in the past, and sowithin five minutes they were both standing in the road outside thelock-up.