CHAPTER XXI.
"NOUGHT HAD'ST THOU TO PRAISE."
When Trullya disappeared, the ogre turned upon the boys with asavageness that was very much put on; for their rueful looks,disappointment, headlong action, and love of fun, had appealed to himin a way he was not prepared to combat very seriously. But he was notgoing to let them know that. He laid a hand heavily on Tom's shoulder,and asked, "How came you to know about the seal?"
"I saw her at the window, and I guessed a lot."
Mr. Neeven saw in the four candid faces before him that there was moreto tell.
"How did you find your way into my house, and to that particularportion of it? Very few persons know about those passages and places."
They were silent. They would not tell on Yaspard, and seeing that hisquestion remained likely to be unanswered, he asked another.
"Haven't you entered into a Viking campaign, with my young relativeYaspard Adiesen for your 'enemy,' of all games in the world?"
"Yes," said Tom; "but his uncle was told about it, and our fathersknow."
"Then your fathers are as----" He stopped short, for Harry Mitchell'seyes were flashing on him in a very spirited manner, and Harry's voice,raised and determined, interrupted him.
"Excuse me, sir, but I think we must not listen if you go on _that_tack. Blow us sky high about our _own_ doings. We own up that wemight have made our raid in a more open way, and given you warning thatwe meant to attack your castle. _That_ would have been more likehonest Vikings; but, all the same, we aren't going to admit that we'vedone anything really wicked, or that our fathers would have permittedus to carry on so if it had been wrong. And we are ready to take anypunishment you think right to inflict."
"It was only our madram," [1] added Tom, using an old Shetland word,which Gaun Neeven had heard applied to himself in days gone by moreoften than any other term.
"Only _boys' madram_," his gentle mother had so often said to excusehis foolishness and screen him from the results of many an escapade.His boyhood was being swiftly recalled by the antics of those boys, andby Tom Holtum's ways and words. He saw his boyish self more in Tomthan in the others, and the contact with those young spirits was doingthe recluse good.
The hand on Tom's shoulder pressed more heavily, but it was not anungentle touch, and Tom wondered what was coming next.
"Madram!" muttered Neeven, as if he were thinking aloud, and hadforgotten their presence. "Madram, boys' madram! There may be worsethings in the world than that."
The cloud lifted a little from their spirits then; and a welcomediversion took place at that moment in the form of Yaspard, whopresented himself on the scene, flustered, and eager to take the blameof whatever had happened on his own shoulders.
After a dreamless slumber of an hour or two, he had waked up toremember his tryst, and getting up at once, had hastened to a spotwhere he could see if the _Laulie_ were anywhere near the geo. Pirateaccompanied him, and did not at all care for going in the direction ofthe geo, but kept scampering towards another point, frequently lookingback, as if he wished his young master to follow.
The _Laulie_ was not in sight, and Yaspard feared the boys had returnedhome on finding he did not keep his promise, or had heard of the_Osprey's_ misfortunes, and had not come at all.
While he speculated Pirate grew impatient, and begged in everyexpressive canine manner that he knew better than Yaspard, who at lastyielded to the dog's persuasions and followed, to find the _Laulie_moored not far from where he was.
"Just so!" he exclaimed. "I see! When they found I did not come, theystarted on the adventure without me."
After that he set off for Trullyabister, and appeared before Mr. Neevenand his "enemies," as I have stated.
"You are early afoot!" was the salutation spoken sarcastically by themaster of the situation. But our hero, nothing daunted, answered--
"Good morning, sir! Well, boys, I suppose you tried it without me, andfailed, of course."
"I was convinced none other than yourself was head and tail of theaffair," remarked Mr. Neeven, in the same cool, sarcastic manner. "Ithink you must be finding by this time that Vikinging, otherwiseburglary, doesn't fit in with modern civilisation."
"And there are other things don't fit in either," retorted Yaspardquickly; then recovering himself at once, he added hastily, "but Idon't mean to fuss. If you please, by-and-by I'll have a quiet talkwith you, sir, about a very important matter. Now, boys, you want toknow why I didn't keep my tryst with you. It is a long story, and avery dreadful and a very strange one."
He then recounted all that had occurred since the _Laulie_ and _Osprey_parted company, and Mr. Neeven, as well as the lads of Lunda, wasdeeply moved by the story. Yaspard alluded as little as possible tothe light which had caused the wreck, and he did not mention at allthat he had seen one similar himself.
Many were the exclamations of astonishment and sympathy with which hisstory was heard, but when it was finished our young adventurers foundtheir usual mode of expressing much feeling.
"Three cheers for the little lady, and three times three for FredGarson!" Tom called out.
Up went their caps in the air, and out rang their wild hurrahs, louderand heartier at each renewal, to the consternation of fule-Tammy, whowas waked from slumber by the uproar, and came out rubbing his eyes,with all his hair on end, and wailing, "The trows! the trows! they'vecome tae pu' doon a' the house at last."
He was a comical sight, and laughter took the place of cheering. Theboys caught each other's hands and formed a circle round Tammy,dancing, laughing, shouting, like the wildest of wild savages, until herecognised some of them, and added to their mirth by squatting in themidst of them, and saying, "Weel, noo! and I thought it wis the trows!My lambs, ye can carry on like yon till ye're weary. It's no puirTammy 'at sall stop your madram. But, for a' that, ye're a set o'filskit moniments." [2]
"Get up, Tammy. Boys, come into the house with me," said Mr. Neeven,when the tumult subsided and he could make himself heard.
They followed him to his study, and they were not ungrateful for somescones and milk which he caused Tammy to set before them; but his grimexpression did not relax, and they did not find their confidence risevery much.
After a little time Yaspard said, "Will you please let me have someprivate talk with you? I really _must_, before uncle begins toquestion me to-day, or any one comes from Lunda, as I expect they will."
He was taken to another room, but we will not intrude upon thatinterview. Mr. Neeven's face wore a heavy frown when they returned,but he only said, "You will all go now with Yaspard; he can stow yousomewhere, I expect, till the family gets out of bed. You and yourboat may find employment in conveying the Laird of Lunda to his ownisland. I have nothing further to say to you, except to warn you notto make raids upon me again."
"Thank you, sir," said the Mitchell brothers; and Tom added, "It ismore than good of you to let us off so easy; all the same, I wish wehad Fred's sealkie for him. But thank you, Mr. Neeven; and I'm sure ifI can ever do anything for yon, I'll be as pleased as Punch."
Then they were dismissed curtly, but not unkindly; and Gaun Neeven felthis room to be all the darker and lonelier when the mischief-lovingladdies were gone.
When they got a bit away from the house Harry called a halt. "Lookyou," said he, "this is no kind of hour in which to invade a decenthouse. Let's go to our boat, and bring her round to Moolapund."
"And say we've come for Fred, as flat as you like," added Tom; "it willbe quite like our impudence."
"And will be true enough," said Yaspard. "Only there is more in itthan that."
"We shan't mind telling your uncle all about it," Tom replied, "if youdon't think it will make a row."
"There won't be any need to tell him at present, and he is bound tohear it from Mr. Neeven. These two have long confabs every day, and Ijust believe--for I've sometimes heard bits of their talk--that theydon't talk science so much as all about the pranks they played whenthey wer
e boys. You wouldn't think it, to look at him, but Aunt Oslasays Mr. Neeven was an awful boy."
It was hard to imagine the serious scientist and the melancholy reclusetwo restless mischievous boys. The irreverent young rascals amusedthemselves till they reached the _Laulie_ with fancy sketches of thetwo gentlemen (when they were known merely as Brues and Gaun) gettinginto all sorts of ridiculous pickles, until Harry checked thenonsensical chatter by remarking, "Every man is a boy first, and has tobe a bit of a donkey, with the tricks of a monkey, till he grows up andgets sense. I hope we will all grow up with half the brains in ournoddles that these two have got."
Bill Mitchell had scarcely spoken a word since the time they werediscovered, but now he said very solemnly, "He's full of brains, thatman! but I'd rather be more empty-headed, and less like a katyogle[3]that's been sitting on a stone all day with a dozen of undigestedsandyloos[4] and sna-fowl[5] in his crop."
[1] "Madram," extravagant action, the result of wild, animal spirits.
[2] Frisky simpletons.
[3] "Katyogle," snowy owl.
[4] "Sandyloos," ringed plover.
[5] "Sna-fowl," snow buntings.