CHAPTER XXVI.
"THAT WORK SHALL BE WROUGHT."
"What a capital job you've made of the story," quoth Yaspard when Garthhad finished. "I feel as if I ought to thank you in the name of mygreat-grand-uncle."
"Just so! Bad boy! Uncle! uncle! uncle!" said Thor from a hillockclose by. He spoke so very distinctly, and as if he understood everyword, that even the elderly ladies of the party gazed in a sort of aweat the uncanny bird.
"Come here, Thor!" Mr. Adiesen called out, extending a tempting bit ofchicken towards Sir Raven, who immediately obeyed the invitation, andhopped to his master's knee. "Why, you old rascal," the scientist wenton, "I believe you are the great-grand-nephew of that raven of Hel-yaWater fame; indeed, if I had not taken you myself from the nest whenyou were only half-fledged, and I was a boy, I would believe that youwere the identical bird of the legend."
"If Thor lives as long as the former Thor did," said Mr. Neeven, "hewill be over a century when he dies. You remember that fellow, Brues?"
Of course Mr. Adieson remembered his grandfather's raven, who had beenthe spy and plague of the lives of both Gaun and Brues (when they werechildren), and whom they believed was possessed of an evil spirit.
The conversation drifted into chat about pet birds, until some of therestless young people proposed a rowing match around the island, andout of that project sprang another.
"I should like," said Fred, "to take the little lady of the isle aroundit in the _Mermaid_ first. She really ought to be the first tocircumnavigate Havnholme. Will you trust her in my boat, Miss Adiesen?"
"I suppose it is quite safe?" Aunt Osla asked by way of reply; andSigny answered, "I shall be as safe in the _Mermaid_ as I was on Arab."
"Perhaps Mr. Adiesen will accompany us, to make safety safer," Fredsuggested; and the girl seconded his proposal by a "Yes, please, UncleBrues."
The old gentleman agreed, and away they went; and Dr. Holtum said asideto the minister that nothing more satisfactory had he ever witnessedthan the sailing round Havnholme of those two men together, with sosweet a bond between them as fair little Signy.
When the long, happy day was nearing its close, and the party waspreparing to embark, Isobel Garson said, "I didn't like to spoil Fred'sbeautiful oration and funereal ceremonies with any small idea of myown, but _now_ perhaps I may be allowed to suggest that we each take abeach stone and cast it on those 'turned' sods, and so erect a cairn inmemory of this day."
"A capital suggestion, my dear!" said Mr. Adiesen, who had taken quitea fancy to Isobel, whose bright, high-spirited ways attracted him verymuch, and he was ready to second any suggestion she might offer.
"Good for you, Isobel!" exclaimed her brother; "but I don't see why weneed confine ourselves to one stone each. Let us make the cairn a goodbig one, boys."
In a short time a considerable heap of round, smooth stones from theshore were piled over the sepulchre of the feud, and Yaspard remarked,"There never was a fend strong enough to escape from under that bigrougue."
"Shoo! shoo! shoo! Uncle!" screamed Thor, quite impatient over such(to him) meaningless proceedings. Then, despairing of convincinganybody there that they ought to go home, he spread his great wings anddeliberately sailed away through the air to Boden.
"Thor is right for once," said Dr. Holtum, "and it is quite time wewere all on the wing for our homes; so, shoo! shoo! shoo!" and he putout his hands, as if he were driving away a flock of birds, with theresult that every one "made tracks" for the boats.
There was a good deal of whispering between Yaspard and the Manse boysbefore they parted; and there was a very significant "Good-bye," fromthe Yarl of Broch. He had kept our Viking-boy very much with himthroughout the day, and had quite enchanted him by suggesting a schemewhich contained the germ of much exciting adventure, although there wasno enemy to meet or circumvent. And this scheme must have been onViking lines, if we may judge from old Hoskald Halsen's farewell wordsto Yaspard.
"Now mind, boy," he shouted, as the _Osprey_ parted company from theother boats, "mind you think it well out, and come to Burra Wick. NoViking should sail from a legitimate voe. Garth and I spell 'wick'with a 'v' and no 'c' in it, remember."
"Oh, brodhor, are you to go a-Vikinging still?" Signy asked in anecstatic whisper; and our hero, squeezing her close to him, answered,"Yes, Mootie, thanks to that jolly old brick! I don't believe I shouldever have thought of _his_ plan. It is even better than mine, for ithas got no enemy in it, but the chance of ever so many adventures."
A pleasant breeze had sprung up, so there was no rowing to do on thehomeward voyage. Mr. Adiesen was steering, and Aunt Osla was napping,rolled up in shawls. Mr. Neeven had unbent considerably during theday, and was talking to his cousin with an unusual degree ofcheerfulness. The Harrison boys were amusing themselves over a woodenpuzzle which Harry Mitchell had invented and given them. Thus Yaspardand his sister could talk confidentially together without beingoverheard. He was as eager to tell her of the new project as she wasto listen, and before long they had not only discussed the Yarl'sscheme, but had built on it a vast structure of romantic adventure.
"It has been the very happiest of days, this," said Signy when theyreached the quay; "but even happiness makes one tired, and so I am gladto be home. I shall be asleep like winkie as soon as I get into bed."
"Not so your roving brother," quoth Yaspard; "I have other things to dothan sleep," and he grimaced at Lowrie, who grinned back a perfectunderstanding of the mysterious allusion; but Signy by that time wastoo sleepy to pay further attention, so followed Miss Adiesen toMoolapund, and was soon resting in dreamless repose in her own room.
Meanwhile Yaspard and the Harrisons politely offered to row the_Osprey_ to the head of the voe with Mr. Neeven, and he--with less thanhis usual sharp suspicion--agreed. He even thanked them as he steppedashore, and he strode up the hill without once looking back. If he haddone so he would have seen that the boat did not pass beyond theHoobes, but stopped near there, where the old water-mill was located bythe side of a burn whose spring was far up the hill-side. Theyfastened the boat, and went into the mill-house, where a quantity oflast year's straw and chaff was heaped. On this the three lads flungthemselves and were soon fast asleep. And there the Harrisons wouldhave slept on till breakfast time if Yaspard had not roused themshortly after midnight.
"Up, boys, up!" he said, as he shook himself. "It is high time we wereoff; and I hope fule-Tammy is as sound asleep now as you have been forthe last five minutes."
From that mention of Tammy you will guess that another raid onTrullyabister was proposed. The fact was, Yaspard had made one quietvisit to the old ruin by himself, and had found that the things theysecreted in the old chimney had disappeared. From a remark of Tammy's,Lowrie had concluded that the "natural" had discovered theirhiding-place, and had abstracted the articles in question. It wouldhave been a simple matter to ask the truth and claim the property, but_that_ course was not the one a Viking-boy was at all likely toapprove. Hence the present "lark."
The three conspirators were not long in reaching the old Ha'house, andas the back door was never locked, they easily gained admission.
Tammy slept in a small chamber beside the kitchen, and at a distancefrom the rooms inhabited by his master, therefore the lads were notmuch afraid of being heard even if the recluse had not gone to sleep.
But Gaun Neeven _was_ asleep, and so was Tammy, "like a top, andsnoring too like one," whispered Yaspard as he led the way. Tammy didnot even move when they gently and deftly tied his hands together, andput a not uncomfortable gag over his mouth, and he only snored a littlelouder, but did not wake, when they lifted him up. (Tammy always wentto bed with a complete suit of clothes on, which he kept for thepurpose, saying he did not see why a "puir body" should not be asdecently clothed all night as all day.) They carried him to the ruinedapartment with which we are already acquainted. I ought to havementioned that Yaspard had provided masks for himself and hiscompanions. These were m
ade of brown paper, painted to resembletatooed savages, and had been put on as they came up from the mill, sothat Tammy should not recognise his assailants.
But Tammy was far more cute in many ways than he got credit for being;and though astonished when the cool air and a few gentle shakes wokehim up, he was not frightened by the hideous visages; even the feignedvoices did not deceive him. But he was wise enough to pretendignorance of their identity, and stared a well-acted credulity.
"What have you done with what you found in that chimney?" Yasparddemanded in assumed tones, which did not deceive Tammy, however. "Weare Vikings, and hid our property in that receptacle. Woe to theperson who crosses our path! Moreover, our allies left weapons of warin this apartment, and it is our business to restore them to theirowners. Tell now what you have done with these hoards."
How could Tammy tell? He could only shake his head and nod in thedirection of the haunted room.
"Is the property there?" Yaspard asked, and Tammy nodded again. "Thenyou must take us through the house to that room, for I happen to knowthat the way through the passage is now built up with stones andmortar. I suppose _you_ did that, you duffer!"
Tammy nodded again; and then Gibbie remarked, "He wad be put to the jobby Mr. Neeven."
He spoke unwittingly in his natural voice, and was admonished by avigorous nudge from Lowrie; while Yasgard, still addressing theircaptive, said, "Lead on, we follow! and for your life make no noise."
Tammy obediently returned to the house, and showed a way from hiskitchen to the haunted room.