CHAPTER XXIX.
"GREAT IS THE TROUBLE OF FOOT ILL-TRIPPING."
Our boys woke up early next morning, for a chill wind sweeping overSwarta Stack was as effectual a rouser as the dressing-bell.
When fully awake they looked (as if led by one instinct) to the opensea, for from thence was coming the deep mournful moaning whichprecedes a storm.
"Mither," said Gloy, "wad say that the sea was sending its warning taewiz."
"We will certainly pay heed to that warning," answered Yaspard, "assoon as we have had breakfast. Let's look alive, boys, and get ourfire up as fast as we can, for there's going to be a gale before night,and we should be at Broch then."
"The _Osprey_ won't take long to run into Burra Wick," said Tom; "andwe must make a jolly good breakfast here before returning to civilisedlife."
"There will be time to inspect the Stack, I hope," Harry remarked. "Wemust have a full report of this isle that has a bad name, according toGloy."
They lit their fire, and boiled the last of their potatoes, brewed thelast of their tea, and finished the biscuits and ham.
"Not much to carry back," one said, and another added, "I shouldn'tlike to be left on a skerry now that the ferdimet is all but done."
When breakfast was ended no time was lost in starting for a tour roundSwarta Stack, which is a lofty island about a mile long, verypicturesque in outline, and surrounded by lesser islands, as well asisolated rocks, which are the terror of all who know them. The ladsfound a great deal to interest them in the Stack; but their main objectwas to find the caves which tradition said had been the abode oflawless men in olden times.
There was one large cavern in a cliff easily found and well known; butthat was not the Wrecker's Den, for the sea came into it, and in stormyweather filled its vast solitudes with the body and voice of manywaters. This cave, however, was supposed to communicate with oneinland, as many helyers[1] do, and our boys were determined to discoverthe hidden abode.
For a long time the search was a vain one; but at last an idea wassuggested to Harry, who had halted by a small cairn.
"Boys," he said, "I should not wonder if we are on a wrong tack lookingfor a natural cave. It is more likely that the wreckers' den was aplace dug out of the earth by themselves."
"That was a common dodge long ago," quoth Yaspard; and Tom added, "Wegot a good illustration of that sort of thing in the old Broch of BurraIsle."
"And you are thinking, Harry," Yaspard exclaimed, "that this cairn maycover some portion of the den--perhaps be the entrance to it?"
Harry nodded, and after a careful inspection of the rougue, remarked,"I think we shall find something here; but we must not come to grief ina ruin, as Garth Halsen did when he dug into the old Broch."
They went to work with a will, and soon removed the cairn and laid barewhat was evidently the entrance to a vault of some sort. The mouth ofthe pit was covered by two enormous stones, and it took a long time toremove these; but so interested were the adventurers in theirinvestigations, that they forgot the warning of the sea and the risingof the wind.
"It is curious," said Harry, peering into the dark pit at their feet,"that there seems no foul air to speak of down there, and yet I don'tsee any speck of light that would indicate a passage to the outerworld."
"Might the way not be curved, or sufficiently blocked to excludelight?" Yaspard suggested; and Harry frankly answered, "Of course. Youare wiser than I. Has any one got a match in his pocket?"
Matches were produced, and a piece of paper was lighted; but such ameagre illumination revealed nothing beyond the fact that the vaultseemed a large one, and roughly built round with a rude kind of masonry.
Bill was despatched to the boat for candles--which you may rememberwere part of the "pruel" that Yaspard hid in the chimney; but theimpatience of his companions to learn more would not allow them to waiton his return before descending into the chamber. They could see thatthere was solid ground some seven or eight feet beneath the opening,and Harry swung down, and soon reported himself as standing on a"decently paved floor;" but he was too cautious to explore fartheruntil some light was thrown on the subject. Not so Tom Holtum. He didnot see the fun in waiting for candles, and down he jumped beside Harry.
"There's an awful draught here," he exclaimed. "There must be passagesand perhaps other rooms knocking around. I vote we explore," andwithout listening a moment to Harry's warning, Tom made for a part ofthe vault from whence the current of air proceeded.
"You are extremely foolish, Tom," said Harry.
"You are a timid ca----" Tom began to reply, but was cut short. Withan exclamation he suddenly disappeared; and next moment a fall and agroan told, not only Harry but those above ground, that an accident hadtaken place.
By that time Bill was back with the candles, and Yaspard hastened tojoin Harry. After him came the others, as fast as they could, and allgathered around Harry, who by that time stood with a lighted candle inhis hand over the mouth of a dark hole, peering down and calling, "Tom!old chap." But "Tom! old chap" made no response, and all attempts tohold the light over the opening proved futile, as a current of airrushing upward put it out.
The lads gazed into each other's white, terror-stricken faces with mutefear. The darkness and silence were enough to appal any one; but thecourage of our Viking-boy rose to the occasion.
"He must be awfully hurt, poor chap," he said, "and we must do our bestto find and help him. What do you suggest, Harry? _I'll_ do anything."
"Some one must be lowered with a rope," answered the wise head of theparty.
"That some one is me," was Yaspard's prompt reply. "Get your rope,boys."
They always carried ropes with them. "We can do nothing without arope," they would say. But the ropes had been dropped, of course, onthe turf above, and the emergency which had made all hurry into thevault had caused them to neglect providing for an easy ascent again.The only thing to do was for two to hoist a third on their shoulders sothat he could get his hands on the aperture and thus clamber out.Lowrie was chosen as the messenger to the outer world, and Harry saidto him when shoving him aloft, "Drop us one rope at once, but fix theother to a boulder and slide down by it. That will give us help inscrambling out of here."
The rope was soon in their hands, and Yaspard, seizing the end, tied itround his waist, while Harry instructed him how to strike a light whenlowered, and what signals to make to those above. In breathlessexcitement they stood around that gruesome hole, and slowly loweredtheir young leader into its dark and gaping jaws. Lower, lower; andthe rope was almost all paid out when a sharp jerk told (as agreedupon) that Yaspard had reached the bottom.
"Not so deep as I feared," Harry whispered with a sigh of relief.
Then there came a sudden flare of light, which showed that Yaspard wastrying to illumine the scene; but it was extinguished again directly.Again and again he tried, but evidently in vain. Then came darknessand silence as before. But after a little time of fearful suspense therope was jerked twice, and Yaspard was hauled up again.
"What of Tom?" Harry asked as soon as Yaspard's head appeared in sight;but Yaspard did not reply until he was standing beside them. Then hesaid, "He is lying there senseless, but he is alive."
"Oh, your hands!" Bill screamed, and all eyes turned on Yaspard'shands, which were red with blood.
"Tom is badly hurt. I put my hands on his face and chest," explainedtoo surely that horrible sign. "There is no keeping a match or candlealight down there. The wind is rushing through it as if it were afunnel," Yaspard went on, "and I can't think how he is to be got out."
"Bill," said Harry, with the imperious decision which he always assumedin any emergency, where one cool head was worth a score of ableundirected hands, "Bill, you run for your life to the boat again.Bring the tar-pot and a stick or two, the potato bag, and a towel, anda can of water; some more rope, if you can find it handy. Gloy, gowith him to help carry; and mind, both of you, Tom's life is possiblydepending on yo
ur speed. Don't forget anything. Keep your wits clear."
The two little chaps were off without a moment's delay, scudding acrossthe Stack, and too engrossed with their errand and its urgency to notethe rising storm, which had set the white horses rampant on the deepand driven the sea-birds to the Stack in clamouring crowds.
Meanwhile Harry said, "Undo that rope, Yaspard. _I_ will go down thistime. I can probably be of more use to him than you. You can followwith those things when the chaps return. And look you, Lowrie, becanny in lowering him, and in your management of the rope. See thatthe youngsters are careful; for Yaspard and I will send Tom up first ifpossible. You know what to do with the tar and sticks, Yaspard?"
"Make a torch?"
"Yes; and we shall want the bag and rope to make a sort of hammock forTom. Now send me below. But first--your handkerchiefs, boys."
He stuffed the collection of grimy "wipes" (as the lads styled theirpocket-handkerchiefs) in his pocket, and was carefully lowered into thedismal cavern where poor Tom lay.
[1] Sea-caves.