Part 55 (1/2)
”That's bad,” said Gurr, giving vent to a lohistle ”Here, lads, let's carry him to the boat”
”No, no!” cried the midshi+pman ”I think I can walk I could hardly breathe”
”Well, go steady, then It's on'y 'bout half a mile to the cove Where did they mean to take you, lad?”
”I don't know Perhaps on board soet me out of the way;”
and he briefly explained his late position, as they walked steadily on, the erly the while
”Then you can take ht to the place, Mr Raystoke?” said Gurr
Archy hesitated
”I can point it out frouess-work from the shore”
”Never mind; we'll find it But you can't think about where they were taking you to-night?”
”I have no idea Of course they blindfolded me, so that I should not see the way out of the place I left, nor the way into the other”
”Ah, well, come on, and the skipper will talk to you He has been fine and mad about it, and I 'most think he's turned a bit thinner, eh, dick?”
”Ay, that he have,” said the latter ”Leastwise you ht think so”
”One day he's been all in a fret, saying you've run away, and that you'd be dismissed the service, and it hat he quite expected; and then, so as not to put hireed with him, he flew out at you, and called you a fool, and said he was sure the slers had murdered his officer, or else tumbled him off the cliff”
Archy was too weary with excitement to care to talk much, and he tramped on with the men, hardly able to realise the truth of his escape, and half expecting to wake up in the darkness and find it all a dream But he was re a hand laid deprecatingly upon his bruised ar round to see in the darkness that it was Dirty dick, who patted his injury gently, and then uttered a satisfied ”Hah!”
”Pleased to see ht the midshi+p”
”Hullo!” exclaimed the master just then, as they caave the on? Forrard, my lads Smart!”
The pace was increased, for away in the darkness there hung out a bright signal which all knew meant recall, and thehe would be in a boat dancing over the waves, and soon after treading the deck of the smart little cutter
”No,” he said to himself, as after a hail a boat ca on the pebbly shore, and he uttered a sigh of content on sinking back in the stern-sheets; ”it isn't a dream”
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
Archy Raystoke's sense of weariness rapidly passed off, as the oars splashed, and the boat glided softly out of the waters of the cove, between the two huge corners of rock which guarded the entrance, and then began to dance up and down as she reached out into the tideway
After the darkness of the old quarry, with its faint odour of spirits, the night seemed comparatively like noonday, and the pure, brisk air that fanned his cheek delicious He seehts which made his bosom swell, his heart beat, and there were moments when, like a schoolboy upon whom has suddenly come the joys of an unexpected half-holiday, he felt ready to jump up, toss his cap in the air, and shout for joy
”But it would be undignified in an officer,” he felt; and he sat still, feeling the boat live almost in the water as she throbbed frolide up the waves, hang for a moment, and slide down
”Tidy swell on, Mr Raystoke,” said Gurr
”Oh, it's glorious!” replied the lad in a low voice