Part 25 (1/2)
At that ale came the far-borne echo of a shot
”Pistol,” said Alexis
”Heritage,” said Dougal ”Trade will be gettin' brisk with hi on ahint We'll try the road by the West Lodge”
Presently the pair disappeared in the dusk, the noise of the engine ed up in the wild orchestra of the wind, and dickson hobbled towards the village in a state of excitement which made him oblivious of his wounds That lonely pistol shot was, he felt, the bell to ring up the curtain on the last act of the play
CHAPTER XIII
THE COMING OF THE DANISH BRIG
Mr John Heritage, solitary in the old Tower, found h the dregs of a headache remained, and his spirits rose with his responsibilities At daybreak he breakfasted out of the Mearns Street provision box, and ave soh-and-tuht He made shi+ft to bathe in icy water from the Toell, shaved, tidied up his clothes and found a clean shi+rt fro himself that thus had the Spartans done before Thered from these rites then ascended to the first floor to reconnoitre the landscape frolazed s
If any one had told hie a world he would have quarrelled violently with his inforhted modern, a contemner of illusions, a ser of forh the heroical and found it silly Roe, not for strenuous and cold-eyed youth But the truth was that noas altogether spellbound by these toys To think that he was serving his lady was rapture--ecstasy, that for her he was single-handed venturing all He rejoiced to be alone with his private fancies His one fear was that the part he had cast himself for should be needless, that the men from the sea should not come, or that reinforcements would arrive before he should be called upon He hoped alone to ht be he did not trouble to inquire Of course the Princess would be saved, but first he lut his appetite for the heroic
He made a diary of events that day, just as he used to do at the front
At twentyfrom the House It was Spidel, who limped round the Tower, tried the door, and cae stuck out his head and wished hi in reply an aeobservations on the weather, but departed quicker than he cae
Just before nine o'clock he returned with Dobson and Leon They made a very coe thought that they were about to try to force an entrance They tugged and hathened by erecting behind it a pile of the heaviest lumber he could find in the place It was iot dickson's pistol ready with the fir the, except to hold a conference in the hazel clump a hundred yards to the north, when Dobson seereat fluttering of hands They were obviously puzzled by the sight of Heritage, whohbourhood Then Dobson went off, leaving Leon and Spidel on guard, one at the edge of the shrubberies between the Tower and the House, the other on the side nearest the Laver glen These were their posts, but they did sentry-go around the building, and passed so close to Heritage'sthat he could have tossed a cigarette on their heads
It occurred to hie They must be convinced that the Princess was in the place, for he wanted their wholethe ladies'
baggage, and extracted a skirt and a coloured scarf The latter he ed to flutter so that it could be seen at thethe next tiht He also fixed up the skirt so that the fringe of it could be seen, and, when Leon appeared below, he was in the shadow talking rapid French in a very fair ienie The ruse had its effect, for Leon promptly went off to tell Spidel, and when Dobson appeared he too was given the news
This seeuard, Dobson nearest to the Tower, seated on an outcrop of rock with his mackintosh collar turned up, and his eyes usually turned to the misty sea
By this time it was eleven o'clock, and the next three hours passed sloith Heritage He fell to picturing the fortunes of his friends
dickson and the Princess should by this ti succour He was confident that they would return, but he trusted not too soon, for he hoped for a run for his money as Horatius in the Gate After that he was a little torn in his mind He wanted the Princess to co, so that she ht be a witness of his devotion But she must not herself run any risk, and he becafroid dickson could no reyhound But of course it would never co appeared--Dougal had thought that would not be till high tide, between four and five--and the only danger would be to the pirates The three watchers would be put in the bag, and the men from the sea would walk into a neat trap This reflection seee's prospect Peril and heroism were not to be his lot--only boredom
A little after twelve two of the tinklers appeared with soh and pat the the seaward and southward He nodded to the Tohere Heritage took the opportunity of again fluttering Saskia's scarf athwart theThe tinklers departed at a trot, and Dobson lit his pipe as if well pleased He had some trouble with it in the wind, which had risen to an uncanny violence Even the solid Tower rocked with it, and the sea was a waste of spindrift and low scurrying cloud Heritage discovered a new anxiety--this ti at all He wanted a coot only the three seedy ruffians now circureatly cheered by the sight of Dougal At theoff a hunk of bread and cheese directly between the Tower and the House, just short of the crest of the ridge on the other side of which lay the stables and the shrubberies; Leon was on the north side opposite the Tower door, and Spidel was at the south end near the edge of the Garple glen Heritage, watching the ridge behind Dobson and the upper s of the House which appeared over it, saw on the very crest so like a tuft of rusty bracken which he had not noticed before Presently the tuftof soed with a bottle of porter, and Heritage could safely wave a hand in reply He could now al
The Chieftain, having located the three watchers, proceeded to give an exhibition of his prowess for the benefit of the lonely in as cover a drift of bracken, he wormed his way down till he was not six yards frorinning countenance a very little way above the innkeeper's head Then he crawled back and reached the neighbourhood of Leon, as sitting on a fallen Scotch fir At that e's breath stopped, but Dougal was ready, and froze into a motionless blur in the shadow of a hazel bush
Then he crawled very fast into the hollohere Leon had been sitting, seized so which looked like a bottle, and scrae At the top he waved the object, whatever it was, but Heritage could not reply, for Dobson happened to be looking towards the
That was the last he saw of the Chieftain, but presently he realised as the booty he had annexed It ht before had broken Heritage's head
After that cheering episode boredoain set in He collected soed hi to feel miserably cold, so he carried up some broken wood and made a fire on the i his n of the reinforceone to find The minutes passed, and soon it was three o'clock, and froaunt shuttered House, now and then hidden by squalls of sleet, and Dobson squatted like an Eskiale All the vigour of the one out of his blood; he felt lonely and apprehensive and puzzled He wished he had dickson beside him, for that little man's cheerful voice and complacent triviality would be a comfort Also, he was abominably cold He put on his waterproof, and turned his attention to the fire It needed re-kindling, and he hunted in his pockets for paper, finding only the slim volunificant coarded the book with intense disfavour, tore it in two, and used a handful of its fine deckle-edged leaves to get the fire going They burned well, and presently the rest followed Well for dickson's peace of mind that he was not a witness of such vandalism
A little warmer but in no way more cheerful, he resu darker, and promised an early dusk His watch told hi had happened
Where on earth were dickson and the Princess? Where in the name of all that was holy were the police? Any ht arrive and land itsto their wrath There must have been an infernal muddle somewhere Anyhow the Princess was out of the trouble, but where the Lord alone knew