Part 18 (1/2)

”By pushi+ng him off a cliff, Eben?” said Aleck ”Yes”

CHAPTER NINE

It was about a fortnight later when Aleck Donne went down the garden directly after breakfast with the full intent, after thinking it over a good deal, of charging old Onesig sued, ”he would be sent away at once; but that would be doing the poor fellow a lot of harm and perhaps make him worse

Perhaps, too, it would ainst us, and he would set the Eilygugg people against us as well So I won't do that, but I' atto be so innocent I just want hinorant of his tricks I'll let hi yonder by the west cliff”

Aleck knew exactly where thethe laeeping up the frag it round the cucuht Aleck, ”to keep in the heat By the way, I wonder what beca leaves--we didn't have it indoors!

I' out of the garden, but I do”

The lad went round to the kitchen garden, which sloped round towards the south, so beautifully sheltered that it was a perfect hot-bed of itself in the suh, was the heaped-up barrow of fresh green s, and one arh wooden fraht Aleck ”Well, perhaps I rong about that cuke”

The nextsash, with a hot puff ofdelicious as it reached his nostrils, while he propped up the glass, reached in, and began turning over the prickly leaves, laying bare the rather curly little specin of the big, well-grown vegetable

”Was I mistaken?” mused the lad ”No, there was one, and there's the re where the cucumber has been cut What a shame!” he ry if he knew”

Aleck closed the fraan to look round

”What a shaardener to have--lazy, a sive hi to think about when I find him Oh, there he is!”

For just then the boy looked up, to see the old gardener standing on the highest part of the sheltering cliff, his back to hi his eyes as he looked out to sea

”Ahoy! What are you doing there?” shouted Aleck

The oing behind the point,” shouted the gardener

Men-of-war going into Rockabie harbour! That neas sufficient to upset all Aleck's arrangeive the gardener, and rushed indoors, to hurry upstairs and rap sharply at his uncle's study, and, getting no answer he threw open the door to cross the roo Then, dashi+ng out again, he ran downstairs, crossed the garden,the glass upon the ood-sized sloop followed by a tri white-sailed cutter, both vessels with plenty of canvas spread, and gliding steadily over the sroaned the lad, for he had hardly fixed the leading vessel before her bows began to disappear behind the point, and before ten ht as well

”I don't know that I should lass, ”but the shi+ps do look so beautiful with their sails set, gliding along What a pity! What a pity! I do wish I had known sooner”

”What are they going to do there?” thought the boy, as he closed the glass and walked back to the cottage, where upon going upstairs to replace the glass he found his uncle in fro walk and about to settle down for a few hours' work

”Well, Aleck, boy,” he said; ”been scanning the sea?”

”Yes, uncle; two vessels calimpse of them”