Part 43 (2/2)
”Better than you can, my lad”
”Very well, then Thank you,” said Aleck, feeling a bit puzzled at thefor him He must be sorimly
”How do you know?”
”'Cause I do,” was the reply, and then, actively as a goat, the sone
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Eben Megg had only just disappeared when the faint,the thoughts buzzing and throbbing about in Aleck's brain in a most extraordinary way For the lad felt utterly puzzled--he knew not why He felt that there was soht to know, and yet he did not know it, and he failed to grasp the reason why he could not understand it There was soht to clear up, he felt; but, all the same, simple as it was, he could not find it out
Like the children playing at a nursery ga, and at one ler, but just then a loud piercing whistle rang out, followed by answering shouts, and he did grasp at once fro to hearthat the fugitive was in view or perhaps caught
”I oughtn't to mind, of course,” he muttered, as he strained his ears to catch the next sound; ”but somehow I do, and, as I said, for that poor woht hi right up here--I can hear theh he could see nothing of the sailors he could follow them by the sounds they round in their hunt for the escaped man
Nearer and nearer they cae fro sea, while directly after they were so near to the hiding-place that he could catch a good deal of as said, the voices ascending and then see to curl over and drop down the steep rockside where he stood
”They haven't caught hi of the cliff-top and slopes had taken place ”Perhaps they won't catch hi-places Why, they an to come nearer and nearer ”They'll find ht, as he came to a sudden stop ”Suppose they do catch me and ask me why I'm here! Why, I can tell the for help; and I can't help what Eben says, I must let the sailors help me then”
He listened, and felt certain that the sailors and their leader caed to circumvent, and once round that the ain
”Ahoy yourself!” said a voice ”Who's that so far off? Soht away and lost himself Idiot! Why didn't he keep within touch of his messmates? Ahoy, there! Ahoy! Ahoy!”
The cry was answered, and in a few -away of the voices that the search party were growing more distant, so that the nextso despairing that the desire to go in search of the appealer for help was stronger than he could restrain
Glancing back and upward then at the spot where Eben had disappeared, he went cautiously forward for a few yards, to find to his astonish which he was proceeding rapidly narrowed till progress grew risky, while at the end of another dozen feet or so it ceased, and he ca in vain for a way forward and a sight of so which he could descend towards the sea
Then he listened for a repetition of the call for help as a guide to his next proceedings; but all was still save the querulous cry of a gull
”I can't understand it a bit,” he said, looking about hi spoke as if he knew about so in trouble; yes, and that if he did not return I was to go to his wife Why, what nonsense it see about--about--oh! Was there ever such a dense, wooden-headed idiot as I aed out ”Why, of course! I can see now as clear as clear It's that youngfor help They ular slers' cave somewhere, after all The poor fellow must be shut up in it; and that explains why Eben looked so furiously at ht I had discovered the secret hiding-place that he wasfor Oh, my word, how plain and easy it all is when you kno! Yes, that's it,” he said aloud, excitedly, ”and the cutter's people are gone, so I' I have said to Eben That poor fellow must have been left to starve in some dark hole, and--no, he hasn't 'Go to my wife,' he said
Of course! Because she knehere the prisoner was hid, and--to be sure, she wasn't going to watch for Eben, as I thought, but to take the prisoner so the dust out of one's eyes! I've got mine clear now, and that poor fellow has to be found, while, what is more, he must be somewhere down belohere I stand”
Aleck's brow ran into lines and puckers as he stood looking about hi back to the perpendicular crevice he had discovered, and upon reaching it there was the hissing rush of the pebbles and a suggestion of a slapping sound as if water had struck against the rock, but evidently far, far dohile the damp seaweedy odour came cooler and fresher than ever to his nostrils
”I could get down here,” he er than a rabbit; but of course this isn't the way There , and I've got to find it”
”Ahoy!” came faintly the next minute, but not up the cavity, and the lad stood puzzled and wondering for a fewhis face as far in as he could, and, breathing in the soft, salt, moist air, he shouted back down the hole, ”Ahoy!” as loudly as he could