Robert Michael Ballantyne
The Lighthouse
“O how beautiful! and what a place for smugglers!” was Minnie’s enthusiastic exclamation on first catching sight of the bay.
“The smugglers and you would appear to be of one mind,” said Ruby, “for they are particularly fond of this place.”
“So fond of it,” said the lieutenant, “that I mean to wait for them here in anticipation of a moonlight visit this night, if my fair passenger will consent to wander in such wild places at such late hours, guarded from the night air by my boat-cloak, and assured of the protection of my stout boatmen in case of any danger, although there is little prospect of our meeting with any greater danger than a breeze or a shower of rain.”
Minnie said that she would like nothing better; that she did not mind the night air; and, as to danger from men, she felt that she should be well cared for in present circumstances.
As she uttered the last words she naturally glanced at Ruby, for Minnie was of a dependent and trusting nature; but as Ruby happened to be regarding her intently, though quite accidentally, at the moment, she dropped her eyes and blushed.
It is wonderful the power of a little glance at times. The glance referred to made Ruby perfectly happy. It conveyed to him the assurance that Minnie regarded the protection of the entire boat’s crew, including the lieutenant, as quite unnecessary, and that she deemed his single arm all that she required or wanted.
The sun was just dipping behind the tall cliffs, and his parting rays were kissing the top of Minnie’s head as if they positively could not help it, and had recklessly made up their mind to do it, come what might!
Ruby looked at the golden light kissing the golden hair, and he felt—
Oh! you know, reader; if you have ever been in similar circumstances, you understand what he felt; if you have not, no words from me, or from any other man, can ever convey to you the most distant idea of what Ruby felt on that occasion!
On reaching the shore they all went up to the green banks at the foot of the cliffs, and turned round to watch the men as they pulled the boat to a convenient point for re-embarking at a moment’s notice.
“You see,” said the lieutenant, pursuing a conversation which he had been holding with the captain, “I have been told that Big Swankie, and his mate Davy Spink (who, it seems, is not over-friendly with him just now), mean to visit one of the luggers which is expected to come in to-night, before the moon rises, and bring off some kegs of Auchmithie water, which, no doubt, they will try to hide in Dickmont’s Den. I shall lie snugly here on the watch, and hope to nab them before they reach that celebrated old smuggler’s abode.”
“Well, I’ll stay about here,” said the captain, “and show Minnie the caves. I would like to have taken her to see the Gaylet Pot, which is one o’ the queerest hereabouts; but I’m too old for such rough work now.”
“But I am not too old for it,” interposed Ruby, “so if Minnie would like to go—”
“But I won’t desert you, uncle,” said Minnie hastily.
“Nay, lass, call it not desertion. I can smoke my pipe here, an’ contemplate. I’m fond of contemplation—
“‘By the starry light of the summer night,
On the banks of the blue Moselle,’
“Though, for the matter o’ that, moonlight’ll do, if there’s no stars. I think it’s good for the mind, Minnie, and keeps all taut. Contemplation is just like takin’ an extra pull on the lee braces. So you may go with Ruby, lass.”
Thus advised, and being further urged by Ruby himself, and being moreover exceedingly anxious to see this cave, Minnie consented; so the two set off together, and, climbing to the summit of the cliffs, followed the narrow footpath that runs close to their giddy edge all along the coast.
In less than half an hour they reached the Giel or Gaylet Pot.
Chapter Nineteen
An Adventure—Secrets Revealed, and a Prize
The Giel or Gaylet Pot, down into which Ruby, with great care and circumspection, led Minnie, is one of the most curious of Nature’s freaks among the cliffs of Arbroath.
In some places there is a small scrap of pebbly beach at the base of those perpendicular cliffs; in most places there is none—the cliffs presenting to the sea almost a dead wall, where neither ship nor boat could find refuge from the storm.
The country, inland, however, does not partake of the rugged nature of the cliffs. It slopes gradually towards them—so gradually that it may be termed flat, and if a stranger were to walk towards the sea over the fields in a dark night, the first intimation he would receive of his dangerous position would be when his foot descended into the terrible abyss that would receive his shattered frame a hundred feet below.
In one of the fields there is a hole about a hundred yards across, and as deep as the cliffs in that part are high. It is about fifty or eighty yards from the edge of the cliffs, and resembles an old quarry; but it is cut so sharply out of the flat field that it shows no sign of its existence until the traveller is close upon it. The rocky sides, too, are so steep, that at first sight it seems as if no man could descend into it. But the most peculiar point about this hole is, that at the foot of it there is the opening of a cavern, through which the sea rolls into the hole, and breaks in wavelets on a miniature shore. The sea has forced its way inland and underground until it has burst into the bottom of this hole, which is not inaptly compared to a pot with water boiling at the bottom of it. When a spectator looks into the cave, standing at the bottom of the “Pot”, he sees the seaward opening at the other end—a bright spot of light in the dark interior.
“You won’t get nervous, Minnie?” said Ruby, pausing when about halfway down the steep declivity, where the track, or rather the place of descent, became still more steep and difficult; “a slip here would be dangerous.”
“I have no fear, Ruby, as long as you keep by me.”
In a few minutes they reached the bottom, and, looking up, the sky appeared above them like a blue circular ceiling, with the edges of the Gaylet Pot sharply defined against it.
Proceeding over a mass of fallen rock, they reached the pebbly strand at the cave’s inner mouth.
“I can see the interior now, as my eyes become accustomed to the dim light,” said Minnie, gazing up wistfully into the vaulted roof, where the edges of projecting rocks seemed to peer out of darkness. “Surely this must be a place for smugglers to come to!”
“They don’t often come here. The place is not so suitable as many of the other caves are.”
From the low, subdued tones in which they both spoke, it was evident that the place inspired them with feelings of awe.
“Come, Minnie,” said Ruby, at length, in a more cheerful tone, “let us go into this cave and explore it.”
“But the water may be deep,” objected Minnie; “besides, I do not like to wade, even though it be shallow.”
“Nay, sweet one; do you think I would ask you to wet your pretty feet? There is very little wading required. See, I have only to raise you in my arms and take two steps into the water, and a third step to the left round that projecting rock, where I can set you down on another beach inside the cave. Your eyes will soon get used to the subdued light, and then you will see things much more clearly than you would think it possible viewed from this point.”
Minnie did not require much pressing. She had perfect confidence in her lover, and was naturally fearless in disposition, so she was soon placed on the subterranean beach of the Gaylet Cave, and for some time wandered about in the dimly-lighted place, leaning on Ruby’s arm.
Gradually their eyes became accustomed to the place, and then its mysterious beauty and wildness began to have full effect on their minds, inducing them to remain for a long time, silent, as they sat side by side on a piece of fallen rock.
They sat looking in the direction of the seaward entrance to the cavern, where the light glowed brightly on the rocks, gradually losing its brilliancy as it penetrated the cave, until it became quite dim in the centre. No part of the main cave was quite dark, but the offshoot, in which the lovers sat, was almost dark. To anyone viewing it from the outer cave it would have appeared completely so.
“Is that a sea-gull at the outlet?” enquired Minnie, after a long pause.
Ruby looked intently for a moment in the direction indicated.
“Minnie,” he said quickly, and in a tone of surprise, “that is a large gull, if it be one at all, and uses oars instead of wings. Who can it be? Smugglers never come here that I am aware of, and Lindsay is not a likely man to waste his time in pulling about when he has other work to do.”
“Perhaps it may be some fishermen from Auchmithie,” suggested Minnie, “who are fond of exploring, like you and me.”
“Mayhap it is, but we shall soon see, for here they come. We must keep out of sight, my girl.”
Ruby rose and led Minnie into the recesses of the cavern, where they were speedily shrouded in profound darkness, and could not be seen by anyone, although they themselves could observe all that occurred in the space in front of them.
The boat, which had entered the cavern by its seaward mouth, was a small one, manned by two fishermen, who were silent as they rowed under the arched roof; but it was evident that their silence did not proceed from caution, for they made no effort to prevent or check the noise of the oars.
In a few seconds the keel grated on the pebbles, and one of the men leaped out.
“Noo, Davy,” he said, in a voice that sounded deep and hollow under that vaulted roof, “oot wi’ the kegs. Haste ye, man.”
“’Tis Big Swankie,” whispered Ruby.
“There’s nae hurry,” objected the other fisherman, who, we need scarcely inform the reader, was our friend, Davy Spink.
“Nae hurry!” repeated his comrade angrily. “That’s aye yer cry. Half o’ oor ventures hae failed because ye object to hurry.”
“Hoot, man! that’s enough o’t,” said Spink, in the nettled tone of a man who has been a good deal worried. Indeed, the tones of both showed that these few sentences were but the continuation of a quarrel which had begun elsewhere.
“It’s plain to me that we must pairt, freen’,” said Swankie in a dogged manner, as he lifted a keg out of the boat and placed it on the ground.
“Ay,” exclaimed Spink, with something of a sneer, “an’ d’ye think I’ll pairt without a diveesion o’ the siller tea-pots and things that ye daurna sell for fear o’ bein’ fund out?”
“I wonder ye dinna claim half o’ the jewels and things as weel,” retorted Swankie; “ye hae mair right to them, seein’ ye had a hand in findin’ them.”
“Me a hand in findin’ them,” exclaimed Spink, with sudden indignation. “Was it me that fand the deed body o’ the auld man on the Bell Rock? Na, na, freend. I hae naething to do wi’ deed men’s jewels.”
“Have ye no?” retorted the other. “It’s strange, then, that ye should entertain such sma’ objections to deed men’s siller.”
“Weel-a-weel, Swankie, the less we say on thae matters the better. Here, tak’ haud o’ the tither keg.”
The conversation ceased at this stage abruptly. Evidently each had touched on the other’s weak point, so both tacitly agreed to drop the subject.
Presently Big Swankie took out a flint and steel, and proceeded to strike a light. It was some some time before the tinder would catch. At each stroke of the steel a shower of brilliant sparks lit up his countenance for an instant, and this momentary glance showed that its expression was not prepossessing by any means.
Ruby drew Minnie farther into the recess which concealed them, and awaited the result with some anxiety, for he felt that the amount of knowledge with which he had become possessed thus unintentionally, small though it was, was sufficient to justify the smugglers in regarding him as a dangerous enemy.
He had scarcely drawn himself quite within the shadow of the recess, when Swankie succeeded in kindling a torch, which filled the cavern with a lurid light, and revealed its various forms, rendering it, if possible, more mysterious and unearthly than ever.
“Here, Spink,” cried Swankie, who was gradually getting into better humour, “haud the light, and gie me the spade.”
“Ye better put them behind the rock, far in,” suggested Spink.
The other seemed to entertain this idea for a moment, for he raised the torch above his head, and, advancing into the cave, carefully examined the rocks at the inner end.
Step by step he drew near to the place where Ruby and Minnie were concealed, muttering to himself, as he looked at each spot that might possibly suit his purpose, “Na, na, the waves wad wash the kegs oot o’ that if it cam’ on to blaw.”
He made another step forward, and the light fell almost on the head of Ruby, who felt Minnie’s arm tremble. He clenched his hands with that feeling of resolve that comes over a man when he has made up his mind to fight.
Just then an exclamation of surprise escaped from his comrade.
“Losh! man, what have we here?” he cried, picking up a small object that glittered in the light.
Minnie’s heart sank, for she could see that the thing was a small brooch which she was in the habit of wearing in her neckerchief, and which must have been detached when Ruby carried her into the cave.
She felt assured that this would lead to their discovery; but it had quite the opposite effect, for it caused Swankie to turn round and examine the trinket with much curiosity.
A long discussion as to how it could have come there immediately ensued between the smugglers, in the midst of which a wavelet washed against Swankie’s feet, reminding him that the tide was rising, and that he had no time to lose.
“There’s nae place behint the rocks,” said he quickly, putting the brooch in his pocket, “so we’ll just hide the kegs amang the stanes. Lucky for us that we got the rest o’ the cargo run ashore at Auchmithie. This’ll lie snugly here, and we’ll pull past the leftenant, who thinks we havena seen him, with oor heeds up and oor tongues in oor cheeks.”
They both chuckled heartily at the idea of disappointing the preventive officer, and while one held the torch the other dug a hole in the beach deep enough to contain the two kegs.
“In ye go, my beauties,” said Swankie, covering them up. “Mony’s the time I’ve buried ye.”
“Ay, an’ mony’s the time ye’ve helped at their resurrection,” added Spink, with a laugh.
“Noo, we’ll away an’ have a look at the kegs in the Forbidden Cave,” said Swankie, “see that they’re a’ richt, an’ then have our game wi’ the land-sharks.”
Next moment the torch was dashed against the stones and extinguished, and the two men, leaping into their boat, rowed away. As they passed through the outer cavern, Ruby heard them arrange to go back to Auchmithie. Their voices were too indistinct to enable him to ascertain their object in doing so, but he knew enough of the smugglers to enable him to guess that it was for the purpose of warning some of their friends of the presence of the preventive boat, which their words proved that they had seen.
“Now, Minnie,” said he, starting up as soon as the boat had disappeared, “this is what I call good luck, for not only shall we be able to return with something to the boat, but we shall be able to intercept big Swankie and his comrade, and offer them a glass of their own gin!”
“Yes, and I shall be able to boast of having had quite a little adventure,” said Minnie, who, now that her anxiety was ever, began to feel elated.
They did not waste time in conversation, however, for the digging up of two kegs from a gravelly beach with fingers instead of a spade was not a quick or easy thing to do; so Ruby found as he went down on his knees in that dark place and began the work.
“Can I help you?” asked his fair companion after a time.
“Help me! What? Chafe and tear your little hands with work that all but skins mine? Nay, truly. But here comes one, and the other will soon follow. Yo, heave, Ho!”
With the well-known nautical shout Ruby put forth an herculean effort, and tore the kegs out of the earth. After a short pause he carried Minnie out of the cavern, and led her to the field above by the same path by which they had descended.
Then he returned for the kegs of gin. They were very heavy, but not too heavy for the strength of the young giant, who was soon hastening with rapid strides towards the bay, where they had left their friends. He bore a keg under each arm, and Minnie tripped lightly by his side,—and laughingly, too, for she enjoyed the thought of the discomfiture that was in store for the smugglers.
Chapter Twenty
The Smugglers are “Treated” to Gin and Astonishment
They found the lieutenant and Captain Ogilvy stretched on the grass, smoking their pipes together. The daylight had almost deepened into night, and a few stars were beginning to twinkle in the sky.
“Hey! what have we here—smugglers?” cried the captain, springing up rather quickly, as Ruby came unexpectedly on them.
“Just so, uncle,” said Minnie, with a laugh. “We have here some gin, smuggled all the way from Holland, and have come to ask your opinion of it.”
“Why, Ruby, how came you by this?” enquired Lindsay in amazement, as he examined the kegs with critical care.
“Suppose I should say that I have been taken into confidence by the smugglers and then betrayed them.”
“I should reply that the one idea was improbable, and the other impossible,” returned the lieutenant.
“Well, I have at all events found out their secrets, and now I reveal them.”
In a few words Ruby acquainted his friends with all that has just been narrated.
The moment he had finished, the lieutenant ordered his men to launch the boat. The kegs were put into the stern-sheets, the party embarked, and, pushing off, they rowed gently out of the bay, and crept slowly along the shore, under the deep shadow of the cliffs.
“How dark it is getting!” said Minnie, after they had rowed for some time in silence.
“The moon will soon be up,” said the lieutenant. “Meanwhile I’ll cast a little light on the subject by having a pipe. Will you join me, captain?”
This was a temptation which the captain never resisted; indeed, he did not regard it as a temptation at all, and would have smiled at the idea of resistance.
“Minnie, lass,” said he, as he complacently filled the blackened bowl, and calmly stuffed down the glowing tobacco with the end of that marvellously callous little fingers, “it’s a wonderful thing that baccy. I don’t know what man would do without it.”
“Quite as well as woman does, I should think,” replied Minnie.
“I’m not so sure of that, lass. It’s more nat’ral for man to smoke than for woman. Ye see, woman, lovely woman, should be ‘all my fancy painted her, both lovely and divine.’ It would never do to have baccy perfumes hangin’ about her rosy lips.”
“But, uncle, why should man have the disagreeable perfumes you speak of hanging about his lips?”
“I don’t know, lass. It’s all a matter o’ feeling. ‘’Twere vain to tell thee all I feel, how much my heart would wish to say;’ but of this I’m certain sure, that I’d never git along without my pipe. It’s like compass, helm, and ballast all in one. Is that the moon, leftenant?”
The captain pointed to a faint gleam of light on the horizon, which he knew well enough to be the moon; but he wished to change the subject.
“Ay is it, and there comes a boat. Steady, men! lay on your oars a bit.”
This was said earnestly. In one instant all were silent, and the boat lay as motionless as the shadows of the cliffs among which it was involved.
Presently the sound of oars was heard. Almost at the same moment, the upper edge of the moon rose above the horizon, and covered the sea with rippling silver. Ere long a boat shot into this stream of light, and rowed swiftly in the direction of Arbroath.
“There are only two men in it,” whispered the lieutenant.
“Ay, these are my good friends Swankie and Spink, who know a deal more about other improper callings besides smuggling, if I did not greatly mistake their words,” cried Ruby.
“Give way, lads!” cried the lieutenant.
The boat sprang at the word from her position under the cliffs, and was soon out upon the sea in full chase of the smugglers, who bent to their oars more lustily, evidently intending to trust to their speed.
“Strange,” said the lieutenant, as the distance between the two began sensibly to decrease, “if these be smugglers, with an empty boat, as you lead me to suppose they are, they would only be too glad to stop and let us see that they had nothing aboard that we could touch. It leads me to think that you are mistaken, Ruby Brand, and that these are not your friends.”
“Nay, the same fact convinces me that they are the very men we seek; for they said they meant to have some game with you, and what more amusing than to give you a long, hard chase for nothing?”
“True; you are right. Well, we will turn the tables on them. Take the helm for a minute, while I tap one of the kegs.”
The tapping was soon accomplished, and a quantity of the spirit was drawn off into the captain’s pocket-flask.
“Taste it, captain, and let’s have your opinion.” Captain Ogilvy complied. He put the flask to his lips, and, on removing it, smacked them, and looked at the party with that extremely grave, almost solemn expression, which is usually assumed by a man when strong liquid is being put to the delicate test of his palate.
“Oh!” exclaimed the captain, opening his eyes very wide indeed.
What “oh” meant, was rather doubtful at first; but when the captain put the flask again to his lips, and took another pull, a good deal longer than the first, much, if not all of the doubt was removed.
“Prime! nectar!” he murmured, in a species of subdued ecstasy, at the end of the second draught.
“Evidently the right stuff,” said Lindsay, laughing.
“Liquid streams—celestial nectar,
Darted through the ambient sky,—”
Said the captain; “liquid, ay, liquid is the word.”
He was about to test the liquid again:—
“Stop! stop! fair play, captain; it’s my turn now,” cried the lieutenant, snatching the flask from his friend’s grasp, and applying it to his own lips.
Both the lieutenant and Ruby pronounced the gin perfect, and as Minnie positively refused either to taste or to pronounce judgment, the flask was returned to its owner’s pocket.
They were now close on the smugglers, whom they hailed, and commanded to lay on their oars.
The order was at once obeyed, and the boats were speedily rubbing sides together.
“I should like to examine your boat, friends,” said the lieutenant as he stepped across the gunwales.
“Oh! sir, I’m thankfu’ to find you’re not smugglers,” said Swankie, with an assumed air of mingled respect and alarm.
“If we’d only know’d ye was preventives we’d ha’ backed oars at once. There’s nothin’ here; ye may seek as long’s ye please.”
The hypocritical rascal winked slyly to his comrade as he said this. Meanwhile Lindsay and one of the men examined the contents of the boat, and, finding nothing contraband, the former said—
“So, you’re honest men, I find. Fishermen, doubtless?”
“Ay, some o’ yer crew ken us brawly,” said Davy Spink with a grin.
“Well, I won’t detain you,” rejoined the lieutenant; “it’s quite a pleasure to chase honest men on the high seas in these times of war and smuggling. But it’s too bad to have given you such a fright, lads, for nothing. What say you to a glass of gin?”
Big Swankie and his comrade glanced at each other in surprise. They evidently thought this an unaccountably polite Government officer, and were puzzled. However, they could do no less than accept such a generous offer.
“Thank’ee, sir,” said Big Swankie, spitting out his quid and significantly wiping his mouth. “I hae nae objection. Doubtless it’ll be the best that the like o’ you carries in yer bottle.”
“The best, certainly,” said the lieutenant, as he poured out a bumper, and handed it to the smuggler. “It was smuggled, of course, and you see His Majesty is kind enough to give his servants a little of what they rescue from the rascals, to drink his health.”
“Weel, I drink to the King,” said Swankie, “an’ confusion to all his enemies, ’specially to smugglers.”
He tossed off the gin with infinite gusto, and handed back the cup with a smack of the lips and a look that plainly said, “More, if you please!”
But the hint was not taken. Another bumper was filled and handed to Davy Spink, who had been eyeing the crew of the boat with great suspicion. He accepted the cup, nodded curtly, and said—
“Here’s t’ye, gentlemen, no forgettin’ the fair leddy in the stern-sheets.”
While he was drinking the gin the lieutenant turned to his men—
“Get out the keg, lads, from which that came, and refill the flask. Hold it well up in the moonlight, and see that ye don’t spill a single drop, as you value your lives. Hey! my man, what ails you? Does the gin disagree with your stomach, or have you never seen a smuggled keg of spirits before, that you stare at it as if it were a keg of ghosts!”
The latter part of this speech was addressed to Swankie, who no sooner beheld the keg than his eyes opened up until they resembled two great oysters. His mouth slowly followed suit. Davy Spink’s attention having been attracted, he became subject to similar alterations of visage.
“Hallo!” cried the captain, while the whole crew burst into a laugh, “you must have given them poison. Have you a stomach-pump, doctor?” he said, turning hastily to Ruby.
“No, nothing but a penknife and a tobacco-stopper. If they’re of any use to you—”
He was interrupted by a loud laugh from Big Swankie, who quickly recovered his presence of mind, and declared that he had never tasted such capital stuff in his life.
“Have ye much o’t, sir?”
“O yes, a good deal. I have two kegs of it” (the lieutenant grinned very hard at this point), “and we expect to get a little more to-night.”
“Ha!” exclaimed Davy Spink, “there’s no doot plenty o’t in the coves hereaway, for they’re an awfu’ smugglin’ set. Whan did ye find the twa kegs, noo, if I may ask?”
“Oh, certainly. I got them not more than an hour ago.”
The smugglers glanced at each other and were struck dumb; but they were now too much on their guard to let any further evidence of surprise escape them.
“Weel, I wush ye success, sirs,” said Swankie, sitting down to his oar. “It’s likely ye’ll come across mair if ye try Dickmont’s Den. There’s usually somethin’ hidden thereaboots.”
“Thank you, friend, for the hint,” said the lieutenant, as he took his place at the tiller-ropes, “but I shall have a look at the Gaylet Cove, I think, this evening.”
“What! the Gaylet Cove?” cried Spink. “Ye might as weel look for kegs at the bottom o’ the deep sea.”
“Perhaps so; nevertheless, I have taken a fancy to go there. If I find nothing, I will take a look into the Forbidden Cave.”
“The Forbidden Cave!” almost howled Swankie. “Wha iver heard o’ smugglers hidin’ onything there? The air in’t wad pushen a rotten.”
“Perhaps it would, yet I mean to try.”
“Weel-a-weel, ye may try, but ye might as weel seek for kegs o’ gin on the Bell Rock.”
“Ha! it’s not the first time that strange things have been found on the Bell Rock,” said Ruby suddenly. “I have heard of jewels, even, being discovered there.”
“Give way, men; shove off,” cried the lieutenant. “A pleasant pull to you, lads. Good night.”
The two boats parted, and while the lieutenant and his friends made for the shore, the smugglers rowed towards Arbroath in a state of mingled amazement and despair at what they had heard and seen.
“It was Ruby Brand that spoke last, Davy.”
“Ay; he was i’ the shadow o’ Captain Ogilvy and I couldna see his face, but I thought it like his voice when he first spoke.”
“Hoo can he hae come to ken aboot the jewels?”
“That’s mair than I can tell.”
“I’ll bury them,” said Swankie, “an’ then it’ll puzzle onybody to tell whaur they are.”
“Ye’ll please yoursell,” said Spink.
Swankie was too angry to make any reply, or to enter into further conversation with his comrade about the kegs of gin, so they continued their way in silence.
Meanwhile, as Lieutenant Lindsay and his men had a night of work before them, the captain suggested that Minnie, Ruby, and himself should be landed within a mile of the town, and left to find their way thither on foot. This was agreed to; and while the one party walked home by the romantic pathway at the top of the cliffs, the other rowed away to explore the dark recesses of the Forbidden Cave.
