Reilly went first, bending low, lamp in one hand and a short crowbar in the other, while I followed with an axe3 as one of the most useful of implements4.
The door had been forced from its fastenings and had gone far back upon its hinges, almost uninjured, save that it was split in places and badly twisted. Within we found a rough-walled, close-smelling chamber5, about 4 ft. across and about 9 ft. long, low, dark as pitch, and, to our abject6 disappointment, absolutely empty.
One object alone we found within—an old leather drinking mug, hard, dry and cracked, that lay in one corner long forgotten.
Reilly’s idea was that the place was a “priests’ hole,” one of the secret hiding-places of the Roman Catholic priests after the Reformation, so often found in old houses, and in this I was inclined to agree with him. Still, after a whole day’s work, and a hard one, too, our raised hopes had only been dashed by a negative discovery. The wreck7 we had made of the wall was appalling8, and if we proceeded for long in that manner I dreaded9 to think what might be the amount claimed for dilapidations.
My young friend was, however, enthusiastic and nothing daunted10. He lit a cigarette and, puffing11 at it vigorously, silently regarded the yawning hole in the wall.
“No doubt it was a place of concealment12 for those unfortunate Johnnies who were so badly badgered after Henry VIII’s decree,” he remarked. “Old Bartholomew was a staunch Catholic and, of course, in his house any priest found shelter and concealment who asked for it. That accounts for the mug being there. The last man who occupied the place before it was closed up and plastered over probably drank his ale out of it.”
“Well,” I said, disappointedly, “we’ve made a pretty mess, and we’d best start to clear it up tidily before we do anything more. Method is everything in a complete search like this.”
“Of course,” was my young friend’s remark; “only I wish we could get a sight of that parchment which that drunken sot sold for half a sovereign. If we could, we shouldn’t go on working in the dark like this.”
“Ah, Philip,” I said, with a sigh, “we shall never get sight of that, I fear. Purvis and his friends keep it too safely guarded.”
“I wonder if they know that we are tenants13 of this place?”
“Probably. Kenway wrote to him two days ago.”
“Then, knowing the kind of men they are, I feel rather apprehensive14 that they may endeavour to turn us out, or do something desperate.”
“Let them try!” I laughed. “We’ve both got revolvers, and neither of us would be afraid to use them if the worst came.”
“We must mind they don’t take us unawares. Men like that never fight square. Bennett has the ingenuity15 of the Evil One himself.”
I reflected for a moment, then said:—
“If we only knew the identity of the victim of the tragedy and could establish his death we might have the whole crowd under arrest.”
“Yes. But how can we establish his identity?” Reilly queried16. “They were smart enough to dispose of the body successfully.”
“But if the police made inquiries17 they might discover the cabman who was called, and by that means find out what had been done with the trunk.”
“No,” replied the young bank clerk. “That girl Bristowe could tell us a lot if she wished. You know her—why not try to pump her? I don’t think it would be difficult to discover something from her, for she was horror-struck when they revealed to her the poor fellow’s fate.”
His suggestion seemed an excellent one, but not at present practicable. We were at that moment in possession of a house which our enemies were straining every nerve to search, like ourselves. Surely it was not policy to leave it at that juncture18, empty and at their mercy. Reilly did not care to remain alone in charge, and certainly I was by no means anxious to live in that awful, depressing place without a companion.
A careful review of the position impressed upon us the necessity of continuing our search. We possessed19 certain documentary evidence which showed, first, that a treasure had been stored away; secondly20, that it had been stored in a place of safety, with the Knuttons as guardians21; thirdly, that the Knuttons had been installed by Bartholomew himself in the Manor22 Farm, the old house in close proximity23. Therefore we could arrive at but one conclusion, namely, that the treasure was stored upon the premises24 now in our possession. If not, why had the Knuttons been established there? Richard Knutton, of the Port of Sandwich, who was Bartholomew’s trusted lieutenant25, would surely be placed on guard in the vicinity of the secret hiding-place. Sea-dogs they all were, and clever ones too. Probably few had seen more hand-to-hand fighting and more fierce bloodshed than the seven signatories, and their prize money had undoubtedly26 amounted to a handsome sum.
Reilly was impatient and rather headstrong. He made lots of wild suggestions. If Purvis and his friends had hired burglars to search his uncle’s study, why should we not, by similar means, try and possess ourselves of that all-important document which the drunken Knutton had sold to our enemies? Which argument was, of course, logical, but it did not appeal to me. My own opinion was that if we acted firmly, with caution and patience, we should one day satisfactorily clear up the mystery. Still, our position was irksome, for we dared not to leave the place for long together, fearing that our enemies might be working against us in secret.
Through several days we continued our search, taking up the worm-eaten floor boards, but exposing nothing more interesting than rat runs; wrenching28 out the old oak panelling, and searching for any hollow-sounding places in the walls. Our investigation29 was certainly thorough, for we took room by room, methodically measuring, sounding, and making openings everywhere.
One morning the rural postman brought me a letter from Seal, explaining that the Thrush had at last gone into dry dock, where she would remain for three weeks at least to be scraped and patched, therefore he was coming down next day to help us. This was good news, for with three of us on guard we could each be allowed more liberty. So I went over to Uppingham again and purchased another camp bed and some cheap furniture, sufficient to make us up a sitting-room30. That same night it arrived, and we then turned one of the smaller rooms on the ground floor into a smoking-room, with three cane1 chairs, a table, and a window-blind.
I met Seal at Rockingham Station on the following day.
“What ho, sonny!” the burly skipper cried, rolling his huge carcass from the train and slapping his great hand into mine. “My kit’s in the van there. Thought you hadn’t got a bed for me, so I brought my own and a few other things,” and at the same moment I saw, pitched out upon the platform, a sailor’s hold-all lashed31 with rope.
“Well, captain,” I said, after giving instructions to the railway porter to wheel the skipper’s luggage up to the Manor House, “and how are you?”
“Fit as a fiddle32, doctor,” and his bronzed face broadened and beamed; “you cured that rheumatism33 of mine.” Then he halted and inhaled34 the air deeply. “Christmas!” he exclaimed; “this does a chap good, after too much sea. I can smell them flowers,” and he glanced at some growing in the station-master’s garden. “I never see flowers, you know, doctor.”
Together we crossed the bridge and entered the village. The bluff35 old fellow was dressed, as usual, in blue serge, with a big silver watch-chain, of cable pattern, across his waistcoat, and his nautical36 cap stuck slightly askew37, ridiculously small for his enormous head.
“Seen anything more of them other swabs?” he asked, as he rolled along at my side.
“We’ve heard plenty about them,” I answered, “but have seen nothing.”
“They’d better not show their ugly mugs while I’m here,” he retorted, meaningly.
I laughed. Seal’s roar of anger would in itself be sufficient to frighten away the whole of Purvis and Company.
When I took him into the grass-grown yard of the old house he looked the place up and down, and remarked:?—
“A bit dilapidated, ain’t it? I should reckon we might overhaul38 a ghost or two inside if we had a mind to.”
“Ah, you’re superstitious39, captain,” I said. “Mr. Reilly doesn’t believe in ghosts any more than I do. Come along and be introduced to him.”
We found Philip smoking a cigarette and reading a newspaper under a tree in the tangled40 old garden. Then, when I had made the introduction, Seal said:?—
“Glad to make your acquaintance, sir. Toughish job this, ain’t it? You don’t seem to have much luck up to the present. At every port I touched I expected to hear that you had found the stuff and bagged it.”
“You are best off, I think, captain,” I remarked.
“Up to now, yes. I sold my lot the day before yesterday to a dealer42 in Piccadilly for eight hundred and forty-six quid, and I’ve put that money safe in the bank,” he said, with evident satisfaction. “I’d rather have modern money than a collection of old coins. But I’d like to see you get your whack43 out of it, doctor. You deserve it—you do.”
“Well,” I said, “we’re having a good try to find where it is hidden.” And then we took him inside and showed him how we were pulling the old place to pieces.
“Jehoshaphat!” he ejaculated, with a whistle. “You’re making a pretty fine mess, and no gammon! The landlord’s hair will stand on end when he sees it.”
“I expect so,” I laughed. “But now we’ve started we must go through with it—and you must help us.”
“Help yer? Why, of course. Shiver me, we’ll pull the whole crazy house down, if you like.”
The porter had delivered the skipper’s sack, so we carried it up to the room we had prepared for him adjoining ours.
“Wait, you chaps, till I’ve unlashed my kit,” he said, addressing us, and bending over the white canvas sack he quickly uncorded it and began to unpack44.
It was filled with a collection of articles that surprised us. Not only had he brought his bed, but also his big yellow oilskin, “in case the weather was dirty,” he informed us. Three fine melons, from Algiers, rolled across the floor; a box of cigars was handed to each of us, as a present, and then, from careful wrappings, he produced two wicker-covered bottles of Black Head rum.
“Now, mates!” he cried, “get three glasses, and we’ll drink success to this outcome o’ Noah’s Ark.”
Rum was not our habitual45 beverage46 before one o’clock in the day, but in order to show our appreciation47 of his goodwill48 we each tossed down a little of the neat spirit after he had chinked his glass with ours, saying:?—
“?’Ere’s luck to all three of us, and a thousand of Old Nick’s best brand o’ curses on them swabs.”
Having locked up the place securely, as we always did during our temporary absences, we took Seal round to the Plough, where we sat together in the little back parlour and, amid boisterous49 laughter, lunched off cold roast beef and mashed50 potatoes, our usual fare, for the menu of that rural hostelry was not very extensive.
The skipper, whose normal state was one of hunger, ate with an enormous appetite, smacking51 his lips and declaring that after food afloat a bit of real English beef was very toothsome. And so it was. I recollected52 well the culinary arrangements of the Thrush, and the greasy53, gritty, unappetizing dishes that sometimes came from the galley54 for our approval.
The home-brewed ale was a change, too, after his eternal “noggins,” and a thirst being upon him he swallowed several glasses with great gusto.
Then, when we smoked and his big bronzed face beamed through the suffocating55 cloud, he told us that we were certainly giving him a good time.
We had been laughing at some quaint41 remark of the skipper’s, and as the peal27 of merriment had subsided56 the innkeeper’s sister who waited upon us entered to clear off the plates. As she did so the sound of a man’s gruff voice, in conversation, reached us from the bar outside.
Seal’s jaw57 dropped in an instant. The merriment died out of his face. He listened for a moment as though to make certain, then springing from his chair he passed through the doorway, in order, I suppose, to get sight of the stranger.
I had watched the skipper’s countenance58 and had noticed the puzzled expression on it.
Next instant he was back with us, returning on tiptoe. The young woman had gone out, and he closed the door quietly behind her. Then, turning to us, he said, in a low, hoarse59 voice of alarm, his countenance entirely60 changed:?—
“Look here, lads! This is a blessed sight more than I bargained for when I offered to come down and give yer a hand. Why, Black Bennett’s here! Black Bennett!” he added, looking at our puzzled faces. “Black Bennett! Don’t you understand?”
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收听单词发音
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1
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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4
implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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6
abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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7
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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8
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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9
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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daunted
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| 使（某人）气馁，威吓( daunt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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12
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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13
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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14
apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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28
wrenching
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| n.修截苗根，苗木铲根（铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土）v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的现在分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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31
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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32
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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inhaled
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| v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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36
nautical
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| adj.海上的，航海的，船员的 | |
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askew
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| adv.斜地；adj.歪斜的 | |
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38
overhaul
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| v./n.大修，仔细检查 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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40
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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41
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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42
dealer
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| n.商人，贩子 | |
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43
whack
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| v.敲击，重打，瓜分；n.重击，重打，尝试，一份 | |
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44
unpack
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| vt.打开包裹（或行李），卸货 | |
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45
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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46
beverage
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| n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料 | |
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47
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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48
goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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49
boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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50
mashed
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| a.捣烂的 | |
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51
smacking
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| 活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的 | |
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52
recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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54
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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55
suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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56
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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57
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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58
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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59
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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60
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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