The dog-cart was in its place in the coach-house; the broken old cart and the bundles of straw were in the corner; all just as usual. Tomlett and Hyde removed the cart and the straw from their resting place (whence, by all appearance, they never were removed), and the brothers Thornycroft lifted a trap-door, invisible to the casual observer, that the straw had served to conceal5. A flight of steps stood disclosed to view, which Isaac and Richard descended6. The steps led to a subterranean7 passage; a long, long passage running straight under the plateau and terminating in a vault8 or cavern9, its damp sides glistening10 as the light of the lantern flashed upon it. Traversing this passage to the end, Isaac put the lantern down: then they unwound a chain from its pulley, and a square portion of the rock, loose from the rest, was pulled in and turned aside by means of a pivot11: thus affording an ingress for goods, smuggled12 or otherwise, to come in. No wonder Robert Hunter had thought the rock sounded hollow just there!
Ah, Mr. Kyne had scented13 the fox pretty keenly. But not the huntsmen who rode him to earth.
It took longer to do all this than it has to relate it. When Richard had helped Isaac to remove the rock, he returned along the passage on his way to the plateau. It was customary for one of the two brothers to stand on the plateau on the watch during these dangerous feats14, with his descending15 signal of warning in case of alarm. Richard took that post to-night. Oh, that it had been Isaac! But it was marvellous how lucky they had hitherto been. Years had gone on, and years, and never a check had come. One great reason for this was that the late supervisor17, Mr. Dangerfield--let us only whisper it!--had allowed himself to be bribed18. What with that, and what with the horror the preventive men had of the plateau, the daring and profitable game had been carried on with impunity19. Richard Thornycroft went on his way, little knowing the awful phantom20 that was pursuing him.
Midway in the passage he met Hyde and Tomlett, tried and true men, on their way to join Isaac. Mr. Tomlett's accident had occurred during one of these night exploits--hence his wife's terrified consternation21 at being questioned by Miss Thornycroft. A strange chance had led, some years ago, to Mrs. Tomlett's discovery of what her husband was engaged in at intervals22: the woman kept the secret, but never was free from fear.
Isaac Thornycroft, left alone, proceeded with his necessary movements. By help of a long pole, thrust through the hole, he held forth24 a blazing flambeau, which for two minutes would light up the half-moon beach and the rocks behind it. It was the signal for the boats to put off from that especial vessel25 that was the object of the worthy26 supervisor's abhorrence27. And so the night's secret work was fairly inaugurated. Isaac Thornycroft held his signal for the approach of the boats, laden28 with their heavy spoil; Richard was speeding back to assume his watch overhead; and it was just about this time that Mr. Hunter had taken his departure from the Red Court Farm.
It is quite useless to speculate, now, why Robert Hunter went on the plateau. Some power must have impelled29 him. These things, bearing great events in their train, do not occur by chance. Had he been questioned why, he probably could not have told. The most likely conjecture30 is, speaking according to human reason, that he intended to stand a few moments on its brow, and sniff31 the fresh breeze from the sea, so grateful to his heated senses. He had taken more wine than usual; certainly not to anything like intoxication32, for he was by habit and principle a sober man. He had dined more freely; the hot room, the talking, all had contributed to heat him; and, following on it, came the interview with Lady Ellis. Whatever the cause, certain it is that, instead of pursuing the straight course of his road, like a sensible man, he turned off it and went on the plateau.
It was a remarkably33 light night--as already said--clear, still, frosty, very bright. The clouds, passing occasionally over the face of the clear sky, seemed to be moved by an upper current that did not stir the air below. The sea was like silver; no craft to be seen on it save one vessel that was hove-to close in-shore--a dark vessel, lying still and silent. Robert Hunter, at the very edge of the plateau, stood looking on all this: a peaceful scene; the broad expanse of sea stretching out, the half-moon beach lying cold and solitary34 below.
Suddenly a bright sheet of light shot out from underneath36, illumining the half-moon, the rocks, and his own face, as he bent37 over to look. Was he dreaming?--was his brain treacherous38, causing him to see things that were not? There, half-way down the rocks, shone a great flame, a flickering39, flaring40, blazing flame, as of a torch; and Robert Hunter rubbed his eyes, and slapped his chest, and pinched his arms, to make sure he was not in a dream of wine.
He stood staring at it, his eyes and mouth open; stared at it until, by some mysterious process, it steadily41 lowered itself, and disappeared inside the rocks. Light--not of the torch--flashed upon him.
"The smugglers!" he burst forth: and the clear night air carried the words over the sea. "The smugglers are abroad to-night! That must be their signal for the booty to approach. Then there is an opening in the rocks! I'll hasten and give word to Kyne."
Flying back straight towards the Red Court, he had leaped the railings when he encountered Richard Thornycroft, who seemed to be flying along with equal speed towards the plateau. Hunter seized his arm.
"Richard Thornycroft! Mr. Richard! the smugglers are at work! I have dropped upon them. Their signal has been hoisted43 beyond the rocks underneath."
"What?" roared Richard.
"It is true as that we are breathing here," continued Hunter. "I went on the plateau, and I saw their light--a flaming torch as big as your head. They are preparing to run the goods. It struck me there must be an opening there. I am going to fetch Kyne. Mr. Thornycroft, if he will come out, may be convinced now."
He would have resumed his way with the last words, but Richard caught him. The slight form of Robert Hunter was whirled round in his powerful grasp.
"Do you see this?" he hoarsely44 raved45, his face wearing an awfully46 livid expression, born of anger, in the starlight. "It is well loaded."
Robert Hunter did see it. It was the bright end of a pistol barrel, pointed47 close to his head. He recoiled48, as far as he could, but the grasp was tight upon him.
"What, in Heaven's name, do you mean?"
"You talk of Heaven, you treacherous cur!" panted Richard. "Down upon your knees--down, I say! You shall talk of it to some purpose."
By his superior strength, he forced the younger and slighter man to his knees on the waste ground as he would a child. The fur coat fell from Robert Hunter's arm, and lay beside him, a white heap streaked49 with black, in the starlight.
"Now, then! Swear, by all your hopes of Heaven, that what you have detected shall never pass your lips; shall be as if you had not seen it."
"I swear," answered Robert Hunter. "I believe I guess how it is. I will be silent; I swear it."
"Now and hereafter?"
"Now and hereafter."
"Get up, then, and go your way. But, another word, first of all," interrupted Richard, as if a thought struck him. "This must be kept secret from my sister."
"I swear that it shall be, for me."
Holding Robert Hunter still in his fierce grasp, he dictated50 to him yet another oath, as if not satisfied with the last one. In cooler moments neither of them might have acted as they were doing: Richard had been less imperative51, the other less blindly yielding. Robert Hunter was no coward, but circumstances and Richard's fury momentarily over-mastered him.
He swore a solemn oath--Richard dictating52 it--not to hold further communication with Mary Anne at present, either by word or letter; not to do it until Richard should of his own will voluntarily give permission for it. He swore not again to put foot within the Red Court Farm; he swore not to write to any one of its inmates53, failing this permission. The determination not to be pestered54 with letters perhaps caused Richard to insist on this. Any way, the oaths were taken, and were to hold force for six months.
"Now, then, go your way," said Richard. "Your path for departure lies there," and he pointed to the open highway leading from the entrance gates of the Red Court. "But first hear me swear an oath that I shall surely keep: If you do not go straight away; if you linger on this spot unnecessarily by so much as a few minutes; if you, having once started, return to it again I will put this bullet through your body. Cyril! See him off; he was turning traitor55."
Cyril Thornycroft had come strolling towards them, somewhat at a distance yet; he did not catch the sense of his brother's concluding words, but he saw that some explosion of anger had occurred. Picking up the coat, Hunter put it on as he walked to join Cyril; while Richard, as if under the pressure of some urgent errand, flew off across the lawn and flower-beds towards the coach-house ruins and the secret passage leading from it.
"What is all this? What does Richard mean?" inquired Cyril as they commenced their walk along the high road. "He said something about a traitor."
"I was not a traitor; your brother lies. Would I turn traitor to a house whose hospitality I have been accepting? I saw, accidentally, a light exhibited from the Half-moon rocks, and I guessed what it meant. I guess more now than I will repeat, but the secret shall be safe with me."
"Safe now, and after your departure?"
"Safe always. I have sworn it."
"I am sorry this should have happened," said Cyril, after a pause.
"And so am I," returned Robert Hunter. "Circumstances, not my own will, led to it. It is a pity I missed the omnibus."
"Yes," said Cyril, speaking abstractedly, as if his thoughts were far away. "But if you step out well you may be at Jutpoint by half-past ten."
"Scarcely so," thought Robert Hunter. Cyril, perhaps, did not know the hour now.
"What! Have you missed the omnibus, sir?"
The question came from a woman who met them, Captain Copp's servant Sarah. She was coming along without her bonnet56 in the frosty night.
"Yes, I have; and must walk it for my pains," answered Mr. Hunter.
"Are you going to the Red Court, Sarah?" asked Cyril.
"I am, sir; I'm going there to fetch Miss Chester," returned Sarah in her hardest tone. "And a fine tantrum master's in over it, roaring out that I ought to have come a good hour ago. Why didn't they tell me, then?"
Saying good night to the woman, who wished Mr. Hunter a pleasant journey, they continued their way, striking into the village; a silent village to-night. In the windows of the Mermaid57 above, lights were no doubt gleaming, but they were not near enough to that hospitable58 hostelry to see. Everybody else seemed abed and asleep, as was generally the case at Coastdown by nine o'clock on a Sunday night.
Cyril had fallen into thought. Should he offer Hunter any apology or excuse for these practices of his house, so inopportunely discovered, and which had always been so distasteful to him? Better not, perhaps. What excusing plea could he justly offer? And besides, he knew not how far the discovery went, or what Richard had said. A feeling of resentment59 against Robert Hunter rose up in his heart, in his anxiety to ward42 off ill from his father and brothers, in his jealous care for the fair fame of the Red Court Farm. Good though he was, striving ever to follow in his Master's footsteps of love and peace, Cyril Thornycroft was but human, with a human heart disposed by its original nature to passion and sin.
"Let me advise you, at any rate for the present, not to hold communication with our house or its inmates," he said, gently breaking the silence. "In this I include my sister."
"I have promised all that. Your brother was not satisfied with exacting60 a simple promise; he made me swear it. I was to have written to Mary Anne on my arrival in town. Will you explain to her the reason why I do not?"
"I thought you and my sister did not correspond," interrupted Cyril.
"Neither do we. It was only to notify my safe arrival."
"I will explain sufficient to satisfy her. I suppose I must not ask you to give her up?"
"My intention is to win her if I can," avowed61 Robert Hunter. "She would share my fortunes tomorrow, but for the fear that my position would not be acceptable to Mr. Thornycroft."
"I see; it is decided62. Well, in your own interest, I would advise you to break off all present relations with our house. What has occurred to-night will not tend to increase Richard's favour to you, and his opinion very greatly sways my father. Your visit here, taking it on the whole, has not been pleasant, or productive of pleasant results. Give us time to forget it and you for the present. Give Richard time to forget the name and sojourn63 of Robert Hunter."
"You say you suggest this in my own interest?"
"I do indeed," answered Cyril, his good, calm face turning on the speaker with a kindly64 light. "In yours and my sister's jointly65. She will be true to you, I make no doubt; and things may come about after a short while. If you have decided to take each other, if your best affections are involved, why should I seek to part you? But I know what Richard is; you must give him time to get over this."
"True," answered Robert Hunter, his heart responding to the evident kindness. "At any rate, there can be no question of my holding communication with the Red Court Farm for six months, even by letter. It was a rash oath, no doubt; I was not quite myself when I took it; but I have undertaken not to write to any one of you until Richard shall give me leave. At the end of the six months I suppose I shall hear from him; if not, I shall consider myself at liberty to write--or to come."
"You will surely hear from him if he has implied that you shall. Richard never breaks a promise. And now that I have seen you thus far on your way, I'll wish you well, and turn back again."
"They had reached the end of the village, and he grasped Robert Hunter's hand with a warm and friendly pressure. The other was loth to part with him so soon.
"You may as well go with me as far as the Wherry."
Robert Hunter spoke66 not of a boat or of any landing for one, but of a lone23 and dismantled67 public-house, standing68 about a couple of hundred yards farther. Its sign swung on it still, and rattled69 in the wind. Cyril acquiesced70, and they went down into the bit of lonely road leading to it.
We must go back for a moment to Richard Thornycroft. He gained the ruins, and lifted the trap-door with, as it seemed, almost superhuman strength, for it took of right two to do it. Completely upset by what had occurred, Richard was like a man half mad. He went thundering down the steps to the subterranean passage, his errand being to give' warning to Isaac, and assist in hoisting71 two lights, which those on board the vessel would understand as the signal not to advance. He had reached the cavern at the end, when his alarm began to subside72, to give place to reason; and his steps came to a sudden standstill.
"Why stop the boats?" he demanded of himself. "If Hunter has cleared himself off--of which there can be no doubt--where is the danger?"
Where, indeed? He thought--Richard Thornycroft did think--that Hunter was not one to play false after undertaking73 to be true. So, after a little more deliberation, somewhat further of counsel with himself, he resolved to let things go on, and turned back again without warning Isaac.
* * * * * *
What mattered it that the contraband74 cargo75 was safely run? What reeked76 the guilty parties concerned in it of the miserable77 deed of evil it involved, while the valuable and double valuable booty got stowed away in silence and safety? One was lying outside the Half-moon, while they housed it, with his battered78 face turned up to the sky--one whose departed soul had been worth all the cargoes79 in the world. The body was bruised80, and crushed, and murdered--the body of Robert Hunter!
How did it come there?
Coastdown woke lazily up from its slumbers81 with the dawn--not very early in January--and only got roused into life and activity by the startling piece of news that a shocking murder had been committed in the night. Hastening down to its alleged82 scene, the Half-moon beach, as many as heard it, shopkeepers, fishermen, and inhabitants generally, they found it to be too true. The poor man lay in the extreme corner of the strip of beach, right against the rocks, and was recognised for the late guest at the Red Court Farm, Robert Hunter.
Not by his face; for that was disfigured beyond possibility of recognition; but by the clothes, hair, and appearance generally. He had been shot in the face, and, in falling from the heights above, the jagged edges of the rocks had also disfigured that poor face until not a trace of its humanity remained.
The tide was low; it present the passage to the beach was passable, and stragglers were flocking up. The frosty air was crisp, the sea sparkled in the early morning sun. Amidst others came Justice Thornycroft, upright, portly, a smile on his handsome face. He did not believe the report; as was evident by his greeting words.
"What's all this hullabaloo about a murder?" began he, as he shelved round the narrow ledge83 and put his foot upon the beach. "How d'ye do, Kyne?--How d'ye do, Copp--How d'ye do, all? When Martha brought up my shaving-water just now, she burst into my room, her hair and mouth all awry84 with a story of a man having been murdered in the night at the Half-moon. Some poor drowned fellow, I suppose, cast on the banks by the tide. What brings him so high up?"
"I wish it was drowning, and nothing worse, for that's not such an uncivilized death, if it's your fate to meet it," returned Captain Copp, who was brisk this morning after his headache, and had stumped85 down on the first alarm. "It's a horrible land murder; nothing less; and upon a friend of yours, justice."
"A friend of mine!" was the somewhat incredulous remark of Mr. Thornycroft. "Why, good Heaven!" he added, in an accent of horror, as the crowd parted and he caught sight of the body, "it is my late guest, Robert Hunter!"
"It is indeed," murmured the crowd; and the justice stood gazing at it with horror as he took in the different points of recognition. The face was gone--that is the best term for one so utterly86 unrecognisable--but the appearance and dress were not to be mistaken.
"He's buttoned close up in his fur coat, sir," one of the crowd remarked.
Just so. He was buttoned up in his remarkable87 fur coat--as the village wrongly called it, for the coat was of white cloth, as we know, and its facings only of fur. It had stains on it now, neither white nor black, and one of its sleeves was torn, no doubt by the rocks. The hat was nowhere to be found: it never was found: but the natural supposition was, that in the fall it had rolled down to the lower beach, and been carried away by the tide.
Mr. Thornycroft stooped, and touched one of the cold hands, stooped to hide the tears which filled his eyes, very unusual visitors to the eyes of the justice.
"Poor, poor fellow! how could it have happened? How could he have come here?"
"He must have been shot on the heights, and the shot hurled88 him over, there's no doubt of that," said Captain Copp. "Must have been standing at the edge of the plateau."
"But what should bring him on the plateau at night?" cried Tomlett, who made one of the spectators.
"What indeed!" returned the captain. "I don't know. A bare, bleak89 place even in daylight, with as good as no expanse of sea-view."
"I cannot understand this," said Justice Thornycroft, lifting his face with a puzzled expression on it. "Young Hunter took leave of us last night, and left for London. He missed the omnibus to Jutpoint and set off to walk. One of my sons saw him part of the way. What brought him back on the plateau?"
"Yes, he contrived90 to lose the omnibus," interrupted Supervisor Kyne; who, however, what with the wine and the brandy he had consumed, had a very confused and imperfect recollection of the events of the previous evening, but did not choose to let people know that, and chose to put in his testimony92. "Mr. Hunter shook hands with me in the dining-room at the Red Court, and I wished him a pleasant journey. That must have been--what time, Mr. Justice?"
"Getting on for nine. And one of my boys saw him go."
"It's odd what could have spirited him back again," exclaimed Captain Copp. "Which of them steered93 him off?"
"I forget which," returned the justice. "I heard Isaac say that one of them did. To tell you the truth, captain, I sat late in the dining-room last night, and my head's none of the clearest this morning. How do you find yours, Kyne?"
"Oh, mine's all right, sir," answered the supervisor hastily. "A man in office is obliged to be cautious in what he takes."
"Ah, there's no coming over you," cried the justice, with a side wink94 to Captain Copp.
"There's Mr. Isaac hisself, a coming round the point now," exclaimed one of the fishermen.
The crowd turned and saw him. Isaac Thornycroft was approaching with a rapid step.
"They say Hunter is murdered!" he called out. "It cannot be."
"He is lying here, stiff and cold, Isaac, with a bullet in his head," was the sad reply of the justice. "Shot down from the heights above."
Isaac stooped in silence. His fair complexion95 and fine colour, heightened by the morning air, were something bright to look upon. But, as he gazed at that sadly disfigured form, yesterday so animate96 with life and health, a paleness as of the grave overspread his face; a shudder97, which shook him from head to foot, passed through his frame.
"What brought him here--or on the plateau?" he asked. Almost the same words his father had used.
"What indeed!" repeated Mr. Thornycroft. "Did you tell me you saw him off, Isaac? Or was it Richard?"
"It was Cyril. I did not see him at all after he wished us good-bye on leaving the dining-room. But Richard, when he joined me later in the evening, said he had been--had been," repeated Isaac, having rather hesitated at these words, "saying a parting word to Hunter, and that Cyril was walking part of the way with him."
Throwing a pocket handkerchief lightly over the disfigured face, Isaac Thornycroft turned from it towards the sea. The justice spoke.
"I wonder where Cyril left him?"
To wonder it was only natural, but Mr. Thornycroft's remembrances of the matter, as to what he had heard, were altogether hazy98. Shut up so long in the dining-room with his guests--for they had not parted until past midnight--doing his part as host at the pipes and grog, though not very extensively, for it was rare indeed that Mr. Thornycroft took too much, he was in a tired, sleepy state when Isaac had come to him after their departure to say that the work was done, the cargo safely in. Isaac had added that he understood from Richard there had been some trouble with Hunter; who had seen the torch-light exhibited on the Half-moon beach, and Richard had been obliged to swear him to secrecy99, and had sent Cyril to see him safe away. Of all this, the justice retained an indistinct remembrance.
"Yes," he said slowly, "I recollect91 now; it was Cyril that you said, Isaac. We must go and find Cyril, and ascertain100 where he parted with Hunter."
"Why!" suddenly exclaimed a young fisherman of the name of East, "I saw them both together last night; the gentleman and Mr. Cyril. I'd been down at my old mother's and was coming out to go home, when they passed, a walking in the middle of the road. I'd never have noticed 'em, may be, but for the fur coat, for they'd got some way ahead. I see them stop and stand together like, and shake hands as if they was about to part; and then they went on again."
"Both of them went on again?" questioned Isaac. "Yes, sir, both. They went on into the hollow, and I came away."
This young man's mother lived in a solitary hut at the end of the village: in fact, just where Cyril had proposed to leave Hunter, and East must have come out at the same moment.
"We'll go at once and see what Cyril says," resumed the justice, moving away. "Hunter must have come back with him."
"What is to be done with Mr. Hunter, sir?" questioned Tomlett, who had some sort of authority in the place. It did seem like a mockery to call that poor mass of death lying there "Mr. Hunter."
He must be taken to the Mermaid, was the reply of Justice Thornycroft, as he left the beach with his son and three or four friends. "You had better come up and see Pettipher: he'll know what's right to be done. Don't be all the morning about it, Tomlett, or you will have the tide over the path."
Anything for more excitement in a moment like the present! Tomlett, following closely on the steps of Justice Thornycroft, went away with a fleet foot on his errand to the Mermaid, and the whole lot of hearers went racing101 after him: leaving Captain Copp, who could not race, and Mr. Supervisor Kyne to keep guard over the dead. Her Majesty's officer might have gone with the rest, but that he was in a brown study.
"There's more in this than meets the eye, captain," he began, rousing himself "If this has not been the work of smugglers, my name's not John Kyne."
"Smugglers be shivered!" returned Captain Copp, who it was pretty well suspected in the village obtained his spirits and tobacco without any trouble to her majesty's revenue: as did others. "There are no smugglers here, Mr. Officer. And if there were, what should they want with murdering Robert Hunter?"
"I have been on the work and watch for weeks, captain, and I know there is smuggling102 carried on; and to a deuced pretty extent."
"We are rich enough to buy our own brandy and pay duty on it, Mr. Supervisor," wrathfully retorted the offended captain.
"Oh, psha! I am not looking after the paltry103 dabs104 of brandy they bring ashore," returned the customs' officer. "One may as well try to wash a blackamoor white as to stop that. I look after booty of more consequence. There are cargoes of dry goods run here; foreign lace at a guinea a yard."
"My eye!" ejaculated Captain Copp in amazement105, who was willing enough to hear the suspicions, now he found they did not point to anything likely to affect his comfort. "Where do they run them to?"
"They run them here, as I believe; here on the Half-moon; and I suspect they must have a hiding-place somewhere in these rocks."
To describe the intense wonder depicted106 on the face of the ex-merchant captain would be impossible. It ended in a laugh of incredulity, anything but flattering to his hearer.
"I could swear it," persisted the supervisor. "There! Only a few days ago, I was telling my suspicions to this poor fellow"--glancing over his shoulder--"and he offered to help me ferret out the matter. He came down with me here, examined the rocks, sounded them (he was an engineer, as perhaps you know), and appointed a further hunt for the next day. I never saw a man more interested, or more eager to pounce107 on the offenders108. But before the next day arrived I happened to meet him, and he said he must apologize for not keeping his promise, but he preferred not to interfere109 further. When I pressed him for his reason he only hemmed110 and ha-ed, and said that, being a stranger, the neighbourhood might deem his doing so an impertinence. Which of course was sheer rubbish."
Captain Copp, rather slow at taking in ideas, began considering what his own opinion was. The supervisor went on, his tone impressive.
"Now, captain, it is my firm belief that this sudden change and Mr. Hunter's constrained111 manner, were caused by his having received some private hint from the smugglers themselves not to aid me in my search; and that it is nobody but they who have put it out of his power to do so."
"Whew!" whistled the staggered captain. "I could make more of a sinking ship than of what you say. Who are the smugglers? How did they find out he was going to interfere--unless he or you sent 'em word?"
"I don't know how they found it out. The affair is a mystery from beginning to end. Nobody was present at the conversation except Miss Thornycroft. And she cannot be suspected of holding communication with smugglers."
"This young fellow was a sweetheart of hers--eh?" cried the shrewd captain.
"I don't know anything about that. They seemed intimate. I could almost swear Old Nick has to do with this smuggling business," added the supervisor, earnestly. "A fortnight ago there was a dinner at the Red Court--you were there, by-the-way."
"A jolly spread the old justice gave us! Prime drink and cigars," chimed in the salt tar35.
"Well--I was there: and one can't be in two places at once. That very evening they managed to run their cargo; ran it on, as I suspect, to this identical spot, sir," cried the disconcerted officer, warming with his grievance112. "Vexed113 enough I was, and never once have I been off the watch since. Every night have I took up my station on that cursed damp plateau overhead, my stomach stretched on the ground, to keep myself dark, and just half an eye cocked out over the cliff--and all to no purpose. Last night, Sunday, I went in again to dine with the hospitable justice, and I'll be--I'll be shivered, sir, as you sometimes say, if they did not take advantage of it, and run another cargo!"
Never, since the memorable114 time of his encounter with the pirates which resulted in the disabling him for life, had Captain Copp been so struck--dumb, as it were. Nothing was left of him but amazement.
"Bless and save my wooden leg!" he exclaimed, when his tongue was found--"it is unbelievable. How do you know it?"
"I know it, and that's enough," replied Mr. Kyne, too much annoyed to stand upon politeness, or to explain that his boasted knowledge was assumed; not proved. "But, here's the devil of the thing," he continued--"how did the smugglers know I was off the watch those two particular nights? If it got wind the first night that I should be engaged at the Red Court--though I don't believe it did, for I can keep my own counsel, and did then--it could not have got wind the second. Five minutes before I went there last night, I had no notion whatever of going. Mr. Isaac looked into my rooms just before six, and would walk me off with him. I had had my chop at one o'clock, and was going to think about tea. Now how could the wretches115 have known last night that I was not on duty?"
"It's no good appealing to me, how," returned the captain. "I never was 'cute at breaking up marvels116. Once, in the Pacific, there was a great big thing haunted the ship, bigger than the biggest sea-serpent, and--"
"Depend upon it we have traitors117 in the camp," unceremoniously interrupted the supervisor; for he knew by experience that when once Captain Copp was fairly launched upon that old marvel16 of the Pacific ocean, there was no stopping him. "Traitors round about us, at our very elbows and hearths118, if we only knew in which direction to look for them."
"Well, I am not one," said the captain, "so you need not look after me. A pretty figure my wooden standard would cut, running smuggled goods! Why didn't you tell all this to Justice Thornycroft? He's the proper person. He's a magistrate119."
"I know he is. But if I introduce a word about smugglers he throws cold water on it directly, and ridicules120 all I say. Once he quite rose up against me, all his bristles121 on end, in defence of the poor fishermen. Upon that, I hinted that I was not alluding122 to poor fishermen, but to people and transactions of far greater importance. It stirred up his anger beyond everything; he was barely civil, and turned away telling me to find the people and catch 'em, if I could find 'em; but not to apply to him."
"Well, that's reasonable," said Captain Copp. "Why don't you find 'em?"
"Because I can't find 'em," deplored123 the miserable officer. "There's the aggravation124. I don't know in what quarter to look for them. The thing is like magic; it's altogether shrouded125 in mystery. I don't choose to speak of it publicly, or I might defeat the chance of discovery; the only time I did speak of it, was to Mr. Hunter, and got sympathy and aid offered and returned to me. You see what has come of that."
It was only too evident what he thought had come of it. And perhaps he was not far wrong. But for that recent morning's unlucky conversation between him and Robert Hunter, no dead man might have been lying on the Half-moon beach, with Isaac Thornycroft's handkerchief covering his face.
"Yes, that's the difficulty--where to look for them," resumed the mortified126 supervisor. "I cannot suspect any of the superior people in the neighbourhood. It's true I do not know much of those Connaughts. But they don't seem like smugglers either."
"The Connaughts!" roared out the captain, taking up their cause as a personal offence. "Why don't you say it's me? Why don't you say it's yourself? The Connaughts! Who next, Mr. Supervisor? Why, old Connaught is bedridden half his time, and the son has got his eyes strained on books all day, learning to be a parson."
"That's true," grumbled127 the officer, in his miserable incertitude128. "All I know is, I can't fathom129 the affair, worry over it as I will."
"Here comes the plank," interrupted the captain. "I shan't stop to see that moved: so good morning to you, sir."
He stumped off, mortally offended; and met Tomlett and the landlord of the Mermaid inn, with the long queue of curious idlers behind them.
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1
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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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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Undid
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| v. 解开, 复原 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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6
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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7
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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pivot
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| v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的 | |
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smuggled
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| 水货 | |
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13
scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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14
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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15
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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17
supervisor
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| n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师 | |
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18
bribed
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| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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19
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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20
phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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21
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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22
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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23
lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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24
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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25
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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26
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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27
abhorrence
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| n.憎恶；可憎恶的事 | |
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28
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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29
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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31
sniff
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| vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视 | |
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32
intoxication
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| n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning | |
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33
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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34
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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35
tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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36
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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37
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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38
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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39
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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40
flaring
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| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
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41
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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42
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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43
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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45
raved
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| v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说 | |
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46
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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47
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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48
recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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49
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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50
dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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51
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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52
dictating
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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53
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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54
pestered
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| 使烦恼，纠缠( pester的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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56
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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57
mermaid
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| n.美人鱼 | |
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58
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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59
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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60
exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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61
avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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62
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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63
sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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64
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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65
jointly
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| ad.联合地，共同地 | |
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66
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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67
dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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68
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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69
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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70
acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71
hoisting
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| 起重，提升 | |
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72
subside
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| vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降 | |
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73
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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74
contraband
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| n.违禁品，走私品 | |
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75
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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76
reeked
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的过去式和过去分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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77
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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78
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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79
cargoes
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| n.（船或飞机装载的）货物( cargo的名词复数 )；大量，重负 | |
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80
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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81
slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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82
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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83
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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84
awry
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| adj.扭曲的，错的 | |
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85
stumped
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| 僵直地行走，跺步行走( stump的过去式和过去分词 )； 把（某人）难住； 使为难； （选举前）在某一地区作政治性巡回演说 | |
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86
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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87
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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88
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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89
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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90
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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91
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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92
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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93
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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94
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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95
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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96
animate
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| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
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97
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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98
hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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99
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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100
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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101
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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102
smuggling
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| n.走私 | |
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103
paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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104
dabs
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| 少许( dab的名词复数 )； 是…能手； 做某事很在行； 在某方面技术熟练 | |
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105
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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106
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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107
pounce
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| n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意 | |
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108
offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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109
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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110
hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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111
constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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112
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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113
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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114
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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115
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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116
marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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117
traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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118
hearths
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| 壁炉前的地板，炉床，壁炉边( hearth的名词复数 ) | |
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119
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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120
ridicules
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| n.嘲笑( ridicule的名词复数 )；奚落；嘲弄；戏弄v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的第三人称单数 ) | |
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121
bristles
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| 短而硬的毛发，刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 ) | |
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122
alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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123
deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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124
aggravation
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| n.烦恼，恼火 | |
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125
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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126
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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127
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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128
incertitude
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| n.疑惑，不确定 | |
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129
fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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