As he spoke my heart kept sinking deeper and deeper down. My poorgirl, if alive, was in the hands of her enemies. In all the thoughtswhich filled me with anguish unspeakable there was but one gleam ofconsolation--the negro was not on board, too. I had come to think ofthis miscreant as in some way the active principle of whatever evilmight be.
Here, we were again at a fault in our pursuit. We must wait for thereports of Montgomery who was making local inquiries. We had wired himto join us, or send us word to Gardentown; and he had replied that hewas on the way.
CHAPTER XLVIII
DUNBUY HAVEN
We had to-day been so hot in the immediate pursuit of Marjory that wehad hardly been able to think of the other branches of our work; but allat once, the turn of the wheel brought up as the most important matterbefore us what had been up to now only a collateral. Hitherto the_Seagull_ had been our objective; but now it must be the _Wilhelmina_.Adams had been in charge of the general investigation as to these boats,whilst Montgomery had been attending to local matters. It was to theformer, therefore, rather than the latter, that we had to look forenlightenment. Montgomery and MacRae were the first to arrive, coming onhorseback from Fraserburgh, the former with all the elan and abandonmentof a sailor ashore. He was frightfully chagrined when he heard that the_Seagull_ had got safely away. "Just like my luck!" he said, "I mighthave got her in time if I had known enough; but I never even heard ofGardentown till your wire came to me. It isn't on the map." He was stillfull of lamentings, though I could tell from the way he was all nervedand braced up that we should hear of him when the time for action came.When we arrived at the station at Macduff to meet Adams, we hurried himat once into the carriage which we had waiting; he gave us his news aswe hurried off to Gardentown. We felt that it might be a mistake ourgoing there, for we should be out of the way of everything; but we hadmade arrangements for news to be sent there, and it was necessary weshould go there before holding our council of war. Adams told us thatthe whaler _Wilhelmina_ had been reported at Lerwick two days ago, butthat she had suddenly left on receipt of a telegram, hurrying in thelast of her stores at such a rate that some of them had been actuallyleft behind. He had not been able to gain any specific information bywire. The Master of the ship had said to the Harbour Master that he wasgoing to Nova Zembla; but nothing more definite could be obtained.
When we got together in the hotel at Gardentown we were surprised byanother arrival; none other than Don Bernardino, who had come by thesame train as Adams, but had had to wait to get a carriage. We had gotaway so quickly that none of us had seen him.
Things were now at such a stage that it would not do to have anyconcealment whatever; and so after a moment in private with the Don, Itold my companions of the attack on the Spaniard in my house, and of thecarrying off the great treasure. I did not give any details of thetreasure or its purpose; nor did I even mention the trust. This was nowthe Don's secret, and there was no need to mention it. We all agreedthat if we should have any chance at all of finding Marjory, it would beby finding and following the members of the gang left on shore. SamAdams who was, next to the Secret Service men, the coolest-headed of ourparty, summed up the situation.
"Those fellows haven't got off yet. It is evident that they only came tolook for the treasure after Miss Drake had been shipped off fromGardentown. And I'm pretty sure that they are waiting somewhere roundthe coast for the _Wilhelmina_ to pick them up; or for them to getaboard her somehow. They've got a cartload of stuff at the very least toget away; and you may bet your sweet life that they don't mean to leaveit to chance. Moreover, you can't lay your hand at any minute on awhaler ready for shanghaieing any one. This one has been fixed up onpurpose, and was waiting up at Lerwick for a long time ready to go whentold. I think myself that it's more than likely she has orders to takethem off herself, for a fishing smack like the _Seagull_ that has to bein and out of these ports all the time, doesn't want to multiply thechances of her discovery. Now that she has done a criminal thing and ispretty sure that it can't be proved against her, she'll take her shareof the swag, or whatever was promised her, and clear out. If the_Wilhelmina_ has to get off the gang it'll have to be somewhere off thiscoast. They are nearly all strangers to start with, and wouldn't knowwhere else to go. If they go south they get at once into more thicklypeopled shores, where the chances of getting off in secret would beless. They daren't go anywhere along the shore of the Firth, for theirship might be cut off at the mouth, and they might be taken within thethree-mile limit and searched. Beyond the Firth they can know nothing.Therefore, we have got to hunt them along this shore; and from the lieof the land I should say that they will try to get off somewhere betweenOld Slains and Peterhead. And I'll say further that, in-as-much-as theshore dips in between Whinnyfold and Girdleness outside Aberdeen, theship will prefer to keep up the north side, so that she can beat out tosea at once, when she has got her cargo aboard."
"Sam is about right!" broke in Montgomery "I have been all along thecoast since we met, surveying the ground for just this purpose. I triedto put myself in the place of that crowd, and to find a place just suchas they would wish. They could get out at Peterhead or at Boddam, and soI have set a watch at these places. Some of our sailors who were sentup to me from London are there now, and I'll stake my word that if the_Wilhelmina_ tries to come in to either of these places she won't getout again with Marjory Drake on board. But it's not their game to comenear a port. They've got to lie off shore, somewhere agreed on, and takeoff their friends in a boat. There are dozens of places between Crudenand Peterhead where a boat could lie hidden, and slip out safely enough.When they got aboard they could hoist in the boat or scuttle her; andthen, up sails and off before any one was the wiser. What I propose,therefore, is this, for I take it I'm the naval expert here such as itis. We must set a watch along this bit of coast, so as to be ready tojump on them when they start out. We can get the _Keystone_ to lie offBuchan; and we can signal her when we get sign of our lot. She'll bewell on the outside, and these scallywags don't know that she'll bethere to watch them. When the time comes, she'll crowd them into shore;and we'll be ready for them there. If she can hunt the _Wilhelmina_ intothe Firth it will be easy enough to get her. "Fighting Dick" Morganisn't a man to stand on ceremony; and you can bet your bottom dollarthat if he gets a sight of the Dutchman he'll pretty well see that shehasn't any citizen of the United States aboard against her will. Dickwouldn't mind the people in Washington much, and he'd take on the Dutchto-morrow as well as the Spaniards. Now, if in addition this gentleman'syacht is to the fore, with any one of us here aboard to takeresponsibility, I guess we can overhaul the whaler without losing time."
"I'll be aboard!" said Donald MacRae quietly. "The _Sporran_ is due atPeterhead this afternoon. Just you fit me up with signals so that we'llknow what to do when we get word; and I'll see to the rest. My men areof my own clan, and I'll answer for them. They'll not hang back inanything, when I'm in the front of them."
I wrung the hands of the two young fellows. East and West, it was allthe same! The old fighting gallantry was in their hearts; and with theinstinct of born Captains they were ready to accept all responsibility.All they asked was that their men should follow them.
They immediately sat down to arrange their signals. Montgomery was ofcourse trained in this work, and easily fixed up a simple scheme bywhich certain orders could be given by either flags, or lights, orrockets. There was not need for much complication; it was understoodthat when the _Wilhelmina_ should be sighted she should be boarded atonce, wherever or however she might be. We were, one and all of us,prepared to set at defiance every law--international, maritime, nationalor local. Under the circumstances we felt that, given we could once geton track with our enemy, we held a great power in our hands.
Before long, MacRae was off to Peterhead to join his yacht, which wouldat once start on a sort of sentry-go up and down the coast. The rest ofus set about arranging to spread ourselves along the shore betweenCruden and Peterhead. We did not arrange watches, for time was nowprecious to all, on both sides of the encounter. If an attempt was tobe made to take off the treasure, it would in all probability be madebefore morning; every hour that passed multiplied the difficulties anddangers of the blackmailers. The weather was becoming misty, which wasa source of inconvenience to us all. Thick patches of white fog beganto drift in from the north east, and there was ominous promise in therising wind of there being danger on sea and shore before many hours hadpassed. We each took provision with us for the night, and a sufficiencyof rockets an
d white and red lights for our signalling work, in casethere might be need of such.
In disposing of our forces, we had not of course a sufficiency of men toform a regular cordon; but we so arranged ourselves that there was nopoint at which a boat could land which was not in view of some of us. Iwas terribly anxious, for as the evening came on, the patches of whitemist came driving in more quickly, and getting thicker and more dense.Between them the sea was clear, and there was no difficulty in keepingaccurate observation; but as each fog belt came down on the rising windour hearts fell. It would come on like a white cloud, which would seemto strike the land and then close in on every side, as though wrappingthe shore in a winding sheet. My own section for watching was betweenSlains Castle and Dunbuy, as wild and rocky a bit of coast as any onecould wish to see. Behind Slains runs in a long narrow inlet withbeetling cliffs, sheer on either side, and at its entrance a wildturmoil of rocks are hurled together in titanic confusion. From thispoint northward, the cliffs are sheer, to where the inlet of Dunbuy hasits entrance guarded by the great rock, with its myriad of screamingwildfowl and the white crags marking their habitation. Midway betweenthose parts of my sentry-go is a spot which I could not but think wouldbe eminently suited for their purpose, and on this for some time Icentred my attention. It is a place where in old days the smugglersmanaged to get in many a cargo safe, almost within earshot of thecoastguards. The _modus operandi_ was simple. On a dark night whenit was known that the coastguards were, intentionally or by chance,elsewhere, a train of carts would gather quickly along the soft grasstracks, or through the headlands of the fields. A crane was easilyimprovised of two crossed poles, with a longer one to rest on them; oneend held inland, could be pushed forward or drawn back, so as to makethe other end hang over the water or fall back over the inner edge ofthe cliff. A pulley at the end of this pole, and a long rope with itsshore end attached to the harness of a strong horse completed theequipment. Then, when the smugglers had come under the cliff, the ropewas lowered and the load attached; the waiting horse was gallopedinland, and in a few seconds the cluster of barrels or cases was swungup on the cliff and distributed amongst the waiting carts.
It would be an easy matter to invert the process. If all were ready--andI knew that the gang were too expert to have any failing in thatrespect--a few minutes would suffice to place the whole of the treasurein a waiting boat. The men, all save one, could be lowered the same way,and the last man could be let down by the rope held from below. I knewthat the blackmailers had possession of at least one cart; in any case,to men so desperate and reckless to get temporary possession of a fewcarts in a farming country like this would be no difficult task. So Idetermined to watch this spot with extra care. It was pretty bare attop; but there was a low wall of stone and clay, one of those roughfences which are so often seen round cliff fields. I squatted downbehind a corner of this wall, from which I could see almost the wholestretch of my division. No boat could get into Dunbuy or Lang Haven, orclose to the Castle rocks without my seeing it; the cliff from there upto where I was was sheer, and I could see well into the southern passageof the Haven inside Dunbuy Rock. Sometimes when the blanket of fogspread over the sea, I could hear the trumpeting of some steamer farout; and when the fog would lift, I would see her funnels spouting blacksmoke in her efforts to clear so dangerous a coast. Sometimes a fishingboat on its way up or down would run in shore, close hauled; or a bigsailing vessel would move onward with that imperceptible slowness whichmarks the progress of a ship far out at sea. When any fishing boat camealong, my heart beat as I scanned her with the field glass which I hadbrought with me. I was always hoping that the _Seagull_ would appear,though why I know not, for there was now little chance indeed thatMarjory would be on board her.
After a spell of waiting, which seemed endless and unendurable, in oneof the spells of mist I thought I saw on the cliff a woman, takingshelter of every obstacle, as does one who is watching another. At thatmoment the mist was thick; but when it began to thin, and to stream awaybefore the wind in trails like smoke, I saw that it was Gormala. Somehowthe sight of her made my heart beat wildly. She had been a factor of somany strange incidents in my life of late years--incidents which seemedto have some connection or fatal sequence--that her presence seemed toforetell something fresh, and to have some kind of special significance.I crouched still lower behind the corner of the wall, and watched withenhanced eagerness. A very short study of her movements showed me thatshe was not watching any specific individual. She was searching for someone, or some thing; and was in terror of being seen, rather than ofmissing the object of her search. She would peer carefully over the edgeof the cliff, lying down on her face to do so, and putting her headforward with the most elaborate care. Then, when she had satisfiedherself that what she sought was not within sight, she would pass ona little further and begin her survey over again. Her attitude duringthe prevalence of a mist was so instructive, that I found myselfunconsciously imitating her. She would remain as still as if turned tostone, with one ear to windward, listening with sharp, preternaturalintentness. I wondered at first that I could not hear the things thatshe manifestly did, for the expression of her face was full of changes.When, however, I remembered that she was born and reared amongst theislands, and with fisher folk and sea folk of all kinds whose weatherinstincts are keener than is given to the inland born, her power was nolonger a mystery. How I longed at that moment to have something of herskill! And then came the thought that she had long ago offered to placethat very power at my disposal; and that I might still gain her help.Every instant, as past things crowded back to my memory, did that helpseem more desirable. Was it not her whom I had seen watching DonBernardino when he left my house; mayhap she had guided him to it. Ormight it not have been Gormala who had brought the blackmailers to mydoor. If she had no knowledge of them, what was she doing here now? Whyhad she sought this place of all places; why at this time of all times?What or whom was she seeking amongst the cliffs?
I determined not to lose sight of her at present, no matter what mighthappen; later, when I had come at her purpose, either by guessing orby observation, I could try to gain her services. Though she had beenenraged with me, I was still to her a Seer; and she believed--mustbelieve from what had passed--that I could read for her the Mystery ofthe Sea.
As she worked along the cliff above Dunbuy Haven, where the rockoverhung the water, she seemed to increase both her interest and hercaution. I followed round the rude wall which ran parallel to the cliff,so that I might be as near to her as possible.
Dunbuy Haven is a deep cleft in the granite rock in the shape of a Y,the arms of which run seawards and are formed by the mother cliff oneither hand and the lofty crags of the island of Dunbuy. In both thesearms there is deep water; but when there is a sea on, or when the windblows strong, they are supremely dangerous. Even the scour of the tiderunning up or down makes a current difficult to stem. In fair weather,however, it is fairly good for boating; though the swell outside may betrying to those who are poor sailors. I had often tossed on that swellwhen I had been out with the salmon fishers, when they had been drawingtheir deep floating nets.
Presently I saw Gormala bend, and then disappear out of sight. She hadpassed over the edge of the cliff. I went cautiously after her, andthrowing myself on my face so that she could not see me, peered over.
There was a sort of sheep track along the face of the cliff, leadingdownward in a zigzag. It was so steep, and showed so little foothold,that even in the state of super-excitement in which I then was, it mademe dizzy to look at it. But the old woman, trained on the crags of thewestern islands, passed along it as though it were the broad walk of aterraced garden.
CHAPTER XLIX
GORMALA'S LAST HELP
After Gormala had disappeared down the zigzag under the rock, where Icould no longer see her movements, I waited for her return. At the endof the Haven, where the little beach runs up to the edge of the cliff,there is a steep path. Even this is so steep that it is impracticable toordinary persons; only fisher folk, dalesmen and hunters can use suchways. For myself I dare not leave my post; from the end of the Haven Icould not see any part at all of the coast I had come to watch, exceptthe narrow spot between great cliffs where the channels ran right andleft of the Rock of Dunbuy. So I crept back to my hiding place behindthe angle of the wall, from which I could watch the entrance to thetrack down which she had passed.
Time wore away slowly, slowly; and the mist kept coming in more frequentbelts, heavier and more dank. After the sunset the fog seemed to comemore heavily still, so that the promise of the night was darknessinvincible. In Aberdeen, however, the twilight is long, and underordinary conditions it is easy to see for hours after sunset. All atonce, after the passing of a belt of mist, I was startled by a voicebehind me:
"And for what is it ye watch, the nicht? Is it the Mystery o' the Seathat holds ye to the dyke; or maybe it is the treasure that ye seek!"Gormala had evidently come up the path at the end of the Haven. For awhile I did not say a word, but thought the matter over. Now, if ever,was there need to use my wits, and I could best deal with Gormala if Ishould know something of her own wishes beforehand; so I tried to masterher purpose and her difficulties. Firstly, she must have been in searchof some hiding place herself, or she would not have come behind thewall; I was quite sure that she had not known of my presence before shewent down the sheep track. If she wanted cover, what then was it she waswatching? She had been down to the beach of the Haven, and so must haveknown whether or no it was bare of interest. As she was choosing acorner whence she could watch the track, it was at least likely that sheexpected some one to go up or down by it. If she were looking for someone to go down, she would surely rather watch its approaches than theplace itself. It was, therefore, for some one to come up for whom shewished to watch. As, instead of hurrying away or hiding herself from mewhen she had seen me without my seeing her, she had deliberately engagedwith me in conversation, it was evident that she did not expect whomevershe watched for to come up at once. In fine I concluded, she intended towatch for some one who _might_ come; with this knowledge I drew a bow ata venture:
"So your friend isn't coming up yet? Why didn't you fix matters whenyou were down below?" For an instant she was betrayed into showingastonishment; the surprise was in both her expression and in the tonesof her voice as she replied:
"How kent ye that I was doon the Haven?" Then she saw her mistake andwent on with a scowl:
"Verra clever ye are wi' yer guesses; and a daft aud wife am I to no kenye better? Why did----"