| Show the two captains by W CLARK RUSSELL copyright by P F coll er coper 1897 by dodd mead co CHAPTER III the burglary twelve days had passed since the foregoing approaching margate roads was a small sloop with a great main sail swelling at her mast which was stayed in the most unsightly manner aft crystal and pope stood together near the long tiller over which bobbin was hanging gazing at the scene around them I 1 have been turning the matter ever crystal said pope and I 1 m certain our best a lies ao 10 bring ing up off margate and sending the boat round to cumpton gap to wait for us after weve landed if this sloop comes within sight of the Eamil Hes shell be sending a boat you re right in keeping out of sight of that there ramillies Ra millies gents ex claimed dobbin I 1 don t kno v a ship of war where a brighter lookouts kept presently the sloop was within an easy pull of margate town here captain pope brought her to a stand and the boat was launched pope and crys tal had talked long and earnestly all was settled and nothing rema ned but to go ashore get the plate ind sail away for hamburg there were three men and captain pope these were to go in the boat leaving crystal to see to the sloop whose canvas they had tor bim the three were to plunder poor miss hornba and captain pape her dephew was one of them when the boat reached the shore be stepped out and the hired men one of them named steve merely the other called maddison followed it was drawing on to midnight when pope and his men came to a gate in a tall hedge pope pushed open the gate and the three walked swiftly to the house using one side of an emer aid sward that was divided by a nar TOW path of gravel so that their footfalls were as a cats A bar was thrust into the keyhole all three stormed and sweated and immediately amid a great noise ot the rending of bolts and the splintering of wood the door flew open there was no light in the night to flow in through the doorway and the passage vas in pitch darkness pope though abot a professional burglar had pro tided for this he pulled out of his pocket a little engine whose invention belonged to that age it consisted of a trigger and a flint and when the trigger leaped a clear flame sprang at this flame the captain lighted a piece of candle he then sprang up a narrow stair case pope could not err in deciding which of the two doors that stood before him belonged to his aunt s room he entered and by his candlelight saw the figure of the poor old lady stretched in a fit upon her back on the floor alas poor old miss horn by her seventy one years could not support the shock of a burglary and she lay as dead in a swoon in her nightgown and nightcap pope dragg down the window blind and lighted a candle in a stick then casting a glance at the lean high perched nose that shot out be twixt the closed eyes and the bisor tiered frills of the nightcap he seized the candlestick and ran to the door voices were to be heard upstairs now come you down quietly and we wont hurt you put on a coat and bear a hand bring her down roared pop he held high his candlestick and there descended a narrow wooden un carpeted staircase the shape of a fe male in a flannel petticoat the rest of her apparel being that of the bed she was a middle aged female and was indeed the only servant miss hornby kept or perhaps could afford to keep she was of a dreadful white ness and her eyes shone like fire we dont want your life rattled out captain pope speaking behind bis mask where does your mis tress keep her platea take us to it the wretched woman fell upon her knees oh dont ask me she shrieked must I 1 she yelped hysterically up you get said maddison Madd lson hoist ing her on to her legs you must and it you don t and at once I 1 know where that knife s kept which on this with a flinging carriage and awful air of distress the unhappy woman moved down the staircase in ghastly silence pope and the sea men following closely she opened the door of a room that might have been the parlor and pointing to a great cupboard that stood out from the wall like that article or furniture they call a wardrobe she said in a whisper you 11 find it there and in sank speechless upon the boor to a kind of fit S pope rushed to the ci aboard it was locked of course they pried the door open in a and there on three shel was arranged a quan city 0 handsome massive plate mostly ot old pattern they found table clothes ana quilty and very rap idly djey made up the plate into three weighty loads none however too heavy for a stout fellow to carry with ease and pope took care not to leave a mustard spoon behind him CHAPTER IV the march to the sea when they left th cottage they shut the house door securing it by a wedge not a living shape moved in any d come now says pope and let s step out lads they got into the road every man with a heavy bundle of plate over his shoulder and started at a walk that came near to a trot by and by they came to a narrow turning which they took and skirting the 1 atle town of broadstairs Broad stairs they entered some andu undu lating fields s ng and ris over which went a tape like path 1001 says steve coming to a stand ain t tho two men ahead ponder lookouts 9 captain pope after a prolonged stare at the shapes which were grow ing in the gloom and therefore ap preaching cried it with one of those oaths he was 0 o free with I 1 believe I 1 see their ets are they armeda if so they are blockaders and we must cut them down or be taken not by two says maddison and he struck the p stol in his breast the line of path rose and fell there was not a bush beh nd which the three could conceal themselves but since approaching men were plain in view the three also must have been seen by them it was use less to turn aside shove right on says pope and they left the lying dead leave me to do the talking they may not be what I 1 think he set his teeth and they trudged on grotesque in bulk with their bun dies the approaching men were walking leisurely not they were within pistol shot so unsatisfying was the light could pope sure that each carried a musket on his shoulder that chev were sailors a couple of blockaders in short from the man of war in the downs they stopped and one challenged pope s party you re out late bo s where e bould bou ld to are them your kits on our backst were bound for ramsgate pope answered I 1 m master of a ship lying in the downs and these are two of my men good night let s pass you and he made as if he would ad vance in them bundles asked one of the man of gruffly and determinedly come we must find that out these bundles contain property of my own said pope speaking coolly see here we are three to two and shall we ask you to give us or your selves a chanced why my hearts though we serve under different flags we are sa lors all here s ten guineas to divide between you he dropped his bundle to get the money and the plate clanked as it smote the hard path take this said he pulling out a long leather purse and let us be gone as peaceably disposed men in the name of the king the seamen answered with a men acing movement of their muskets one of them then drove his bayonet into the bundle pope had dropped and said its metal tom down with them bundles said the other manof man of earseman war seman to maddison Madd lson and he stepped close to them holding his musket dangerously it it must be shouted pope steve maddison this Is for your lives have at them he was a man of great strength and commanding figure he drew his knife spring ng with nervous murder ous violence upon the man of wars man who had pricked his bundle he caught the leveled bayonet in on hand and went twisting with the musket on to the unfortunate se man who shrieking tom he s done for me fell at his whole length across the path steve and maddison Madd lson and grappled with the other man of barsman and steve had whipped out his iron jemmy meaning to brain the man but when the seaman fell to captain pope s blow and cried out his mate leaving his musket in the hands of his assail ants broke aror them like smoke and fled across the fields in the diorec alon of the sea they left the man of barsman lying dead stretched across the narrow pathway the figure of the running seaman had disappeared in the gloom upon the fields they shouldered dered their heavy loada and went away at a rapid trot for cumpton gap which in about ten minutes time they turned into and descended As they neared the bottom where they might see the faint yellow shad ow of the sands stretching into the white 1 ne of surf it was a quarter to tour daybreak shouted pope and as I 1 live there s the boat captain pope had no need to hall the boat bobbin instantly saw them and stood up s amply lifting his arm then with incredible activity he drew in his fishing 1 ne and springing over the thwarts into the bows dragged the anchor into the boat and all in a minute the little fabric came 1 ng toward that part of the sand aher the three men were standing pope directed hi eyes to the right and to the left of the range of cliffs not a human soul looked down but the flying mn of w arsman must have already ga ned broadstairs Broad stairs and by this time the alarm would be raised has tha blockade a station at sa d pope hoarse with fatigue and the passions which were plowing up his soul the others not inov ing made no answer it was blowing a small air 0 wind out of the west three ves sels lying abreact about a mile and a half distant getting under way there was no 1 te of shipp ng vis ble to the men save those th vessels got it all righta said bobbin as he sculled the stem of the boat through the facings of thin surf on to the sand ay was the answer in with you swiftly A min s been 1 billed the three heavy bundles were thrown into the boat and the captain and his men tumbled in after them where s the sloops asked pope round the corner answered bob bin poling oft they 11 be running from broad stairs to trap us here said captain pope lie low in the bottom of the boat that only the man who s been fishing may be seen bobbin 1 ept a lookout and reported as he sculled the boat went slowly have you opened broadstairs Broad stairs yeta said pope at the bottom of the boat yes s r what do you seea some fishing craft and a bunch of sherries wh erries just off the pier in motions to be continued |
