| Show 0 BEN ames 9 BEW ea W ra LJ alc J CHAPTER continued 16 peter was whispering to in the main cabin george and mary could hear the murmur but no words mary found the bomb gun as heavy as a small cannon luckily it was loaded the voices in the main cabin could no longer be heard and there was no sound on the deck above their heads she asked george will that bomb explode if it hits anything 1 I dont know he admitted 1 I dont know how they work he grinned doubtfully alc richard ard said the back endom a gun like this does as much damage as the front but its better than nothing and if that bomb hits anyone even if it explode know it they stood together the gun on the desk between them its muzzle toward the bolted door of the main cabin mary was in the recess between the desk and the rack of muskets george at the end of the desk nearest the companion if mat forbes were alive he did not even groan if someone watched the cabin comp companion nion his feet did not shuffle on the deck if peter was preparing to break in the cabin door his preparations moved without a sound the very silence had terror in it george had the bomb gun under his right hand he held the revolver in his left hand his eyes were on the companionway down which at any moment an attack might come he looked now and then at the skylight but the men on deck took care not to show themselves there and minutes passed and nothing happened and he said at last appraising their situation peter wont want to fight us unless he has to and maybe he told the truth about richard no no if he did if they dont find richard have to come back aboard and surrender they cant get away from here without the ship peter could slip the anchor and get some sail on her and make out to sea and come back with a gunboat or something so if they dont find richard peter worry they will find him im afraid peter killed richard mary there was ice in her breast no barge garge she whispered helplessly helpley sly CHAPTER Richard If is dead then the ship is peters and everything in her and hell be rich remember he was always thin thinking kink about how much money the ship and her barko cargo was worth and the ambergris he added soberly and he may have known he was not caan borrs own son how could he know his mother might have told him when he was a boy oy if hi he knew that he could guess that caan corr had bad left everything to richard peter worked on me from the time we left the island to make me hate richard I 1 suppose he saw I 1 was naturally jealous he kept reminding me how you used to feel about richard and when he thought he had brought me to the pitch he gave me that letter at least he put it in the pocket of richards coat and made me wear the coat and hoped I 1 would find it there he asked 1 I wonder why peter kept that letter so long peter has always wanted me himself george he made love to me aboard here kissed me once tommy hanline saw him once I 1 had to run and lock myself in george he even came to my cabin yesterday george said humbly 1 I been much protection for you mary mary touched his hand on the bomb gun and his eyes met hei hers rs s lie he said slowly youve given me so much I 1 should have given you more her eyes burned with tears im going to take such care of you make you so happy yes he emild at his own thought after we get out of this mess we will her hand tightened on his smiling in 7 with him they had never been so close as in this hour after a moment he asked how many men are there aboard do you know just peter and and gee and willie leeper and mat of course if hes not dead four of them he chuckled well any one of them could pick me up and throw me overboard even old willie but ive a gun two guns and they she said wonderingly 1 I think youre enjoying this she smiled rejoicing like a strong man to run a race that in the bible im not running a race mary he smiled maybe I 1 would if I 1 could but theres nowhere to run to 1 I wish we could know it if they do find richard you might be able to see the shore share through the windows the window behind her revealed nothing she went to the after window saw only the length of the bay empty of any life but from her own cabin she saw the boats on the beach she could see nothing else no sign of the men she stood vigil there george by the desk steadily alert to meet whatever attack might come time passed and silence pressed down upon the from the main cabin where peter had been ironed came no faintest sound george faced the companionway he was not tired not weak the emergency had stiffened him he meant to meet it it if he could but deep in his thoughts george felt suddenly marys eyes upon him his eyes met hers and after a moment gravely not smiling she bame came toward him she came to him and kissed him then while they both smiled without words they kissed again she returned to her post time passed mary kept her vigil at the window george could see her leaning across the bunk resting her hands against the vessels sides her face close to the small square pane george nodded understanding accepting the fact to which he could not be blind but she and richard even it if richard were alive would never speak to one another of their love and they would take care that he should never guess he knew this and he vowed that so long as he lived they must not know he knew the truth let them do their brave parts and think him blind time somehow dragged itself away when richard went ashore the day before it was at peters sug do you good to stretch your legs the younger man urged youre going ship crazy dick the way youve acted since we passed the rocks what got into you mary he watched richard shrewdly but richard without answering looked down at the boats preparing to leave the ships side im going to try tor for some geese peter said come along better bring a club the pigs might jump us ugly sometimes A walk ashore offered some outlet for his bottled energy so richard took that ironbound iron bound club made out of a harpoon shaft and went with peter while the men were hauling the floating casks ashore he and peter approached the little pond but the geese were somehow alarmed and they rose and flew up the slope and settled again far up the ridge peter called gee and the three men started that way the tussock grass at first short and scattering then taller and thicker high above their heads received them richard plunged through it headlong welcoming its tough resistance si forcing himself into it wrestling his way with his shoulders and his head bowed his broken arm secured to his side made him awkward at the business he dragged the heavy club behind him bending his head charging through the tough stuff with its interlacing luxuriance like a bull that which happened came with no warning richard breaking blindly through the grass lunging and fighting through the mesh of it like a fish caught in a net stepped into nothingness he fell ell curnin turning 9 over sickeningly in the air he fell ell on his right side shoulder and hip striking together in shallow water and muck the breath was knocked out of him and he was stunned and shaken and tor for a little could not move then he rolled painfully on his back and felt something hard under his head and laid his hand on the shaft of the club he had carried he got to his knees and stood up tip gasping for breath and his feet sank deeper in water and soft mire he looked up and saw the sky through a round hole five or six feet across edged with grass the long stuff broken by his fall hanging down into the hole the hole was a full thirty feet above his head he called peters name shouting it as loudly as he could with what breath his jolted lungs could catch he shouted again and again till he saw something move at the edge of the hole above him saw peters head projected against the sky heard peter cry dick are you down there yes P after a moment peter asked how deep is it thirty feet anyway maybe more can you climb out richard looked around peering in the half darkness of the pit he walked two or three steps to one side investigating he tried for hand holds managed to climb a little but he saw then as his eyes became a little adjusted to the darkness here that above his head the sides sloped inward toward the opening at the top he slid to the bottom again in a cloud of sooty dust a no he said its shaped like the inside of a jug the sides slant in to the top have to get a line bring some men to haul me out sure be careful where you step richard warned him and make the men be careful when they come probably there are a lot of holes and pits around in the grass peter repeated sure he said in sudden question hurt are you no 1 I can see you now you cant climb out certain no go ahead ill bring a line you take it easy ill get the line we towed the casks ashore with not heavy enough bring some whale line from the ship peter agreed yes id better ill be quite a while dick but ill make it quick as I 1 can take it easy his head disappeared richard stayed where he was looking up at that small opening so far above him wishing peter were still there he could hear the grass rustling in the wind but the sound was faint he was wet and he was cold the shallow pool of water into which he had fallen was directly under the opening in the deepest part of the pit he sat down at one side of it plucking it at the powdery gray black ash with his hand rubbing it between his fingers it broke into a light dust that rose into his face and made him sneeze but it stuck to his wet hands in a slimy smear he shivered with a sudden chill and wished peter would hurry this place had an unpleasant odor vaguely alarming twenty minutes for veter jeter to reach the shore ten minutes to the ship ten minutes back to the shore shoie again say an houi in all before help would come richard did not like his plight there was something terrifying in this prison into which he had fallen alien in the stale sick smell of it he tried to estimate how long peter had been gone five minutes ten he sought to count off sixty seconds and caught himself hurrying the count so he began to beat time with his hand tapping his knee rhythmically it took a long time to count sixty seconds there were sixty minutes in an hour to count sixty seconds sixty times would need an eternity it must be at least half an hour since peter left richard warned himself to be conservative he called it twenty minutes in an excess of caution he decided it was only fifteen if he began to expect peter too soon waiting would be hard A rain squall all drifted across the sky ile he realized suddenly that he be was screaming like a maniac and a few drops pattered on the still surface of the pool with little tinkling sounds almost musical he liked them they were company they banished the dreadful silence here peter must have reached the boats bj this time probably the men were just sliding a boat into the water shipping their oars peter would drive them make them hurry richard sat down again forcing himself to relax to stop thinking about peter peter would get here as soon as he could richard lay down on his back his arm under his head watching that hole above him and the g gray ray sky from which rain again descended A man watching that hole waiting and waiting for the head of a rescuer to appear could go crazy richard dragged his eyes away from it he studied the inside of his prison forcing himself to wonder about its origin thi the e fire which dug this hole in the peat must have burned for years eating its way down and down till it came to hard pan he asked himself aloud why rain put it out he wondered how long a man would live in this wet cold that bit his bones the thought made him shiver and he got up to warm himself again everywhere the soft ash under his feet was honeycombed by the little mice of fire that had eaten tunnels in it and his feet sank into it halfway to his knees he hated the feeling stopped walking beat his chest with his arm richard thought he would be glad to leave hoakes bay forever now and then in the back of his mind tike like a watching beckoning figure mary appeared he shut his thoughts against her he must put her out of his mind keep her out of his mind forever peter would come soon surely he would come soon richard decided they might even now be hunting for him up there he began to shout he realized suddenly that he was screaming like a maniac and he stopped in shame at himself and controlled his voice and thereafter he hallooed hallowed hallo oed almost decorously at regular intervals but now he watched the opening above him without respite nevel taking his eyes away from it it must be an hour since left him here he refused to admit to himself that more than an hour had passed when the sky grew darker he argued desperately that this was merely a thickening of the clouds that was not merely a thickening of the clouds above him it was dusk ausk night was coming on it had bad been early in the afternoon when he fell into the pit so now he mus have been here five hours or six in any dreadful crisis a man must make tor for himself a formula richard had no illusions about peter to believe that peter had bettl retura aft 1 I aboard the and sailed away leaving him here in this pit to die would mean quick madness and despair richard was of that breed of man which does not despair which does not surrender he found a formula he decided to believe that peter on his way back to the ship had fallen into a pit like this one he decided to believe that peter too was a prisoner the men must be hunting tor for them now night was coming on but good mat forbes would keep the men hunting all night CHAPTER peter was in danger and the m me hunting for them would be in d 11 ger As much to protect these 0 ers as to save himself richard decided to dig his way out he had for tools the stout club about four feet long two inches thick one end shod with iron and he had his pocket knife he whittled the end of the club into a flat chisel shaped blade not too shar sharp r not sharp enough to break easily then he began to dig steps up the side of the pit for the first few feet the sides sloped outward that was easy but above that they became perpendicular he began to excavate a sort of spiral gallery around the sides of the pit a shelf wide enough for him to lie on on his stomach while he reached up ahead of him and loosened the soft stuff with the end of his club and then scraped it out with his highl hand flinging it over the side of the shelf to fall fail to the bottom of the pit the dust of his digging through the charred half burned pea choked him he descended and drank water from the pool and wetted his handkerchief and tied it across his mouth and nose while there was still some light he had been able to climb ten feet above the floor of the pit but then the light failed and he worked in darkness some time later the shelf on which he lay broke off under his weight and he fell rollin rolling if down into the water again he guessed that he had reached a point where the walls of the pit began to slope inward so that there was nothing to support the gallery he excavate excavated t so laboriously ea he would have to tunnel a ai through the solid peat and reach the surface somewhere to one side of the hole he began to do so almost at once the texture of the peat became tougher till now he had worked in stuff half burned the life baked out of it by the heat of those old fires but now it began to have substance and cohesion held together by grass roots dead centuries ago his task became increasingly laborious using the chisel shaped end of his club like a narrow spade he drove it upward cut around blocks of peat and then with his right hand clawed these blocks free he burrowed like a mole the tunnel he dug was no larger than necessary it if he could wedge his body through it and have room roomi fi use his club he was content torys was now some moisture in the ps ims p through which he |
