In the Roar of the Sea Part 78

Coppinger remained where he was, watching and waiting. He knew what her action implied--that she was to be left alone with her thoughts, to form her resolve undisturbed. He remained, accordingly, motionless, but with his eyes fixed on the golden hair that flickered in the dim light of the one candle. The wick had a great fungus in it--so large and glaring that in another moment it must fall, and fall on Judith's hand. Coppinger saw this and he thrust forth his arm to snuff the candle with his fingers, but his hand shook, and the light was extinguished. It mattered not. There were glowing coals on the hearth, and through the window flared and throbbed the auroral lights.

A step sounded outside. Then a hand was on the door. Coppinger at once strode across the hall, and arrested the intruder from entering.

"Who is that?"

"Hender Pendarvis"--the clerk of St. Enodoc. "I have some'ut partickler I must say."

Coppinger looked at Judith; she lay motionless, her head between her arms on the board. He partly opened the door and stepped forth into the porch.

When he had heard what the clerk of St. Enodoc had to say, he answered with an order, "Round to the kitchen--bid the men arm and go by the beach."

He returned into the hall, went to the fireplace and took down a pair of pistols, tried them that they were charged, and thrust them into his belt.

Next he went up to Judith, and laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Time presses," he said; "I have to be off. Your answer." She looked up. The board was studded with drops of water. She had not wept, these stains were not her tears, they were the sweat of anguish off her brow that had run over the board.

"Well, Judith, our answer."

"I accept."

"Unreservedly?"

"Unreservedly."

"Stay," said he. He spoke low, indistinctly articulated sentences.

"Let there be no holding back between us. You shall know all. You have wondered concerning the death of Wyvill--I know you have asked questions about it. I killed him."

He paused.

"You heard of the wreckers on that vessel cast on Doom Bar. I was their leader."

Again he paused.

"You thought I had sent Jamie out with a light to mislead the vessel.

You thought right. I did have her drawn to her destruction, and by your brother."

He paused again. He saw Judith's hand twitch: that was the only sign of emotion in her.

"And Lady Knighton's jewels. I took them off her--it was I who tore her ear."

Again a stillness. The sky outside shone in at the window, a lurid red. From the kitchen could be heard the voice of a man singing.

"Now you know all," said Coppinger. "I would not have you take me finally, fully, unreservedly without knowing the truth. Give me your resolve."

She slightly lifted her hands; she looked steadily into his face with a stony expression in hers.

"What is it!"

"I cannot help myself--unreservedly yours."

Then he caught her to him, pressed her to his heart and kissed her wet face--wet as though she had plunged it into the sea.

"To-morrow," said he, "to-morrow shall be our true wedding."

And he dashed out of the house.

CHAPTER LII.

TO JUDITH.

In the smugglers' cave were Oliver Menaida and the party of Preventive men, not under his charge, but under that of Wyvill. This man, though zealous in the execution of his duty, and not averse, should the opportunity offer, of paying off a debt in full with a bullet, instead of committing his adversary to the more lenient hands of the law, shared in that failing, if it were a failing, of being unable to do anything without being primed with spirits, a failing that was common at that period, to coast-guards and smugglers alike. The latter had to be primed in order to run a cargo, and the former must be in like condition to catch them at it. It was thought, not unjustly, that the magistrates before whom, if caught, the smugglers were brought, needed priming in order to ripen their intellects for p.r.o.nouncing judgment.

But it was not often that a capture was effected. When it was, priming was allowed for the due solemnization of the fact by the captors; failure always ent.i.tled them to priming in order to sustain their disappointment with fort.i.tude. Wyvill had lost a brother in the cause, and his feelings often overcame him when he considered his loss, and their poignancy had to be slaked with the usual priming. It served, as its advocates alleged, as a great stimulant to courage; but it served also, as its deprecators a.s.serted, as a solvent to discipline.

Now that the party were in possession of the den of their adversaries, such a success needed, in their eyes, commemoration. They were likely, speedily, to have a tussle with the smugglers, and to prepare themselves for that required the priming of their nerves and sinews.

They had had a sharp struggle with the sea in rounding Pentyre Point, and their unstrung muscles and joints demanded s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up again by the same means.

The Black Prince had been discerned through the falling darkness drawing sh.o.r.eward with the rising tide; but it was certain that for another hour or two the men would have to wait before she dropped anchor, and those ash.o.r.e came down to the unloading.

A lantern was lighted, and the cave was explored. Certainly Coppinger's men from the land would arrive before the boats from the Black Prince, and it was determined to at once arrest them, and then await the contingent in the boats, and fall on them as they landed.

The party was small, it consisted of but seven men, and it was advisable to deal with the smugglers piecemeal.

The men, having leisure, brought out their food, and tapped the keg they had procured at the Rock. It was satisfactory to them that the Black Prince was apparently bent on discharging the cargo that night and in that place, thus they would not have to wait in the cave twenty-four hours, and not, after all, be disappointed.

"All your pistols charged?" asked Wyvill.

"Aye, aye, sir."

"Then take your suppers while you may. We shall have hot work presently. Should a step be heard below, throw a bit o' sailcloth over the lantern, Samson."

Oliver was neither hungry nor thirsty. He had both eaten and drunk sufficient when at the station. He therefore left the men to make their collation, prime their spirits, pluck up their courage, screw up their nerves, polish their wits, all with the same instrument, and descended the slope of s.h.i.+ngle, stooped under the brow of rock that divided the lower from the upper cave, and made his way to the entrance, and thence out over the sands of the cove. He knew that the sh.o.r.e could be reached only by the donkey-path, or by the dangerous track down the chimney--a track he had not discovered till he had made a third exploration of the cave. Down this tortuous and perilous descent he was convinced the smugglers would not come. It was, he saw, but rarely used, and designed as a way of escape only on an emergency.

A too-frequent employment of this path would have led to a treading of the turf on the cliff above, and to a marking of the line of descent, that would have attracted the attention of the curious, and revealed to the explorer the place of retreat.

Oliver, therefore, went forward toward the point where the donkey-path reached the sands, deeming it advisable that a watch should be kept on this point, so that his party might be forewarned in time of the approach of the smugglers.

There was much light in the sky, a fantastic, mysterious glow, as though some great conflagration were taking place and the clouds over head reflected its flicker.

There pa.s.sed throbs of shadow from side to side, and as Oliver looked he could almost believe that the light he saw proceeded from a great bonfire, such as was kindled on the Cornish Moors on Midsummer's Eve, and that the shadows were produced by men and women dancing round the flames and momentarily intercepting the light.

Then ensued a change. The rose hue vanished suddenly, and in its place shot up three broad ribbons of silver light; and so bright and clear was the light that the edge of the cliff against it was cut as sharp as a black silhouette on white paper, and he could see every bush of gorse there, and a sheep--a solitary sheep.

Suddenly he was startled by seeing a man before him, coming over the sand.

"Who goes there?"