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Syd Belton: The Boy who would not go to Sea, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 24 |
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_ CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. That was a busy day on the rock, which was in places so hot to their bare feet that the men laughed as they stepped gingerly about. "I say, mate," said one of them in the intervals of hauling up a case, and just as he had noted that Syd was close by, "d'yer know what's for dinner to-day?" "Ay, lad; cold junk and biscuit." "Better than that, messmate; on'y it wants the young gen'leman to set to work and ketch some shrimps for sarce." "What d'yer mean, lad?" "Fried soles, lad, fried soles," said the other. "Mine's 'most done brown." Syd was not supposed to be on duty, but he was so much interested in the whole affair that he was as busy as any one, and it was while he was high up on the rock, looking on at the rigging up of a couple of spars, crane-fashion, for hoisting the stores, that he came across the lieutenant, who gave him a peculiar look and a smile, and then went on giving a few orders before going higher to re-inspect the chasm, prior to getting the stores and light things in there. "Couldn't see yer, Master Syd," whispered the boatswain. "'Stonishing how invisible young gents is sometimes." But there was little time for talking. Work was the order of the day, and so clever were the contrivances for hoisting, and so well did the men work, that by sundown all the light things were under cover in the chasm, and only the guns, barrels, and heavy cases down by the natural pier. These latter were covered in turn, and made fast with pieces of rock piled upon the edge of the tarpaulins, after which the men of the barge embarked and went back to the ship, the crew of the second cutter following, and the garrison being gathered in their new quarters, high up in the cleft of the great rock, for a hearty meal, to which Sydney came down from the bare fork of the cleft, ravenously hungry, and at once fell to. He was partaking of his portion with eager zest, when Roylance, who had been busy below seeing to the covering of the barrels, came up. "Why, Belt," he said, in a whisper; "not gone back?" "No," said Syd, laconically. "But I thought you'd gone back in the second cutter." "No," said Syd, with his mouth full; "I did mean to, but I've been exploring, and when I came back the boat was gone." "What are you doing here?" said a sharp voice. "Eating," said Syd, without looking up. "Don't be insolent, sir. I am one of the officers of this expedition, and on duty. You have no business here." "Look here, Terry," said Syd, eating away in the most nonchalant fashion; "I'm hungry, and don't want to leave off and spoil my dinner. I don't want to quarrel to-night." "This is insufferable," cried Terry, who felt clothed in authority as second officer of the expedition, and striding away, he found out the lieutenant, and stated what he had seen. "He had no business here, Mr Terry," said the lieutenant, quietly; "but of course we can do nothing to-night." "If we signalled for a boat, sir?" "One would come and fetch him off, but would create unnecessary alarm. And look here, Mr Terry, is it not time you forgot old sores, and became good friends with your messmates?" "I don't understand you, sir," said Terry, haughtily. "Then I'll try and be plainer," said the lieutenant, rather sharply. "Don't you think it is a pity that you should let your enmity to Mr Belton make you jump at a chance to do him a bad turn?" "I came here, sir, to do my duty, and I reported misconduct on the part of one of the midshipmen." "Who once gave you a good thrashing, Mr Terry, for playing the bully. There, there, my good lad, forget and forgive, and don't try and usurp my duties here. I will look after Mr Belton." "Such confounded favouritism to the captain's son!" muttered Terry; but it was loud enough for the lieutenant to hear, and he exclaimed, hotly-- "And if you dare to say such a thing as that again, sir, I'll clap you under arrest, and put Mr Belton in your place." Terry slunk off and stood about sulking till the men had finished, and were then set to work to make a temporary shelter for the night, which was quickly done by tying the edges of the sails they had brought to some spars, and resting these against the perpendicular side of the rock in the cleft, thus forming a lean-to, which was spacious enough to cover the men and the stores and ammunition already protected by the tarpaulins thrown over them. Roylance and Syd were standing together in the darkness, watching the men arranging the spars and hauling the canvas tight, when Syd laid his hand upon his companion's arm. "Don't speak or move," he whispered; "but look down to the right. There's some wild beast crawling up from the west end of the gap." Roylance gripped Syd's hand to indicate that he saw the creature, and they remained silent, watching it creeping nearer and nearer, till it reached the spot where the men had been making their meal, and there it seemed to pause for a few minutes before returning the way it came. It was so dark that its motions were more those of a shadow than of some living creature, and at last it seemed quite to die away among some loose rocks, just where the gap ended in a precipice. "Gone," said Sydney, drawing a long breath; "why, it was after the provisions." "Evidently. I couldn't have thought that there were any live creatures here." "Looked like a great monkey." "Well, I thought so once--an ape, but it couldn't have been." "I say," whispered Syd; "was it a man, and they're going to play some prank on us from the ship to see if we are on the look-out?" "What's that?" said a voice behind them, and the two lads started to find that the lieutenant had come up to them unawares while they were talking earnestly. "We just saw something come up from that end of the gap, sir," said Syd; "it was like a monkey." "And Mr Belton here fancies it might be a spy from the _Sirius_ to see if we were on the watch," said Roylance. "Impossible! they would not play us such a trick. Stop, it might be from the enemy--a boat landing men to see what we are about. But where?" he said, excitedly. "They couldn't have landed where we did, because there are two men on the watch, and I don't think there is any other place. Let's see." Orders were given, the men seized their arms, and after a few admonitory words had been whispered, a search commenced, anything but an adequate one, for the task was one of risk, and the men had to proceed with the greatest caution, so as not to make a false step and go over the side, either into the sea or down one of the cracks and rifts into which the rock was cleft. This went on for a couple of hours, during which the men on the watch were certain that no one had landed, and at last the weary sailors felt ready to endorse the remark of Terry, which somehow became spread among them, that it was only a trick of the captain's son to set them on the alert. At last this came to the lieutenant's ears, and he called Syd and Roylance aside. "Was this some prank?" he said, sternly. "I would not be guilty of such a trick, sir," said Syd, warmly. "It would have been unfair to the men, who were tired, and an insult to you, sir." "Of course it would, gentlemen," said the lieutenant. "I beg your pardon." He went away, feeling rather uneasy, and set watches in two more places, with orders to fire at the slightest alarm. Then in turn with Terry he visited the posts during the early part of the night, and in turn with Roylance during the latter part, the anxieties of the new command keeping him on the alert. As for Syd, he sat talking to Roylance for a time after going up to a point where on the one side they could see the lights of the ship as she lay to in the offing, and on the other, very dimly, the distant lamps of the town of Saint Jacques, or those at the head of its harbour. It was a strange experience up there in that cleft, under the shelter of the tent, with the distant murmur of breaking waves upon the rocks. The low buzz of the men lulled for a time, then ceased, and Syd lay gazing at a great bright star which he could see peering through a slit between two outstretched sails. Then that star passed out of sight and another moved in, followed by another, which grew dim, then dimmer, and finally disappeared, for the simple reason that Syd's eyes had closed and he was fast asleep. _ |
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