CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
A CURE FOR THE HEADACHE.
Master Rayburn was anxiously expected at the Black Tor, Mark's first acthaving been to send Dummy Rugg down to his cottage to ask him to comeup; and not finding him there, the boy had very bravely followed him toCliff Castle, in the full belief that he would be there, and on learningthat he was, he sent a message in, and then hurried away.
Matters went on in a very similar way at the Tor, even to Sir Edwardaccidentally finding that something was wrong, and going to the buildingat the entrance to the mine, where the wounded men were being attended.But he did not take matters in the same spirit as his inimicalneighbour, but attacked his old friend furiously, vowed that he wouldnever forgive him, and threatened his son with the severest punishment,though he did not say what.
Master Rayburn said nothing, but went on dressing the men's wounds,till, regularly worked up into a perfect fury, Sir Edward turned uponhim again. "This ends everything between us, Master Rayburn," he cried."I have treated you as a friend, made you welcome at my table, andallowed my son to make you a kind of companion; but now, have thegoodness to recollect that we are strangers, and if the gang from out ofthe cavern yonder attack you, get out of the trouble in the best way youcan, for you will have no help from me."
"Very well," said Master Rayburn quietly.
"And now, sir, leave my place at once."
"Oh no!" said the old man quietly, as Mark looked on, scarlet withannoyance, but feeling that he must suffer for what had happened.
"Oh no!" cried Sir Edward, aghast. "Have the goodness to explain whatyou mean."
"Certainly," replied the old man. "I have not finished with this man,and I have another to attend later on."
"Leave, sir, at once," cried Sir Edward.
"No," replied the old man quietly. "You are angry, and are saying thatwhich in calmer moments you will regret. Those men require myassistance, and I must insist upon staying."
Sir Edward made an angry gesture.
"Go on, then," he cried; "finish what you have to do, and then leave atonce."
"Yes," replied Master Rayburn calmly; "but it will be necessary for meto come day after day for quite a week. This man will need muchattention."
Sir Edward turned and walked angrily out of the place; and as if not aword had been said, the old man went on with his task until he hadended. Then telling the men to be of good heart, for their injurieswere none of them serious, he went to the door with Mark, whose face wastroubled and perplexed.
"There, you need not look like that, my lad," he said. "Your father'sangry now, but he'll calm down, and I don't think he will say much toyou. It is more likely that he will want to take revenge upon thoseruffians. Cheer up, my boy: I'm not angry with you for what you'vedone. It was the fighting afterwards that was the unlucky part."
The old man hurried away, and Mark stood watching him descend the slope.
"Cheer up, indeed!" he muttered; "who's to cheer up at a time like this?I wish I hadn't listened to that miserable scrub of a Darley. I alwayshated him, and I might have known that associating with him would leadme into trouble.--Well, what do you want?"
This was to Dummy Rugg, who, like his young master, had escaped withoutmuch damage.
"Only come to talk to you, Master Mark," said the boy humbly.
"Then you can be off. I don't want to talk."
"I'll talk, then, and you listen, Master Mark," said the boy coolly; andMark opened his eyes, and was about to order the lad off, but Dummy wenton quickly. "I've been thinking it all over," he said. "Thatgunpowder's the thing. When we go next we'll take a lot in bags. Whenwe get there, and they're hiding in that narrow bit, I'll untie the bagsand throw two or three in. Then we can throw three or four torches, andone of them's sure to set the powder on fire, and start 'em; then we canall make a rush."
"Oh, then you think that we shall go again?"
"Oh yes, we must go again, Master Mark. Why, if we didn't go, therobbers would think we were afraid, and come at us. You're not going tosit down and look as if we were beat?"
"Well, it would be too bad, Dummy," said Mark, thoughtfully.
"Bad? I should think it would, Master Mark. I say, wasn't it grandlast night?"
"Grand?"
"Yes; when we were in the cave, with the lights shining, and the pikessparkling. If they had only come out and fought fair, it would havebeen splendid."
"Then you would like to go again, Dummy?"
"Of course, sir. Wouldn't you?"
"Yes, I suppose so," said Mark thoughtfully.
"Yes, you must go again, and take 'em all prisoners. But I suppose youwon't go to-night?"
"Go to-night? No!"
"Well, there's nothing going on in the mine to-day. Father's too soreto head the men, and he's going to lie down and rest till his arm'sbetter. What do you say to having a good long day below there, andfinding which way the river runs--the one we heard?"
"Bah! Stuff! Rubbish! After being up fighting all the night! Youmust be mad."
"No, I aren't," said Dummy. "I only want you to come. It'll do yougood. You don't know how much better you'll feel after a good walk andclimb down there."
"What's the good, Dummy?"
"We want to find out where the water goes to that is always falling.I'm sure some of it comes out of our river, where the hole's in thestream."
"And what good will it do to know where the water goes?"
"I don't know, but I want to. Can't go to work after such a night as wehad. There's nobody down the mine to-day."
Mark put his hand to the place where he had received the blow.
"Headache, Master Mark?"
"Yes. All jarred-like."
"Then come down. I've often had a bad headache when I've gone down intothe mine, and it's been so quiet and still there that it has soon gotbetter. Do come, Master Mark; it'll be better than sitting thinkingabout being beaten last night."
"Very well, Dummy," said Mark at last: "I don't feel as if I could go tobed and sleep, and I don't want to be thinking."
"And you'll have too much to do down there to think."
"Yes, I suppose so; and if I stay up, I shall be meeting my father andcatching it. Oh, I only wish we had won the day."
"Couldn't; 'cause it was night," said the boy thoughtfully.
"Well, be ready with the candles, and I'll come in half-an-hour, as soonas I've seen how the men are."
"Oh, they're all right, and gone to sleep. They don't mind. But youought to have let us beat the Darleys, as we didn't beat the robbers."
"You go and get the candles," said Mark sourly.
"Like to have torches too, master?" said the lad, with a cunning grin.
"You speak to me again like that, you ugly beggar, and I won't go,"cried Mark wrathfully. "Think I want all that horrible set-out with thetorches brought up again?"
"I'm off to get the candles ready, Master Mark," said Dummy humbly; andhe hurried down the steep steps to get to the mouth of the mine.
"Wish I'd kicked him," muttered Mark, as soon as he was alone. "I dofeel so raw and cross. I could fight that Ralph Darley and half-killhim now. Here, let's go and see how miserable all the men are; it'll dome good."
He hesitated about going, though, for fear of meeting his father; butfeeling that it was cowardly, he went to where the men lay now, foundthem asleep, and came out again to go into the dining-room and make ahasty breakfast; after which he went out, descended the steep steps outin the side of the rock upon which the castle was perched, glanced up atit, and thought how strong it was; and then came upon Dummy, waitingwith his candle-box and flint and steel, close by the building where theblasting-powder was kept.
"Let's take these too, Master Mark," he said, pointing to the coils ofrope which had been brought back from the cave; "we may want 'em."
He set the example by putting one on like a baldric, Mark doing the samewith the other.
"Now for a light," h
e said, taking out his flint, steel, and tinder-box.
"Well, don't get scattering sparks here," said Mark angrily. "Supposeany of the powder is lying about, you'll be blowing the place up."
"Not I," said the boy, smiling; "I'm always careful about that."
He soon obtained a glow in the tinder, lit a match, and set a candleburning. Then taking each one of the small mining-picks, the two ladsdescended into the solitary place, Dummy bearing the light and beginningto run along cheerily, as if familiarity with the long wanderingpassages and gloomy chambers had made them pleasant and home-like. Markfollowed him briskly enough, for the solemn silence of the place wasfamiliar enough to him, and he looked upon it merely as a great burrow,which had no terrors whether the men were at work or no.
Dummy went steadily on, taking the shortest way to the chamber where hehad shown his companion that it was no _cul de sac_, but the entrance tothe grotto where nature had effected all the mining, and at last thegreat abyss where the sound of the falling water filled the air wasreached. Here Dummy seated himself, with his legs swinging over theedge, and looked down.
"That's where the river water comes in," he said, "through a big crack.Now let's see where it goes, because it must go somewhere."
"Right into the middle of the earth, perhaps," said Mark, gazing downinto the awful gulf, and listening to the rushing sound.
"Nay," said Dummy; "water don't go down into the earth without comingout again somewhere. Dessay if we keep on we shall come out todaylight."
"Eh?" cried Mark; "then we had better find it and stop it up, for as Isaid the other day, we don't want any one to find a back way into ourmine."
"That's what I thought, Master Mark," said Dummy quietly. "Wouldn't dofor Purlrose and his men to find it, and come in some day, would it?"
"No; that wouldn't do at all, Dummy."
"No, sir. But how's your head?"
"My head? Oh, I'd forgotten all about it."
"I know'd you would," said the lad, grinning. "Don't feel so tired,neither?"
"No."
"Then I'll light another candle, and we'll get on: but don't you getslipping while we are going round here, because I don't know how deep itis, and I mightn't be able to get you out."
"You take care of yourself, and lead on," said Mark shortly. "I daresay I can go where you do."
Dummy nodded, and after handing the second candle to his master, he wentalong sidewise, and then lowered himself over the edge of the gulf, anddropped out of sight.
"Only 'bout a fathom, Master Mark," he shouted, "and plenty of room."
Mark did not hesitate, but lowered himself in turn, and dropped upon hisfeet, to find they were upon a rugged shelf, about four feet wide,sloping downward right by the side of the gulf; and passing along this,they soon reached the other side of the great chasm, to stand nearlyopposite to the end of the passage where they had entered, but abouttwenty feet lower; and here they again looked down into the awesomedepths. But nothing was to be seen. The water fell from somewherebeneath where they had entered; and as they judged, plunged deep downinto a wide chasm, and from thence ran out and under the great crack,which the boy found out as the way they had to go.
"Stream runs right under that, Master Mark. I went along some way, andevery now an' then I could hear it, deep down. I say, did you bringanything to eat?"
"Some bread that I couldn't manage at breakfast."
"So did I," said the boy. "P'r'aps we may want it by-and-by."
"We want better lights, Dummy," said Mark, after they had progressedsome distance.
The boy turned round with a merry look, and was about to suggest torchesonce more, but at a glance from Mark's eyes, he altered his mind andsaid:
"Yes, those don't give much."
But pitiful as the light was, it was sufficient for them to see wallscovered with fossils, stalactites hanging from the roofs of chambers,others joined to the stalagmites on the floor, and forming columns,curtains, and veils of petrifaction, draping the walls as they wentthrough passage, hall, and vast caverns whose roofs were invisible. Andall the time, sometimes plainly, sometimes as the faintest gurglingwhisper, they heard the sound of flowing water beneath their feet.
"Well, this is grand!" said Mark; "but it's of no use."
"Aren't no lead," said the boy quietly; "but it's fine to have such aplace, and be able to say it's ours. May be some use."
"But I say, how are you going to find your way back?"
"Oh, I dunno," said the boy carelessly. "I've often been lost in theother parts, and I always found my way out."
"Yes, but how?"
"Oh, I dunno, quite, Master Mark," said the boy earnestly, "but it'ssomehow like this. I turn about a bit till I feel which is the rightway, and then I go straight on, and it always is."
"Mean that, Dummy?"
"Oh yes, Master Mark; that's right enough. But come along."
There was a certain excitement in penetrating the dark region, with itshills and descents, passages and chambers, deep cracks and chasms, downin which water was running, and strange ways, formed either by thesettling or opening of the rock, or literally cut away by the rushingwater; and every step was made interesting by the weird shapes around,formed by the dripping of water from the roof.
Earth there was none, the stalactites and stalagmitic formations were ofthe cleanest stone, pale drab, cream, or ruddy from the solution ofiron; and at last, when they must have been walking, climbing, forcingtheir way through narrow cracks, or crawling like lizards, for hours,the boy stooped by a little pool of crystal water in the floor, andsaid:
"Don't you think a bit o' bread and cheese would be nice, Master Mark?"
"Yes; that's what's the matter with me," cried the lad. "I wasbeginning to feel poorly. It's because I did not have a properbreakfast."
The next minute they had stuck their twice renewed candles in a crack inthe rock wall, and were seated upon a dry stalagmite looking like thetop of a gigantic mushroom, eating ravenously, and moistening their dryfood with copious draughts from the crystal pool. There was water, too,below them, a low rushing gurgle announcing that they were stillfollowing the course of the subterranean stream running through a widecrevice in the floor.
"How much farther does it go, Dummy?"
The boy shook his head.
"May be for miles; but we'll see now, won't we?"
"Let's finish our eating first, and then see how we feel," said Mark."If we don't now, we will some other time. I say, if that water was notrunning, how quiet it would be!"
"Yes," said Dummy, with his mouth full. "I don't think anybody was everhere before."
"I suppose not," said Mark, looking round.
"Here, have some more of my cheese," said the boy. "You haven't gotnone."
Mark nodded, and took the piece cut by the boy's pocket-knife, for itimproved the dry bread.
"It's some of yours," said Dummy, with a grin. "They give it me in thekitchen."
Mark was looking round, and listening to the water.
"I say, Dummy, suppose there was to be a storm outside, and this placefilled up, we should be drowned."
"Never been no water along here, only drips," said the boy, examiningthe floor. "No, there's never been any floods here."
"How do you know?"
"Been some mud or sand left," said the boy, scraping in a narrow chinkin the floor. "All hard stone."
"I suppose you're right; but we must be very deep down."
"No. I have been thinking, just as you have to when we're looking forfresh lead, we've been down a deal, and we've been up a deal, 'bout asmuch one as t'other. I should say we're just a little lower down thanwhen we started from that big water-hole, but not much."
"Made my back ache a bit, Dummy," said Mark, with a groan, as he leanedhimself against a column which was pleasantly smoothed and curved.
"Yes, we've come a good way," replied Dummy, "and you didn't have nosleep last night."
The boy munch
ed his last crust, and then lay flat down on his breast,with his mouth over the pool, lowered his lips, and took a long deepdrink, after the fashion of a horse. After this, he rolled himselfclear away, and lay upon his back, staring at the two candles stuck inthe crack a few feet above his head.
"Does rest your back and lynes, Master Mark, to lie like this for a bit.You just try it."
There was no reply.
"D'you hear, Master Mark? You try it."
Still no response, and he turned his head, to see that his companion'schin was resting upon his chest.
"Sleep!" said Dummy, with a little laugh. "Can't stand being up allnight like I can. Being on night-shifts, sometimes, I s'pose. Well,let him sleep for a few minutes, and then I'll wake him."
Then all was blank.
Black Tor: A Tale of the Reign of James the First Page 22