The COURAGEOUS EXPLOITS OF DOCTOR SYN - Thorndike Russell - Страница 21

again. You will be prisoners in another chateau belonging to Monsieur Duloge. It is far from here, and guarded by

rough and desperate men. There will be no comfort there. Nothing but prison walls, hard work, scanty food, and no

husbands or fathers.”

“That they may know your fate and theirs I will allow you half an hour to visit them and say farewell for ever.

You will go to them now, and when I fire a pistol as a signal, you will take immediate leave in order to get aboard

with your children. Any by the way, you can add this for their comfort. With great care and upon the shortest

commons they may hold the siege for six months. Then they may starve for all we care, since other arrangements

have been made to keep our cargo trade alive. But tell them that although they successfully surprised Monsiuer

Duloge, that clever French gentleman is no fool, and can turn the tables any time we think fitting, since beneath the

cobble-stones of the store-house floor there is a powerful mine of gunpowder ready trained to prevent our valuable

consignments from falling into enemy hands. Go now. You have but half an hour.”

When the women and children, including Fred Hart’s wife carrying her baby, had disappeared round the corner

of the quay, the Scarecrow ordered his men to await the command of Duloge, and signing Hellspite to accompany

him, he strode towards the chateau. Here they met Duloge carrying a length of rope, who led them by way of the

stables and cowsheds to an outside staircase which brought them on to the roof of the store-house.

As he pointed to a small oak door, concealed behind a flying buttress of the great chimney, doctor Syn whispered

to Mipps: “Do you hear their chattering panic? Of course the women will never leave their men, but they’ll be

mightily in their way when we surprise them.”

Duloge unlocked the little door, which let out a babel of voices from beneath. Peering down into the chimney he

let down one end of the rope to the required length, making fast the other round the buttress, for Doctor Syn

preferred to climb down rather than be lowered, and the deep embrasure of the chimney corner hid the rope.

Taking a silent farewell to Duloge they watched him go down the staircase and meet half a dozen of his servants

armed with muskets. Giving him time to join the Nightriders, they waited, peering down into the chimney. They

could not see any of the mutineers, for, ignorant of the small door, they had not considered placing a watch in the

hearth. Slowly and silently Doctor Syn lowered himself through the little door, gripped the rope and slid down

behind the powder barrels. Mipps followed. They had landed safely and without attracting attention, for the noise

in the store-house was deafening.

All were talking at once. Some arguing that they would do well to keep the women and children with them and

save them from the voyage on the lugger, and others saying that it was better to let them go in case the Scarecrow

ordered the store-house to be blown up. This set some of them to work upon the floor in order to discover if

possible where the mine was hid.

When Syn slipped round the barrels and stood behind them in the centre of the hearth, he saw several of them

trying to dig up cobbles with their cutlass points. The married ones were fondling their wives and children. He

noticed Fred Hart with tears streaming down his face as his wife was showing him their baby. One of the window

guards had left his musket against the wall and was stroking the hair of his ten-year-old daughter. The other guard

was more zealous to his duty, and was watching the quay with his barrel resting on the window-sill and his finger on

the trigger. He at least was prepared for a sudden attack. But not from behind, and no one was more surprised than

he when he knew that the Scarecrow’s pistol had picked his trigger hand for his target. A sharp pain which made

him cry out above the deafening reports of the Scarecrow’s pistol and his own musket, which he fired

spasmodically.

The terrified cries of ‘The Scarecrow,’ as men and women turned to see the Avenger in their midst, were allowed

by his hard voice.

“We shoot to kill the first man who moves!”

Had any man been brave enough to take him at his threat, he would not have been able to , for the women saw

the two figures with pistols in each hand, and they clung to their husbands desperately, while the children huddled to

them in terror.

“This will teach you what you should have known,” went on the hard voice, “that you cannot play the Scarecrow

false. Look behind you.”

The two small windows bristled with barrels held by the Nightriders and the servants of Duloge. That colossal

dandy had been quick and silent in attack.

“And now for the cause of this mutiny,” said the Scarecrow. “I must have the reason and the ringleader. You

have raised no complaint before. Fred Hart was the last to be condemned and sent here. Was it you, Fred Hart?”

Before he could answer another spoke for him. “No, Scarecrow. Fred Hart owned he deserved his punishment,

and only asked us whether we thought the Scarecrow would keep his word and send over his wife and child. From

the first he was against the mutiny, and only joined because we all did.”

There was a long silence, during which the hideous head of the Scarecrow slowly faced each mutineer in turn.

Then he spoke again. “The ringleader in Handgrove. He has been betrayed two of his fellow Nightriders to the

authorities, after extorting monies from them under threat of exposure. If you remember I rescued those tow men,

his victims, from the Dymchurch cells, and sent Handgrove here for life. Handgrove is the ringleader, but Fred Hart

is to blame. Now listen, Hart. Because of your wife and child, I am once more inclined to be merciful to you, and

to you all. Not so to Handgrove. Where is he?”

No one answered.

“I see,” went on the Scarecrow. “You do not know where he is, eh?”

A sullen chorus of ‘No’ from the mutineers.

“But you know where he has gone, eh?”

The mutineers looked at one another uneasily, but no one spoke.

The Scarecrow continued, “Monsieur Duloge, will you ask your servants who took your missing fishing boat?”

Duloge turned from the open window and jabbered in French to the servants behind him. Then, with no attempt

to conceal his panic, he cried out through the window: “None of my people had the boat. My God! Then it means”

The Scarecrow completed his sentence: “It means that these men shut themselves up in this store -house to

conceal Handgrove’s absence. It means that Fred Hart told his fellow-prisoners of the huge reward offered to

anyone who could break up our gang. It also means the Handgrove has sailed in that boat to lay the information

about this place. Am I right, Fred Hart?”

“Aye, Scarecrow,” replied Hart. “He sailed last night. He is going to the Admiralty to appeal for a rescue ship to

bring these missing families back to England. He will stipulate for a free pardon for all here.”

“You will now lay down your arms,” said the Scarecrow. “All of you will load the lugger. We will not sail with

an empty cargo-hold. The women and children will return to the cottages, which, by the way, are all undermined,

and Monsieur Duloge intends to blow them up if he perceives the least sign of mutiny again. Remember that you

are in our hands, not we in yours. I sail tonight, but shall return in person for the next cargo which will be run in a

few days’ time, when I shall require all prisoners to attend the execution of Handgrove. Unbar the door and get to