Come Lucky
I thought that gallery would never end. My breath came in great gasps. I ran as I had never run before. The sweat poured from me. I got clear of the water as the gallery sloped upwards. But my gum boots were like lead. I had to stop and tip the water out of them. Those precious seconds wasted seemed like years. Any minute I expected to hear the distant thud of an explosion and the rumble of water tearing into the mine.
Suddenly a light showed ahead. I hadn't the strength to call out. It remained stationary as I pounded up the slope of the gallery. A voice called out, 'Is that you, Jim?' It was Kitty's voice. The little fool had stayed down.
'Get to the surface,' I gasped.
She didn't move.
'Get up to the surface,' I shouted again. The effort of speech hurt my throat. The blood was pounding in my ears and my chest heaved.
Still she didn't move. 'What's happened?' she asked as I came up with her. 'You look as though you've seen a ghost. What is it?'
'Come Lucky,' I answered, seizing her arm.
I saw her eyes widen as she realised what I meant. Then we were running side by side along the gallery. We reached the shaft that led up to the adit. I hesitated. But the desire to make height was overwhelming. I thrust her to the ladder. We climbed at a furious rate. Even so, she outstripped me. My limbs felt weighed down with a great weight. I'd been working steadily all day, and now this sudden demand on my strength. I felt so tired I thought I'd never make the top. The steady beat and thud of the pump coincided with the throbbing of the blood in my ears.
We made the top. At the same moment a voice shouted. A miner's lamp showed the great bob of the pump swinging rhythmically up and down. Then the lamp ducked under the bob and came running towards us. I have a fleeting recollection of old Manack's face, streaked with sweat and dirt and pallid with exertion. Then he brushed past us and another lamp appeared beyond the great bobbing beam of the pump. 'Stop him!' It was Captain Manack's voice.
His face was set and his eyes wild as he dashed past us after his father. I took Kitty by the arm and rushed her down the narrow cross-cut and out into the main adit. I could hear the sea slopping about in the adit cave, and behind me the pump beats thudded like the beating heart of the mine.
I turned up the adit towards the main shaft. Ahead of us the lamps of the two Manacks bobbed as they turned a bend. We followed. I couldn't hear the pump any longer. All I could hear was the heaving gasps that came from my mouth as I strained my last effort.
We rounded the bend. The lights had vanished. But a faint orange glow showed in the shaft that the old man used. We reached it and peered up. The lamps showed like glow-worms in the shaft. The old man was about forty feet above his son. Water glistened on the weed-grown rock. They were climbing at a furious rate. I thrust Kitty towards the ladders. She began to climb. I followed her.
I had barely set foot on the slimy rungs of the ladder when deep within the mine there was a muffled roar. It was far away, remote as the echo of a minor earthquake. I paused, listening for what I dreaded. A blast of air struck my face. It smelt stale and dank. It was like air that had been imprisoned long under ground. And then I heard it — a faint, rumbling roar. Another, lighter blast of air swept up the shaft behind us, bringing with it a choking cloud of dust. Deep in the mine the rumbling went on. It was like the rumblings of some giant's belly. It was crude and terrifying.
Something fell past me and hit the ground below with a splintering of wood. I glanced down. A length of ladder lay broken at the foot of the shaft, its rotten timbers shattered by the fall. High above us I saw the old man still climbing. But below his son had stopped. A great strip of laddering had been torn away.
And in that instant a sudden gush of dirty water spurted from the side of the shaft. I saw Captain Manack swept from his hold on the ladder, like a fly brushed off by a hose jet. Then the water hit me and I fell. A body crashed on top of me as my feet hit the ground. I fell, rolled over and fetched up with a terrific crack on my helmet against a rock wall.
Everything was black. The whole place was full of the sound of water pouring from a height. And behind that sound was the deeper, more distant rumbling of water tearing through the mine. Something heavy lay across my legs. It stirred. 'Jim?' It was Kitty's voice, strained to a shriek.
Are you all right?' I shouted.
'Yes. Oh, thank God you're all right.'
I found her hand and we got to our feet. The noise of the water was terrific. 'Quick,' I cried. 'That main shaft. Have you got a match?'
'I've got a torch,' she shouted back. The beam leapt out in the darkness, showing a solid fall of water pouring down the shaft. There was no sign of Captain Manack's body. He must have been swept away in the brown flood that poured down the adit. 'Run,' I shouted, and we started off up that adit to the main shaft.
As we ran the sound of the water pouring down the shaft lessened. Instead, the muffled roar of the Come Lucky flood ripping into Wheal Garth became louder. As we came to the main shaft a soft glow showed in the darkness ahead. I heard the rattle of the gig's wheels. The glow brightened. 'The gig's coming,' Kitty shouted. I flung myself at the lever which would stop it at our level. I threw all my weight on it, but it wouldn't budge.
The gig reached our level. I had a glimpse of Friar, Slim and Dave huddled together in the light of their miners' lamps. Slim had hold of the lever which kept the gig moving. That was why I hadn't been able to shift the lever at our own level. 'Stop,' I shouted. 'Friar! For God's sake stop.'
They saw us. I could see their eyes bright with fear. They saw us, but they didn't stop. Slim kept hold of the operating lever. Friar made a move towards the lever. Then he stopped, staring out at us with his mouth open and his eyes staring with horror. Dave stood there, biting his nails and making no move. The gig rattled past. The glow faded.
Rage dominated all other emotions. It swelled up inside me so that I felt I could tear down the timbers that formed the runway for the gig up the shaft. I stumbled to the framework and tore at the wood with my bare hands.
Then as the light of their lamps slowly dwindled up the shaft my rage subsided and cold fear took its place. I turned to Kitty. She was standing quite still as though stunned by what had happened. 'They've left us to die,' she said.
'Isn't there some other way up?' I cried. There must be some other way.'
She shook her head. There must be, but I don't know of any. There are plenty of shafts but none that we could climb without — " She suddenly broke off, listening.
The sound of the gig had ceased. Down the shaft came shouts. I peered upwards. The lights of their lamps were still visible. The gig was motionless. 'Pryce! Pryce!' one of them was calling.
'What is it?' I shouted back.
'The gig has stuck,' came back the answer faintly. Try to work it your end.'
I thrust over the lever. It went over quite easily now. But nothing happened. 'What's wrong?' Kitty asked. I tried the lever again. The water's got down to the bottom of the main shaft,' I told her. 'It's stopped the wheel from turning.' Then suddenly an idea burst upon me. Fool! Why hadn't I thought of that before? Except for odd shafts there was only that one way into the old workings by Come Lucky. I listened. The distant roar of water pouring through the mine seemed fainter. It was finding its way direct to the lower level. 'Quick,' I said, catching hold of Kitty's arm. 'The sea.' We started running down the adit. The shouts of the three men trapped in the main shaft faded. 'Can you swim?' I gasped out the question as we ran.
'Yes,' she answered.
We stumbled on, the beam of her torch cutting a swathe in the darkness of the tunnel. The sound of water grew louder. Then we saw it, coming down the shaft we'd tried to climb. The volume was not so great now. The main weight of the water was probably finding other outlets. We waded into the brown flood that swept down the adit.
I gripped Kitty's hand. She didn't say anything, but I felt the answering grip of her fingers. My God, when I think of it now. It needed nerve to go down and not up — to go down into the race of swirling, brackish, ochre-coloured water. But she didn't hesitate. I'll admit my heart was in my mouth. The noise of water closed in around us, blocking out the sound of the flood breaking through the mine.
We reached the cross-cut that led to the pump and the shaft down to the Mermaid gallery. Vaguely I heard the pump beats. They were slow and laboured. I stumbled and almost fell. Kitty shone the torch down into the ochre stream. A piece of ladder was jammed across the tunnel, and by the wall to my right a hand was thrust up from the water. I caught it and pulled. Captain Manack's head rose above the level of the water. It lolled loosely like some frightful doll. The teeth were bared and the eyes glazed. His neck was broken.
We went on then. There was no smell of the sea. I was scared the weight of water had already filled the adit. The floor of the tunnel dipped sharply down to the adit mouth. The brown flood through which we waded deepened and moved faster. The sound of it became like a roar of a waterfall in that confined space. I kept tight hold of Kitty's hand. It was difficult to prevent our feet being swept from under us. At any moment the weight of water pouring into the lower levels of the mine might flood it to sea level. Then the full volume of it would come pouring down this adit.
The tunnel widened and the torch suddenly showed the dark cavern where the sea came in. But there was no sign of the flat rock slab of the landing place. It was covered by a bubbling froth of filthy liquid. And where a narrow opening should have led through to the sea there was only the sloping roof of the cave. I looked at Kitty. She met my gaze. I made a motion with my hand indicating we'd have to dive and swim under water through the adit mouth. It was impossible to speak in that din of roaring water. She nodded. Her grip tightened for a second on my hand and then released it and slipped off her overalls and gum boots. I did the same. Then we stood there, hesitating. She was looking at me, her eyes wide. 'Hurry,' I shouted.
She couldn't hear, but I think she must have understood from the movement of my lips, for she nodded again and handed me the torch. As our hands touched, she suddenly came close to me and kissed me. Then she stood back, looking at the brown froth of water that filled the cave. She stood hesitating for a second and then quickly spreading her hands, dived in.
I saw her head for a second in the scum as the water bore her towards the exit. Her hair hung like strands of seaweed in the bubbling froth, and her face was white against the dark, heaving bulk of the water. Then she dived.
I waited, but she did not reappear My ears suddenly began to sing. There was a great roaring behind me. I half-turned. I knew what it was. I knew that the water had risen above sea level, that it was in the adit and roaring down towards the sea. I crammed my helmet tight on my head and with the torch still in my hands, dived straight out for the entrance.
As I hit the water there was a great roaring sound in my ears. I could see nothing, though the torch was still in my hands. I kept my head down, thrusting deeper with my legs and let the water do the rest. I felt myself flung forward. My head fetched up with a terrific jolt against rock. Only my helmet saved me from having my skull stove in. My back was keel-hauled along a slanting face of rock. I felt myself being sucked down and down. My hand struck a rock. The pain of it jarred along my arms. Then I seemed quite stationary, yet I knew I was being thrust along by the weight of water behind me. My ears stabbed with pain. A great band tightened about my chest. The desire for air became my whole world.
Then I was being pushed upwards. I thrust up with my hands and feet. An instant later I was gasping on the surface. A wave lifted me and broke with a crash. The backwash of it carried me clear of the dark shadow of the cliffs, gasping in a smother of foam. I swallowed water and choked with the salt of it. The next wave bore down on me, broke and carried me struggling towards the cliff. My feet touched rock for an instant. Then the backwash carried me clear again.
I tore off the helmet which was still jammed tight on my head. Then I took a deep breath and, burying my head in the surf, summoned my last ounce of energy to crawl clear of the break of the waves. One, five, ten minutes — I don't know how long it took me to get clear. My clothes clung to me, hampering my movements and the seething welter of water seemed intent on flinging me against the cliffs.
But at last I was clear and trod water, gently rising and falling with the waves. Behind me the dark wall of the cliffs towered into the night, frilled at the base with a raging inferno of surf. I began to shout, but my voice was lost in the roar of the surf spilling across the rocks.
Then I found I still had the torch. It was in my trouser pocket. When I'd put it there I don't remember, probably just before I started to swim clear of the break. I switched it on. It still worked. The friendly beam swept across the heaving seas. An instant later I heard a feint cry. An arm showed upthrust from the top of the wave a little further out. I swam on. Kitty met me. She had a cut on the side of her head and one shoulder was bleeding. But she was treading water easily and smiled as I swam up.
'All right?' I asked her.
She nodded. 'You're bleeding,' she said.
'So are you,' I answered and got a mouthful of water from a broken wave cap.
We laughed. We were alive. It was good to laugh. We laughed till a wave rolled right over us. Then we didn't laugh any more. The tide was setting towards Kenidjack Castle and we were being swept in towards the headland. I stripped off all but my pants. Kitty got out of her skirt, and then we settled down to swim for it.
The tide was setting fast and we were tired. There was no chance of going with the current. That way we should have landed on the jagged rocks at the foot of the headland. We swam straight out to sea.
Kitty was a strong swimmer and she was fresher than I was. We kept a steady pace side by side. And all the time I watched the surf boiling at the foot of the headland. It was astonishing how rapidly it seemed to come towards us. The ugly black teeth of rock grinned at us. The surf slavered through them as though waiting to tear our bodies to pieces.
It came nearer and nearer. Then we were in the break of the waves, diving through them and swimming for our lives. For a moment I thought we wouldn't make it. I could feel the undertow clutching at my body as wave after wave thundered down on us. Then we were out of the surf and treading water with the headland receding slowly from us. Kitty swam up beside me. I think she must have realised how tired I was for she said, 'Can you make the shore now? There's a little beach right in under the headland.'
'Okay,' I said, and we began to swim again.
That was the longest swim I ever did. The current was not so strong now, but it was still setting south along the coast and we were trying to swim straight in on the lee side of Kenidjack Castle.
At last we were in the break of waves again. But there was no strength in them now and they carried us the way we wanted to go. I trod water between the waves and then went in with a crawl as each one broke over me. At last my hand, down-thrust to drive me forward, touched rock. I caught hold and clung to it as the surf receded. The next wave carried me in and I felt pebbles under my feet. A moment later I joined Kitty up the narrow beach, clear of the sea. I lay down on the cold pebbles, my chest heaving as though it would burst.
A cold wind blew in from the sea. It was damp and chill under the cliffs. I sat up. The waves thundered in long lines of broken surf. The water sucked and gurgled in the rocks. The moon had set, but there was still light enough in the clear sky to see the outline of Kenidjack Castle hunched against the stars. I looked at Kitty. She was breathing heavily and her teeth chattered. Her slip clung close to her body, emphasising her strong build. Her breasts rose and fell. I reached out and took her hand. She smiled, but didn't say anything. There was nothing to say. We'd been lucky — damned lucky.
I suddenly remembered those three men going up the shaft in the gig. I struggled to my feet. God I was weary! 'Come on,' I said. 'You'll get cold here. And we must see if we can do anything about the gig.'
She nodded and rose to her feet. 'You don't think the water will reach them there, do you?'
'I don't know,' I said. 'Depends how high the water level was in Come Lucky. Has it been wet here during the past week?'
'Yes,' she said, 'very wet. And Come Lucky's a big mine, much bigger than Wheal Garth.
'Only that one adit to drain Wheal Garth?' I asked.
'Yes, that's the only one.'
'Come on then,' I said. 'We must hurry. That water will rise fast.'
We went along the beach, climbed a shoulder of rock and then struggled up a long, grassy slope to a path that led to the rock crest of the headland. At the top we passed an old rifle range and then reached the first of the ruined engine houses. Kitty struck away to the right up the slope of the worked hillside to another track. A few minutes later the huddled shape of the sheds at the top of Wheal Garth rose up out of the darkness.
We went straight into the hoisting shed. I forced open the doors and peered down the sloping shaft. Far below a glow of light outlined the top of the gig. And out of the shaft came the sound of men singing. They were singing 'Good King Wenceslas.' It was a strange choice. Dave was leading them. His voice came floating up the shaft, clear as a bell. He had a nice voice. I shouted down to them, but they went on singing. I waited until they came to the end of a verse and then called down to them again. The singing started up again and then subsided. I called again.
A voice answered. It was very faint. I called down, 'What do you need?' The answer came floating back up the shaft. The words were indeterminate. I think they said that the water was rising, but I couldn't be sure. I turned to Kitty. 'Is there some rope here?' I shouted.
'Yes,' she said. 'In the stone shed. I'll get it.'
I followed her. There were tools, too. I took two saws and an axe and with a coil of rope over my shoulders, ran back to the shaft. I lowered the tools on the end of the rope, but the shaft was at an angle and they kept on getting caught on ledges of rock and on the timber framework of the hoist. The men below started shouting and banging on the wooden cage of the gig. Then one of them began to scream. It was a horrible sound. It ceased suddenly and Dave's voice began to sing 'Jerusalem'. The sound of the lovely hymn floated up the shaft with a thousand distorting echoes so that it sounded like a choir singing in a cathedral.
Then suddenly the sound tailed off and vanished. A man's voice began to shout. It rose to a scream and then vanished in a gurgle as though he had been throttled. Leaning out, peering down the shaft, I saw the light had faded to a faint glow. Then it was suddenly snuffed out like a candle. I called, but there was no answering cry from the black depths of the shaft. I stood up then and closed the wire mesh gates. 'We'd better go up to the house now,' I said.
Kitty nodded. She seemed dazed with the horror of listening to those men being drowned by the rising water. I took her arm and we went out into the cool, salt wind.
The house was in darkness as we topped the rise. It was just a black shadow sprawling there in the blackness of the night. I felt the girl's body tense as she saw it. God, how she must loathe the place! Cripples' Ease! It was a name that suited it. It must have been a bitter and cynical landlord who called it that in the days when the miners from Botallack used it as a pub.
We came to the track and started across it to the front door of the house. And then I stopped. The door was wide open and a figure moved in the darkness of the passage. It vanished. We crossed the track, close to the desolate little garden that had once flowered under my mother's hands. A light showed in the passage. We both stopped then, rooted to the spot. It was old Manack. He held a lamp in his hands and was gazing out of the doorway towards us, his mouth open and a wild look of horror in his eyes.
I started to move forward. 'No,' he screamed. 'No.' He leapt back and the door swung to, blotting out the light. There was the rattle of a chain and then the bolts were shot home.
I turned to Kitty. 'Maybe he thought we were ghosts,' I said.
She was trembling. She looked like a ghost, her hair hanging in sodden strands over her pale face and the slip clinging like a white shroud to her body. 'Come on,' I said. 'We need dry clothes. Then we'll go.'
'Go?' she said. 'Where to?'
'Italy,' I said. 'Didn't you get my message? I asked Captain Manack to tell you I was leaving on the Arisaig tonight and to ask you whether you would come with me. Remember?'
'Yes, I — " She stood very still as though petrified. 'I — Oh, Jim, I don't know what to say. I can't stay here, I know that. But — Italy! It seems so far. Couldn't we stay somewhere in Cornwall?'
'Don't forget I'm still a deserter,' I said. 'And the police are looking for me. The Arisaig will be off Wheal Garth — " I looked at my watch. It was still going. The time was just after three. 'In less than an hour. It's my only hope.' I took her by the shoulders. 'I've got to be on that ship,' I said. 'It's my one way out of the country. I don't want to go back to Italy. But I'd rather do that than serve a sentence for desertion, and possibly get involved with what's happened here. They might hang me.'
'No. They wouldn't do that. You haven't done anything.'
'True. But there's only my word for that. Don't forget, four revenue officers lost their lives. I've got to go, Kitty. Say you'll come. It wouldn't be so bad with you.'
She hesitated. Then she raised her head. Her eyes looked into mine in the gloom. 'You'll not desert me, Jim.'
'Of course not,' I said.
'Promise.'
'I promise.'
'All right. Then I'll come.'
I kissed her gently on the forehead. 'Soon as we can find a ship we'll go to Canada. I can always get work in the mines.'
We went round to the back of the house and entered by the kitchen. Old Mrs Brynd was seated in her usual chair by the fire. She started up as we entered. 'What's happened?' she asked in a quavering voice. 'I know something terrible has happened. What is it? T'edn't no use lyin' to me. I can tell from the looks of 'ee that something's happened.'
'It's all right, Mrs Brynd,' Kitty said.
The old woman sat down in her chair again. 'The Master's come back,' she muttered. 'In a dreadful state, he was.'
'Now, don't you fret,' Kitty said.
'Better get some dry clothes on,' I told Kitty. 'Anything you want to take bundle into an oilskin. We'll have to swim for it, unless there's some place where a boat can come in.'
'Not with the wind in the sou'-west,' she answered. 'I'll do as you say. What about you? I'll get you some of old Mr Manack's clothes.'
'No, I'll get them,' I said.
'All right,' she said. 'It's the first on the left at the top of the stairs.'
I lit a spare lamp and went out into the corridor. A light glowed on the landing above. I started up the stairs, but as I reached the bend I stopped. The old man was standing there, a lamp in his left hand and the little mining pick held in his right.
We stood there looking at each other for a moment. Then I started up the stairs again. He half-raised the pick. The steel of it gleamed in the lamplight. It was a vicious little weapon. His eyes watched me as I came up the stairs. He was trembling and he kept passing his tongue across his lips.
As I came round the bend of the stairs, a shiver seemed to run through him. He gave a little moan like an animal that's been hurt. Then he turned and stumbled down the corridor. I heard his feet on the bare stairboards leading to the attic room as I reached the top of the stairs. I went after him, up the staircase to the room where he had put my mother. He was standing there in the middle of the bare room. Behind him was the iron-barred window. He was still trembling.
I pulled the door to. The key with which Mrs Brynd had opened it for him was still in the lock. I turned it. The hatch was open. He hadn't moved. He just stood there, the lamp in his hand. I went back down the little staircase then.
In his room I found all I wanted. I towelled myself down and changed into dry clothes. I found some oilskins and a sou'wester. I made a bundle of them and went downstairs to his son's office. His desk was almost clear of papers and the safe door was closed. I had expected that. He would have got rid of all dangerous papers and hidden his surplus cash. I was looking for something quite different. I found it in the bottom drawer of the desk under a pile of bills. It was a .38 Service pattern revolver. There were rounds for it in a cardboard box. I loaded the weapon and slipped it inside the oilskins; I wasn't taking any chances with Mulligan.
There was a tap at the door and Kitty entered. She had on a brown tweed suit and her hair was brushed back and tied with a ribbon. She had a bottle in her hand and a glass. 'I thought you'd need a drink,' she said hesitantly.
'What is it — Scotch?'
She nodded and poured me out half a tumblerful. 'There, drink that up,' she said. 'You need it after all you've done today.'
'I'll say I do.' She gave me the glass and I took a big gulp. I could feel the fiery liquid running down into my stomach. I gasped and drank again. 'What about you?' I asked. 'You need some, too.'
'Yes,' she said. 'Perhaps I do.'
I passed her the tumbler. She took a sip at it and made a wry face. 'Go on,' I said. 'It'll keep you warm.' She nodded and drank again. Her face flushed and she gasped.
I took the glass from her and finished it off. 'We'd better get moving,' I said, looking at my watch. It was a quarter to four.
'What about Mr Manack?'
'I've locked him in upstairs. Come on.'
I picked up a torch that was lying on a table, tested it and then followed her out into the passage. She got a small bundle of things wrapped in oilskins from the kitchen and joined me.
We left the house by the front door and went straight down through the shadowy outlines of the ruined mine workings. As we started down the slope I turned and looked back. Cripples' Ease lay like a dark shadow against the night sky. Only one light burned there. That was in the little room at the top. The bars were clearly visible, and behind them, inside the room, the old man's shadow moved back and forth across the ceiling as he paced the floor.
I went on then down the slope, my face turned to the clean wind that came up from the sea. The ruined buildings seemed remote and primitive. They stood there like decaying tombstones, marking the passage of generations of miners. They were the only indications of the honeycomb of workings running deep down below the cliffs and out under the sea. I shivered and tried to forget about the events of the last few hours. It was like a nightmare, something that only existed in the imagination. But the old engine house, built of great granite slabs, which came to meet us out of the darkness reminded me that it was all real enough, that Manack and Friar and Slim and Dave were not the first men to die like rats beneath the ground we walked on. I was glad to be going. I'm a Cornishman and a miner, but, by God, I tell you I was glad to be leaving the tin coast.
Kitty found a place where we could climb down not far from the adit mouth of Wheal Garth. We found a patch of grass halfway down and sat there, gazing out into the dark vista of the sea. Below us the waves rolled ceaselessly against the cliffs, fringing the base with a line of surf. Beyond was a dark void in which the advancing lines of the Atlantic swell were sensed rather than seen.
We had not long to wait. Just after four a dark shape drew in towards the cliffs. Kitty seized my arm and pointed. It was the Arisaig all right. I could dimly see the outline of her schooner rig. I pulled my torch out and flashed in morse: Send boat ' — Manack. There was no answering signal. I repeated the message. Still no answering signal, but a moment later a small shape detached itself from the dark bulk of the schooner and came bobbing across the waves towards the cliffs. We scrambled down to a ledge of rock that ran out into the sea. I flashed my torch to direct them. Then we stripped to our underclothes, tied our things up in the oilskins and swam out to meet the boat.
Mulligan was in the stern sheets. 'What the devil's this girl doing here?' he asked as they pulled us aboard. 'Where's Tanner?'
'Dead,' I said. 'So's Manack.'
'You're lying,' he snarled.
Briefly I told him what had happened as we lay there rocking on the long Atlantic swell. 'I don't believe ye,' he said when I'd finished.
'Then row in and take a look at the adit,' I said.
He hesitated. I could see he didn't like the idea of hanging about. Dawn would soon be breaking, and then the Arisaig would be in full view from the coastguards' look-out at Cape Cornwall. But he gave the order and the boat's bows turned in towards the cliffs. We had no difficulty in finding the mouth of the adit. Even in the dim light the sea looked a muddy brown, and where the waves beat in against the cliffs an ochre-coloured torrent foamed up from just below the surface.
He ordered the boat to put about then and the seamen pulled out from underneath the cliffs, back towards the Arisaig. 'The girl comes with me,' I said. 'Before all this happened Manack had appointed me his representative in Italy. I'll show you his letters later. If you want any more cargoes, you'd better see that we get there safely.'
He grunted, but said nothing.
Kitty was getting into her clothes. She had towelled herself down with an oilskin jacket wrapped round her. I did the same, and when I was dressed I slipped the pistol into my jacket pocket. The dark outline of the schooner showed in the gloom. In a few minutes we were on board and the boat was in its davits.
Orders were given in a subdued voice. The sails ceased to flap and bulked out as they tightened and filled. Kitty had gone for'ard to the bows. I joined her there. Behind us the light of Pendeen Watch outlined the rugged cliffs at regular intervals. But she never looked back. She stared straight ahead, her hair blowing in the wind.
The bows began to talk as they dipped and rose across the waves. I took her hand. It trembled slightly. 'We'll be married in Rome, shall we?' I said.
'Married?' She looked at me in surprise.
'Of course.'
'— I didn't know.' Her fingers tightened on my hand and her eyes were shining in the darkness. 'Oh, Jim,' she said. 'I'm so glad.'
She turned away then and stared out ahead as the schooner ploughed her way through the water. Far out across the dark sea the Wolf lighthouse winked at us. And beyond, on the edge of the horizon, the Bishop light showed for a moment, pointing the way to a new life.