The Old Tobacco Shop Part 18

The raft went on steadily and quietly through the water, the moon glittered on the sea, the raft settled deeper and deeper, and there was absolute silence on the ocean, except for a slight groan which came regularly and gently from the nose of the Churchwarden.

CHAPTER XV

A FALL IN THE DARK

Freddie was the first to be awake in the morning. He was cramped and stiff. He sat up straight, rubbed his eyes, and stretched his arms. He looked abroad, and the sight which met him caused him to grasp Aunt Amanda's hand in excitement.

"Land!" he cried, so loud that everyone awoke.

"Blamed if it ain't," said Toby, and put on his white derby hat, considering that he had thereby dressed himself for the day.

All the others sat bolt upright, and stared across the smooth blue sea, sparkling in the sunlight.

Not more than a quarter of a mile away rose a tall black cliff straight up out of the water. It stretched away on either hand for miles and miles, and came to an end in the ocean at the right hand and the left, so that it was probably the side of an island. The sea rolled up and down at the foot of the cliff, making a beautiful white splash against the rocks.

"But how on earth," said Aunt Amanda, "are we ever to get ash.o.r.e on such a place as that?"

"We're moving towards it," said Freddie.

"Blamed if we ain't," said Toby. "We'll soon know whether we can get ash.o.r.e or not."

They moved very slowly, and it was a long time before they came close enough to the cliff to see what their chances of a landing might be.

They floated at last within two or three hundred yards of the cliff. It was very dangerous looking; the waves rolled over huge black rocks at its foot and broke in white foam against its side; it seemed the last place in the world for a landing.

A great swell rolled in from the sea and brought them nearer the breakers.

"My word!" cried Mr. Punch, excitedly. "There's a harch!"

"A what?" said Toby.

"See!" said Aunt Amanda. "There's a little archway in the rock, like the mouth of a cave, over there to the right! Don't you see? With the water pouring in! Over there!"

It was true. There was an archway, like the mouth of a cave; and into this the water was streaming in a strong current, making a kind of pa.s.sage-way, more or less smooth, through the breakers.

"Yes!" said Freddie. "And I believe we're headed towards it!"

Their course changed a little to the right, as if the fish who was piloting them had now taken a correct bearing. They found themselves in a pa.s.sage through the breakers where the water swirled in towards the arch. They were caught in this current and were swept to a point close under the towering black rocks, and in another moment they were directly before the opening. The current seized the raft as if with strong hands and drew it in.

They were in a cavern, narrow and high, whose interior was lost in darkness. The current carried them onward into the dark. The roar of the breakers suddenly ceased, and as they looked behind them the archway was no more than a speck of light. Their raft turned slightly to the left, and at that moment the speck of light disappeared, as if they had turned a corner; and the darkness became so black that no one could see even the person sitting next to him.

"I wonder," said Toby, "if there are any matches and candles on board this boat. I'm going to see."

He was silent for a while, and it was evident from the tilting of the raft that he had moved his position. Finally he said "Ah!" and a match spluttered and went out in the breeze which was blowing past them; but after it went out there remained a glimmer, and Toby was holding up a lighted candle, and s.h.i.+elding it from the draught with his hand.

"Found 'em in the tin with the biscuits," said Toby.

He held the candle on high so that its little beam searched out the darkness in front and on both sides.

They were in a narrow pa.s.sage-way. On each side was a wall of solid rock, not ten feet beyond the edge of the raft. How high the wall was they could not tell, for it was lost in the darkness overhead. They were slipping along a narrow alley-way of water. Toby held the candle higher, and everyone peered into the darkness ahead; but it was impossible to see more than a few yards.

"I wish it distinctly understood," said the Sly Old Codger, "that I am here under--"

"Never mind," said Aunt Amanda, "my orders as captain is, to say nothing and wait and see what will happen."

The raft turned a corner to the right, and slipped on silently in that direction for a long distance, probably for more than a mile. Then the raft turned again, this time to the left; and after about ten minutes longer Toby suddenly said, "S-s.h.!.+ What's that?" They all listened, and heard afar off a sound as of rus.h.i.+ng water, very faint, but unmistakable.

"Er--excuse me," said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg. "Do you think--ahem!--there is any--er--_danger_?"

"I don't like it," said Aunt Amanda. "I don't think it's safe in here."

"I think we are lower in the water," said Freddie.

"So we are," said Toby. "The water's coming up over the top now, and if we don't get on dry land soon, we'll all be sitting in a puddle."

In spite of its being water-logged and lower in the water, the raft was beginning to go faster, for the current had suddenly become swifter. The wind blew stronger; it swept through the narrow pa.s.sage-way so briskly that Toby put his hat over the candle; but he was too late; the light wavered and went out. A groan went up from the company.

"I can hear that rus.h.i.+ng sound plainer," said Aunt Amanda.

"Hit's wery like a water-fall," said Mr. Punch.

"I wish it understood," said the Sly Old Fox, "distinctly understood, that I am here under protest. If I had ever for one moment imagined--"

"O-o-oh!" screamed Aunt Amanda. "We're going--faster--o-o-oh!"

She threw her arm around Freddie and held him tight. The current suddenly became swifter; the raft, almost under water, was leaping forward at a frightful speed. Directly ahead of them, growing louder and louder, was the roar of rus.h.i.+ng water.

"Hold--on--tight, Freddie!" cried Aunt Amanda.

"We'll all be done for," shouted Toby, "in another--minute, I reckon,--hold--on--tight!"

As Toby said this, the raft almost galloped. The roar of falling water burst on them from close ahead. The raft seemed to rise up and then to sink down. Its nose slanted downward. The roar of falling water was all about them. Aunt Amanda screamed, but no one could hear her. The raft paused and teetered for an instant; then it pointed downward, almost straight, and the whole party, the raft, and the fish under the raft, plunged downward through the darkness on a cascade of tumbling water; down, down, down; the raft shot from under and the pa.s.sengers shot off; in a twinkling they were going down the water-fall on their backs. Would they never reach the bottom? There did not seem to be any bottom; but--

In another moment, there were Aunt Amanda and Freddie (her arm still about him) standing on their feet in about twenty-four inches of quiet water on a solid bottom. Dark forms appeared, one after another, beside them, and almost at once all the party were standing together in a group, in about two feet of quiet water, on a solid bottom.

"I fear," said the voice of the Sly Old Codger, "that I have lost my hat."

They could see that they were in a great chamber, whose walls they could make out dimly on each side. They could not see the top of the water-fall, but they could see its lower part very plainly. Through the tumbling water of the fall, near the bottom, sunlight was s.h.i.+ning.

Behind the water was an opening some six feet high, and as the water fell across this opening the sunlight from without shone through it, making it glow with green and sparkle with white. The water-fall hung over this opening like a curtain.

"Well," said Aunt Amanda, "I'm pretty near drowned, and my clothes are a sight to behold. But I'm the captain of this expedition, and my orders is, that we go ash.o.r.e."

The water proved to be shallow all about them, and they waded to a strip of dry ground beside the wall which rose at their left as they faced the fall. Aunt Amanda, whose cane was gone, was a.s.sisted by Mr. Toby and Mr. Punch.

"Blamed if my hat ain't gone too," said Toby. "She was a good hat, I'll have to say that for her."