Page:In the Roar of the Sea.djvu/99

Rh was traced in the side, and up this Jamie and the dog scrambled, followed by Judith, who was most anxious to escape from a place which she had no doubt was one of the shelter caves of the smugglers—perhaps of Cruel Coppinger, whose house was not a mile distant. The ascent was steep, the path slippery in places, and therefore dangerous. Jamie made nothing of it, nor did the little dog, but Judith picked her way with care; she had a good steady head, and did not feel giddy, but she was not sure that her feet might not slide in the clay where wet with water that dripped from the sides. As she neared the entrance she saw that hartstongue and maidenhair fern had rooted themselves in the sheltered nooks of this tunnel. After a climb of a hundred feet she came out on a ledge in the face of the cliff above the bay, to see, with a gasp of dismay, her brother in the hand of Cruel Coppinger, the boy paralyzed with fear so that he could neither stir nor cry out. "What!" exclaimed the Captain, "you here?" as he saw Judith stand before him. The puppy was barking and snapping at his boots. Coppinger let go Jamie, stooped and caught the dog by the neck. "Look at me," said the smuggler sternly, addressing the frightened boy. Then he swung the dog above his head and dashed it down the cliffs; it caught, then rolled, and fell out of sight—certainly with the life beaten out of it. "This will be done to you," said he; "I do not say that I would do it. She"—he waved his hand toward Judith—"stands between us. But if any of the fifteen to twenty men who know this place and come here should chance to meet you as I have met you, he would treat you without compunction as I have treated that dog. And if he were to catch you below—you have heard of Wyvill, the Preventive man?—you would fare as did he. Thank your sister that you are alive now. Go on—that way—up the cliff." He pointed with a telescope he held. Jamie fled up the steep path like the wind. "Judith," said Coppinger, "will you stand surety that he does not tell tales?" "I do not believe he will say anything."

"I do not ask you to be silent. I know you will not