Page:Once a Week June to Dec 1863.pdf/726

716 On the day preceding that originally fixed for the enterprise, the conspirators assembled on the shore among the rocks, which concealed them from the view of the garrison in Mont Orgueil Castle, and also from the sight of persons who might happen to pass along the road, the more effectually that the distance between them was quite half-a-mile. Besides Captain Whitehead, there were present Turner, seven gipsies, and an Englishman who had been landed in Boulay Bay from the brig. It was in consequence of the message brought by this man that the conspirators were collected here. He had been sent to say that the wind was so favourable for a run to England, and would probably continue to blow so steadily from the same quarter for some hours, that Lieutenant Clinton thought it would be a great pity if advantage were not taken of it, particularly as at that season of the year the contrary wind blew so much more frequently. The commander of the brig, in anticipation that his suggestion would be adopted, likewise sent word that he would come round the island at sunset, and would be on the lookout for the signal on the Whale Rock; to which point he would send a boat with well-armed men on board as soon as the red light was shown, and would hoist the lanterns on board the brig as arranged.

Captain Whitehead had explained the plan by means of which he proposed they should enter the castle. The information he had got through the gipsy-girl relative to the way in which the interior of the tower was built and occupied, seemed to make the enterprise he had undertaken so easy of execution that there was scarcely anything to be said beyond this. There were no difficulties to smooth over, no objections to be met, and no arguments to be invented with the view of making the undertaking appear more facile than it really was. They were sitting in almost perfect silence therefore, probably meditating on the gain which each would derive from the delivery of Charles to his enemies in England, and waiting the return of the gipsy-girl Catty. This girl, though kind-hearted and thoughtless enough at ordinary times, had thrown herself into the furtherance of the plot with all the energy and zeal which characterises her sex when engaged in perfidious schemes, in the successful result of which not only their vanity is concerned, but the desire to receive the approbation of the man they love—a desire which is greatest when they have the most doubt whether that man loves them. It was late in the afternoon before the girl was seen waving the handkerchief she had taken from her head from a rock about midway between them and the shore. Captain Whitehead went first towards her; and the others, after waiting a few minutes, followed him, though they took different ways to reach the same spot, and appeared to be searching for something as they went with great care and attention. After a brief conversation with the gipsy-girl, Captain Whitehead told the others, when they had all arrived, that nothing would be changed in the manner of carrying out the enterprise from what had been already planned.

The night was as dark as it could he close to the sea on a calm night, where it is never entirely dark. The conspirators had no difficulty in getting to the foot of the castle unnoticed. The girl Catty came alone along the road which runs from St. Clement s Bay, and, passing round the foot of the rock on which the castle is built, began at once to ascend it towards the door in an oblique direction—a gentle stroke of the hands together being the only signal she gave to her accomplices of her arrival. It required great care to make but slow progress, on account of the steepness of the rock; nevertheless, she was closely followed by Captain Whitehead, who was followed by Turner, the gipsies creeping after each other in succession. The girl drew herself up against the door, and waited till the captain whispered to her in a low voice to knock, he himself halting at such a distance from it as to he concealed by the curvature of the wall in the event of the soldier taking the precaution to peep out before removing the whole of the fastenings. This caution on the part of the leader of the conspirators was not unnecessary: for, as you will see if you are not afraid to descend the rotten staircase, there is a stout chain which is long enough to allow the door to be opened a few inches without its removal from the hook. As if somebody had been standing behind the iron-plated door waiting for this sound, it was no sooner heard than there was a creaking of bolts, succeeded by a low rattling of the links of a chain. A short silence followed, and the girl could just distinguish the face of the young soldier who had acted as the medium of communication between her and Charles. A moment more and the door was gently opened. She stepped quickly on the threshold, and before it could be closed again she had, with Dalilah-like treachery, thrown her arms round the young man, and forced him gently back against the wall. It is not unlikely that he, having no reason to believe that she was a Lucretia, put the interpretation on her action most flattering to his self-love. At all events, he does not seem to have suspected treachery, and in the thoughts of deceiving his master was as quiet as the conspirators could desire. He did not remain long in this fool’s-paradise; for a dark figure which knelt beside the girl, after remaining motionless for a moment, suddenly thrust its arm upwards, a dull gleam was visible in the darkness, and the girl felt the man she was clasping in her arms slide gently from them to the ground without uttering a sound. A deed like this had not entered her thoughts, and she turned hastily, and without heeding the caution whispered into her ear, began to descend the rocks, taking the direction opposite to that by which the men of her tribe were approaching.

The captain having satisfied himself that Turner was close behind him, concluded that the others also were following, and began to ascend the staircase leading to Charles’s room. Holding a dagger in his hand, the captain crept quietly up the narrow winding stairs; so quietly, that if Charles heard him, he might well have imagined that it was merely his agent, and the girl whose presence he was expecting. Suddenly the silence was broken by the sound of dull blows, as though a body was being violently driven against thick timber or stone. Stifled cries for help, which,