Here she checked her thoughts, for the boys and Mr. Finnigan were only a few paces ahead and were talking of the monstrous fine lunch Aunt Kellinack had given them-and how, when they got back to Eton, they'd teach the fellows in Dickson's to roast herrings' roes like these pilchards', and eat them all hot in Frenchtoast sandwiches. H° CHAPTER XXIV FATHER AND SONS ORATIO and Walter with their high spirits and instinct for adventure-or mischief as Lady Beckensawe felt it to be-were a little troublesome. The snow had spoiled most out-of-door occupations, and even skating, in which their father had made them experts, was not possible on the fish-pond until the men had cleared it of snow. The squire's boys were too small for anything but fagging, and suffered much from nursery solicitude. Hence the two young guests, on the evening of introduction to the fishermen's home, had agreed, at their mother's request, to bring their books into Sir Nick's small library and try for a spell to be young gentlemen instead of wild Indians. Horatio even acquiesced in a task of his mother's suggestion, that he should turn into Latin hexameters certain lines from Pope's Messiah, appropriate to the Christmas season. 'Lo, Earth receives him from the bending skies; The lambs and wolves shall grace the verdant mead, The steer and lion at one crib shall meet And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet!" The exercise was one to keep him happy, if only because, being his mother's son, he found a facile pleasure in his verses. This particular exploit, moreover, was to be sporting; neither he nor madam should use dictionary or gradus, and whichever first succeeded was to receive a prize from the loser. But Walter had demurred to any such encroachments on his freedom; he'd train a cock against one of his mother'sand he'd train and spur hers too—and she could take her pick for a guinea a side; but he wasn't going to be bamboozled by the plaguy hog-wash that saps like Horry swallowed at Eton! So while Walter was deep in Robinson Crusoe, Horatio was busy with Isaiah's prophecy tricked out in motley by Pope, and did his school-boy best, with dactyl and spondee, to spoil it further, so that perhaps an Eton master if not a Roman orator might construe the lines. But after some minutes' silence, Horatio began to laugh: "Madam," he said, "I've won the prize! Ask Sir Nick if I haven't—though I've done but one line!" His mother asking for it, he re-copied it slowly in his exercise-book with an occasional chuckle, and handed her his verse, saying: You know what a crib is at Eton, madam? Well, here's a fine translation—a little free perhaps, but I'll wager the fifth will never forget it! Thus the lines ran: "The steer and lion at one crib shall meet! Heu! facinus secretum discipulo atque magistro Lady Evangeline beamed upon Horatio in the way he adored, and handed the copy to the squire, who, quite equal to the school-boy Latin, set up a roar of laughter that was checked only by the announcement of the 1 This Latin which would surely have earned its author the birch at Eton, may be given in English thus: Alas! the same crib offers secret fraud to master and pupil : Beware the sharp-toothed dog! Rev. Mr. Barker. He came in with more news than manners: the missing officer had been found! Old Dr. Ralph in an attack of mental lucidity had told him the gentleman was incarcerated in certain caves communicating with the cellars of Trannion Priory, guarded by a dozen fully armed smugglers. It was to be raided on the morrow and the officer liberated. The squire was incensed that he had not been informed in the first place, but was yet glad that he could do nothing himself before morning. Not a word escaped the boys' ears, or failed to foster their indignation against the unfortunate gentleman; not a word of Latin poetry or English prose again occupied their thoughts; and during the remainder of the evening their mother was much gratified at their self-control. But the minds of both were filled with plotting; and, as soon as they were in their bedchamber, they agreed to explore this Skeleton Priory -of which they had heard many a grim tale from the grooms-and get word with its prisoner. The adventurous spirit of their mother and the hatred of injustice she had been at such pains to foster in their hearts, were curiously bound up with the class-insolence encouraged by their father. So that before now they had found themselves in disgrace for an impertinent correction of their inferiors although it had been instigated by the chivalrous spirit of their mother. Hence they were no more than consistent in a determination to get word with this " perjured gallows-murderer, this whipper-snapper of a subaltern in a scurvy lineregiment." They would tell him what they thought of him, and of how their father should tell the King of his monstrous doings. Before daybreak, they crept out, and the waning moon shone brightly over the snow. Made curious by their mother's description of the place, they had already undertaken one expedition to the ruin's vicinity; but, with neither object nor excuse for exploring it, they had lacked courage to encounter the mad doctor and his fierce dogs. The ghastliness of the snow-clad house, with its impenetrable blackness of window-space and roofhole, was tenfolded in the moonlight. So, as they entered the avenue they must tread softly even in the thick snow, lest they disturb the doctor and his dogs, or something worse. Walter, indeed, stopped short for a moment, staring and paralysed, when they came upon the snow-laden tree and the courtyard. Something in the look of things suggested terror to him, and for years afterwards, whenever bad dreams assailed him, they always centred round that abandoned house and that ghastly tree. Horatio had to drag his brother along, till, boldly yet still creeping, they entered the hall and found it, to their infinite relief, passably lit, thanks to the widening dawn and the three tall empty windows. A cherished possession of the younger boy's was a dark lantern, which they had lit before leaving the Hall -neither being very expert with flint and steel when in a hurry; and they were now glad of their foresight. They crossed the hall, treading warily among the strong brambles that sprawled over the rotten flooring. For one moment Walter was again overcome; he stared out upon the gallows-like tree, and pointed at it; but Horatio, alarmed only for his brother's fear, again roughly turned him away-" You'll have the dogs on us, you silly baa-lamb!" he cried-and with lantern now opened to shed its light, led him firmly towards a doorway beyond. Here, leaving the wide stairway on their left, they entered a flagged passage, passed several rooms and then found a spiral stairway leading down. Bolder now, they descended, Walter ahead since the lantern was his. Cellar upon cellar they encountered and explored, and the wind blew down the stairway from behind them, straight ahead, and away into some unknown deeps. |