Chapter VII: Duke's Beacon

THE gale was at its height. The wind beat in thunderous blasts from the sea, but the boys sleeping in their cosy beds heard nothing of the uproar. They had fallen asleep, happy in the belief that they had done something to secure the safety of those "in peril on the sea," for while they slept the thick candle they had coaxed their mother into giving them showed a brave light through the windows of the tower.

Every other light in the house was extinguished when two men made their way up the narrow path through the glen. There was no moon, and the way was hard to find in the darkness. Now and then one or other of them would stumble, uttering a fierce exclamation which was lost in the rush of the wind. But they knew the glen fairly well, and the noisy flow of the swollen stream helped them to avoid its brink.

The foremost was a short, thick-set man, who wore a rough pilot coat with its collar turned up, and a small fur cap. His companion was the fat-faced burly man who had sat beside Noel on the coach.

As they came nearer to Egloshayle House a bend of the glen afforded them some shelter from the wind and made it possible to hear each other speak. It also enabled them to see the bright light that burned in the tower.

"Hullo!" exclaimed the first man, "what on earth is the meaning of that!"

A cry of surprise and anger broke from the other. "Don't ask me!" he said. "You know more about the place than I do, Isaac."

"Someone must have placed that light there, it's certain," was Isaac's reply. "Someone may be watching there now. It may be the old wizard himself."

"How can it be when he's in France or some such place?" returned his companion.

"He may have come back," said Isaac. "You know, Ned, I told you I did not believe he would stay away as long as folks said."

"Well," said the other with an oath, "it will be the worse for him if he has come back before we have discovered where he hides his money."

"Don't talk that way, Ned. I'll have nothing to do with that sort of thing, as I told you at first; though I see no harm in helping ourselves to a little of the gold which the old chap does not know how to use."

"Nonsense, Isaac, I'm not going to kill him," replied the burly man. "I'd only give him a rap on the head that would knock him silly for a bit."

"All the same I'll have nothing to do with it," said Isaac. "I should not wonder if that light's the work of those tiresome young kids I saw in the house this morning. I had barely gone through all the old miser's drawers and cupboards when they arrived, and I heard them run up to the tower. I locked up and was off in a jiffy; but was not clear of the place when they came scampering down. They may have caught a glimpse of me."

"It was like your stupidity to let them," growled the other. "P'raps they gave an alarm and there's someone there waiting for us. We must mind what we are about."

"If he's a wizard, he may have found it out in some uncanny way," suggested Isaac. "He's been known to vanish into the ground when folks were watching him, and to stay in the cave after the sea filled it without being drowned."

"Stuff and nonsense! A pack of old women's tales!" said Ned. "If no one saw him come out of the cave, it was because he knew of some underground passage that would lead him to the top of the cliff. I have been thinking there might be something of the kind, and I mean to find out one of these days."

They had gained the top of the path, and were but a few yards from the old tower, when they were startled by the sound of a fierce bark, and a large dog sprang towards them from among the bushes. Convinced that their guilty plans had been found out they fled in desperate haste, tumbling over each other as they ran down the slope, pursued by the angry dog, till at last he was recalled by a whistle from above.

Mr. Fletcher with his dog had lingered till a late hour on the cliff to watch the grandeur of the storm. He had noted the light shining in the tower of Egloshayle House, but having so recently come into the neighbourhood he was unaware that it was unusual.

He wondered what the men were about whom his dog had disturbed. The haste with which they fled seemed to suggest that they were there for no good purpose. After waiting for some minutes to see if they would return, he walked away, resolved to give Mrs. Bryden a warning on the following day.

Ere dawn the gale had subsided, though the day proved wet and rough. About noon the rain ceased. Mr. Fletcher took a stroll with his pupil, but saw nothing of the boys and their mother. Later in the afternoon he went out again, and was entering the glen, when he saw Mrs. Bryden running down the steep path from the house, and hastened to join her, for her appearance instantly conveyed to him the idea that something was wrong.

"Oh, Mr. Fletcher," she cried breathlessly, "have you seen my boys?"

"No," he said; "have you lost them? Oh, do not look so distressed. They cannot be far off. Where did they go?"

"I wish I knew," she said. "This morning, as it was wet, I let them go and play in the old, unused part of the house. I was very busy all the morning, and I left them to themselves till dinner-time. Then I went to call them, but there was no response to my call. Thinking they were hiding for fun, I went into all the rooms and up to the tower, searching in every nook and corner; but could find them nowhere. Since then we have looked in every possible place. Oh, you cannot think how frightened I am!"

"Oh, but you must not give way to fear," he said. "Depend on it, they grew tired of being indoors, and, when they saw the rain was over, they went out. But we shall come upon them somewhere presently."

"How could they get out?" she asked. "The door below the tower, which opens on to the down, we found bolted."

"Boys do unaccountable things," he said; "they took a way of their own."

But she shook her head in despair. The worst fears had taken possession of her mind.