"But where's Shock?" I said all at once.

Ike gave his head a jerk towards the cart, and I ran and looked over the tailboard, to see a heap of sacks and some straw, but no Shock. In one corner, though, there was a strongly made boot, and I took hold of that, to find it belonged to something alive, for its owner began to kick fiercely.

"Better jump in, my lad," said Ike, and we did so, when, the seat having been set right so as to balance the weight, Ike gave a chirrup, and we went off at a good round trot.

"Let him be," said Ike as I drew his attention to the heap of straw and sacks. "He goes best when you let him have his own way. He'll go to sleep for a bit, and I dessay we can manage to get on without him. His conversation isn't so very entertaining."

I laughed, and for about an hour we trotted on, the whole affair being so novel and strange that I felt quite excited, and wondered that Ike neither looked to right nor left, but seemed to be studying the horse's ears.

The fact was his thoughts were running in one particular direction, and I soon found which, for he began in his morose way:

"Just as if I should overload or ill-use a hoss! Look at old Bonyparty."

"What do you mean?" I said.

"Why, him talking like that afore we started. I know what I'm about. You'd better lie down and cover yourself over with some sacks. Get a good sleep; I'll call you when we get there."

"What, and miss seeing the country?" I cried.

"Seeing the country! Lor', what a baby you are, Mars Grant! What is there to see in that?"

I thought a great deal; and a glorious ride it seemed through the moonlight and under the dark shadows of the trees in the country lanes. Then there was the dawn, and the sun rising, and the bright morning once more, with the dew glittering on the grassy strands and hedgerows; and I was so happy and excited that Ike said, with one of his grim smiles:

"Why, anybody'd think you was going out for a holiday 'stead of helping to load a sand cart."

"It's such a change, Ike," I said.

"Change! What sort o' change? Going to use a shovel 'stead of a spade; and sand's easy to dig but awful heavy. Here, get up; are you going to lie snoring there all day?"

He leaned over me and poked with the butt of the whip handle at Shock, but that gentleman only kicked and growled, and so he was left in peace.

Just before eight o'clock, after a glorious morning ride through a hilly country, we came to a pretty-looking village with the houses covered in with slabs of stone instead of slates or tiles or thatch, and the soft grey, and the yellow and green lichen and moss seemed to make the place quaint and wonderfully attractive to me; but I was not allowed to sit thinking about the beauty of the place, for Ike began to tell me of the plan of our campaign.

"Yon's the sand-hill," he said, pointing with his whip as he drew up at a little inn. "We'll order some braxfass here; then while they're briling the bacon we'll take the cart up to the pit and leave it, and bring the horse back to stop in the stable till we want him again."

The order was given, and then we had a slow climb up a long hill to where, right at the top, the road had been cut straight through, leaving an embankment, forty or fifty feet high, on each side, while, for generations past, the sand had been dug away till the embankments were some distance back from the road.

"Just like being on the sea-shore," said Ike. "I see the ocean once. Linkyshire cost. All sand like this. Rum place, ain't it?"

"I think it's beautiful," I said as the cart was drawn over the yielding sand, the horse's hoofs and the wheels sinking in deep, while quite a cliff, crowned with dark fir-trees, towered above our heads. The face of the sandy cliff was scored with furrows where the water had run down, and here it was reddish, there yellow or cream colour, and then dazzlingly white, while just below the top it was honey-combed with holes.

"San'-martins' nesties," said Ike, pointing with his whip. "There's clouds of 'em sometimes. There they go."

He pointed to the pretty white-breasted birds as they darted here and there, and on we still went, jolting up and down in the sandy bottom, where there was only a faint track, till we were opposite to a series of cavern-like holes and the sand cliff towered up with pine-trees here and there half-way down where the sand had given way or been undermined, and they had glided down a quarter—half—three parts of the distance. In short, it was a lovely, romantic spot, with a view over the pleasant land of Surrey on our right, and on our left a cliff of beautiful salmon-coloured sand, side by side with one that was quite white.

"You won't get better sand than that nowheres," said Ike, standing up and getting out of the cart, an example I followed. "Here we'll pitch, Mars Grant, and—"

Quickly and silently, as he gave me a comical look, he unhitched a chain or two, unbuckled the belly-band, and let the shafts fly up.

The result was that Shock's head went bang against the tail-board, and then his legs went over it, and he came out with a curious somersault, and stared about only half awake, and covered with straw and sacks.

He jumped up angrily, and as soon as he saw that we were laughing at him, turned his back, and kicked the sand at us like a pawing horse; but Ike gave the whip a flick at him, and told him to put the sacks in the cart.

"No one won't touch them. Come along, old horse," he cried; and, leading the way, the horse followed us with the reins tucked in its pad, and we waded through the sand in which Juno rolled and tried to burrow till we were out once more in the hard road, where the dog had to be whistled for, consequent upon her having started a rabbit.

We found her at last, trying to get into a hole that would have been a tight fit for a terrier, and she came reluctantly away.

The most delicious breakfast I ever tasted was ready at the little inn; but Ike saw to his horse first, and did not sit down till it was enjoying its corn, after a good rub down with a wisp of straw. Then the way in which we made bread and bacon disappear was terrible, for the journey had given us a famous appetite.

Shock would not join us, preferring the society of the horse in the stable, but he did not fare badly. I saw to that.

At last after a final look at the horse, who was to rest till evening, we walked back to the sand-pit, climbing higher and higher into the sweet fresh air, till we were once more by the cart, when Ike laid one hand upon the wheel and raised the other.

"Look here, lads," he said; "that horse must have eight hours' rest 'fore tackling her load, and a stop on the way home, so let's load up at once with the best coarse white—we can do it in half an hour or so— then you two can go rabbiting or bird-nesting, or what you like, while I have a pipe and a sleep in the sand till it's time to get something to eat and fetch the horse and go."

"Where's a shovel?" I cried; and Shock jumped into the cart for another.

"Steady, lads, steady," said Ike; "plenty of time. Only best coarse white, you know. Wait till I've propped the sharps and got her so as she can't tilt uppards. That's your sort. She's all right now. We don't want no more berryin's, Mars Grant, do we? Now, then, only the best white, mind. Load away."

He set the example, just where the beautiful white sand seemed to have trickled, down from the cliff till it formed a softly rounded slope, and attacking this vigorously we were not long before Ike cried:

"Woa!"

"But it isn't half full," I cried.

"No, my lad. If it was," said Ike, "our horse couldn't pull it. That stuff's twice as heavy as stones. There, stick in your shovels, and now be off. Don't go far. You ought with that dog to find us a rabbit for dinner."

Shock's eyes flashed, and he looked quite pleased, forgetting to turn his back, and seeming disposed for once to be friendly, as, with Juno at our heels, we started up the sandy bottom on an expedition that proved one of the most adventurous of our lives.



CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

LOST!

Purple heath, golden gorse, and tufts of broom. Tall pines with branches like steps to tempt you to climb. Regular precipices after climbing above the sand-pit, from which you could jump into the soft sand, and then slide and roll down to the bottom. Once I jumped upon a little promontory high above the slope, and it gave way, and I slid down on about a ton of matted root and earth and sand.

Then we climbed to the sand-martins' nests, and slipped down or rolled down, and climbed again, and along ledges, and thrust in our arms, but nesting was over for the year, and the swift little birds made their nurseries beyond our reach, for we did not find the bottom of one single hole.

Shock was full of fun, and shouted and threw sand at Juno, who barked, and made believe to bite him, and rolled over and over with him down some slope, to be half buried in the sand at the bottom.

We soon forgot all about Ike, but we once smelt a whiff of tobacco, which seemed to be mingled with the sweet scent of the pines in the hot sunshine.

There were butterflies, too, red admirals, that came flitting into the sandy bottom, and settled on the face of the sandy cliff, but always sailed away before we got near. Then we went out on to the wild heathery waste to the south, and chased lizards in the dry short growth. Then Shock uttered an excited cry and drew back Juno, who was sniffing, and struck two or three rapid blows at something, ending by stooping and raising a little writhing serpent by the tail.

"Nedder," he said, and he crushed it beneath his heel.

There were grasshoppers, too, by the thousand, and furze, and stone-chats flitting from bush to bush, while sometimes a dove winged its way overheard, or uttered its deep coo from the pine-wood at the foot of the hill.

Delicious blue sky overhead; a view all about that seemed to fade into a delicious bluey pink; and the sweet warm odour of the earth rising to be breathed and drunk in and enjoyed; the place seemed to me a very paradise, and the dog appeared to enjoy it as much as I.

Shock rarely spoke to me, but he did not turn his back. The boy was as excited as the dog, going down on all-fours to push his way amongst the heath and broom, and scratch some hole bigger where it was evident that a rabbit had made his home. Then he was after a butterfly; then stalking a bird, as if he expected to catch it without the proverbial salt for its tail; and I'm afraid I was just as wild.

I don't know that I need say afraid, for our amusement was innocent enough, and you must remember that we were two boys, who resembled Juno, the dog, in this respect that we were let loose for a time, and enjoying the freedom of a scamper over the hills.

We had gone some distance through the pines, when, as we turned back and came to where they suddenly ended, and the earth down the slope seemed to be covered with pine needles, and was all heather and short fine furze, I sat down suddenly on the soft fir leaves, taking off my cap for the sweet fresh breeze to blow through my hair. Shock flung himself down on his chest, and the dog couched between us with her eyes sparkling, her mouth open, and her tongue out and curled up at the end, as she panted with fatigue and excitement.

"I say," cried Shock all at once, with his face flushed, and his eyes full of excitement, "don't let's go back—let's stop and live here. I'll find a cave in the sand."

"And what are we to live on?" I said.

"Rabbits, and birds, and snails, and fish—there's a big pond down there. Let's stop. There'll be nuts and blackberries, and whorts, and pig-nuts, and mushrooms. There's plenty to eat. Let's stop."

He looked up at me eagerly.

"I can make traps for birds, and ketch rabbits, and—look, there she goes."

He started to his feet, for there was a bound and a rustle just below us, as a rabbit suddenly found it was in danger, and darted away to find out a place of refuge lower down the hill.

"Hey, dog! on, dog!" cried Shock, clapping his hands; and Juno took up the scent directly, running quickly in and out amongst, the furze and heath, while Shock and I followed for about a quarter of a mile, when, panting and hot, we came upon Juno carrying a fine rabbit in her mouth, for this time she had overtaken it before one of the burrows was reached.

"Good dog!" cried Shock. "Dinner;" and, taking the rabbit by the hind legs, the dog wagged her tail as if asking whether she had not done that well, and followed us as we went back to where we had seen the holes in the sandy cliff.

We avoided the cut near which we knew that Ike would be having his nap, and, making our way to the bottom of the cliff, we selected one of the biggest of the holes, stooped and went in, and found that it widened out to some ten or a dozen feet, and then ran back, thirty or forty.

It seemed to be partly natural, partly to have been scooped out by hand, while it certainly seemed just the place for us.

"We'll stop here," cried Shock. "You go and get a lot of wood from up a-top, where there's lots lying, while I skins the rabbud."

"What are you going to do?" I said.

"Make a fire and cook him for dinner."

I was in no wise unwilling, for it seemed very good fun, and going out I climbed up through a narrow gully and into the fir-wood, where I soon found a good armful of wood, carried it to the edge of the cliff, just over the mouth of the hole, and went back and got another and another.

When I climbed down again I found Shock busy finishing his task, and as I entered Juno was making a meal of the skin peppered with sand.

Shock came out after sticking his knife in the cliff wall for a peg on which to hang the rabbit, and we soon put the wood inside the hole, where, Shock being provided with matches, we soon had a fire burning, and from the way in which it drew into the cave it seemed as if there must be a hole somewhere, and this I found in the shape of a crack in the roof, through which the smoke rose.

The novelty of the idea kept me from minding the smoke, and I entered into the fun of keeping up the fire, feeding it with bits of wood, while Shock skewered the rabbit on a neatly cut stick, and placed it where the fire was clear of smoke, so that it soon began to hiss and assume a pleasanter colour than the bluish-red that a skinned rabbit generally wears.

The fire burned freely, and Shock lay down on his chest and kicked his heels about after the fashion practised when he was on the top of the market cart.

His face was a study, as he watched the progress of his cookery; while Juno took the other side of the fire, couched, and watched the hissing sputtering rabbit too, as if calculating how much she would get for her share.

I looked at them for a few minutes, and then, finding the smoke rather too much for me, not being such an enthusiast about cooking as Shock, I began to explore the sand-cave, to find it ended about a dozen paces in from the fire, and that there was nothing more to see, while the place was very smoky and very hot.

"Here, come and watch the rabbud while I go and get some more wood," shouted Shock to me.

"No, thank you," I said. "You may watch the cooking. I'll get some wood."

I hung my jacket on a stone that stuck out of the wall and went out for the wood, glad to be away from the heat and smoke, and after climbing up among the firs I collected and brought back a good faggot, with which the fire was fed till Shock declared the rabbit done.

"Are you ready?" he said.

"Ready!" I replied, as I looked at the half-raw, half-burned delicacy. "No: I don't want any, Shock. You may have it."

"You don't want none?" he said, staring at me with astonishment.

"No: I've got some sandwiches in my pocket, and I shall eat them by and by."

"Oh, all right!" he said; and, taking his pocket-knife, he cut off the rabbit's head and held it out to the dog.

"There's your bit," he said. "Be off."

Juno took the hot delicacy rather timorously; but she seemed to give the donor a grateful look, and then trotted out into the sunshine, and lay down to crunch the bones.

The fire was nearly out, the fir-wood burning fiercely and quickly away; but though it was a nuisance to me it seemed to find favour with Shock, who set to work, like the young savage he was, tearing off and devouring the rabbit, throwing the bones together, ready for the dog when she should come back. I felt half disgusted, and yet hungry, so, going to where I had hung my jacket, I thought I would get out the sandwiches Mrs Solomon had cut for me; but as I turned round and looked at Shock I felt that I should enjoy them better if I waited till he had done.

So I leaned against the rough side of the sand-cave, watching him tear away at the bones, holding a piece in one hand, the remains of the rabbit in the other.

I remember it all so well—him sitting there with just a faint blue curl of smoke rising from the embers, and beyond him, seen as it were in a rugged frame formed by the low entrance of the hole, was the lovely picture of hill and vale, stretching far as the eye could reach, and all bright in the sunshine, and with the bare sky beyond.

I was just thinking what a rough-looking object Shock seemed as he sat there just in the entrance to the hole, and wishing that, now he had a good situation and was decently clothed, he would become like other boys, when I saw Juno come slowly towards Shock, wagging her tail and showing her teeth as if asking for more bones, but she suddenly whisked round and darted away, as, with a noise like a dull clap of thunder, something seemed to shut out the scene from the mouth of the hole, I felt a puff of heat and smoke in my face, and all was darkness.

I stood there as if petrified for a minute, I should think, quite unable to make out what was the matter, and panting for breath.

Then the thought came like a flash, that a quantity of sand had fallen, and blocked up the mouth of the cave.

For a moment or two I felt as if I should fall. Then the instinct of self-preservation moved me to act, and with my hands stretched out before me I went quietly towards the entrance.

"Shock! Shock!" I cried, but there was no reply, and it sounded as if my voice was squeezed up in a narrowed space; then I seemed to hear a rustling noise as I stepped forward, I was kicked violently in the shins and fell forward with my hands plunging into a mass of soft sand, and to my horror I found that I was lying upon my companion, who was half buried.

The perspiration stood out all over me as I leaped to my feet; and then went down again to find that Shock was kicking frantically, and a moment's investigation told me that he could not extricate himself.

Seizing one of his legs, which as I grasped by the ankle and clasped it to my side, kept giving spasmodic jerks, I dragged with all my might, and found I could not move him; but as I dragged again he seemed to give a tremendous throb, and I went backwards, followed, it seemed to me in the darkness, by a quantity of soft sand; but Shock was free, for I could feel him by me lying on his face, and as I turned him over he uttered a groan.

And now a horrible sensation of fear came over me as I thoroughly realised that I was buried alive in that sand-cave. I felt that my climbing about on the top of the cliff had loosened or cracked the compressed sand. Shock and I had jumped about over it when we threw down the wood we had gathered, and that seemed to be the explanation of the mishap.

But I had no time to think of this now, for the thought that perhaps Shock was killed, suffocated, came over me with terrible force, and I bent over him, feeling his face, his heart, and hands.

His heart was beating fast, and his hands were warm, but though I spoke to him over and over again, in the darkness, there was no answer, and with a cry of despair I threw myself on my knees, when all at once he shouted:

"Hullo!"

"Shock," I cried, "I'm here."

"What yer do that for?" he cried fiercely.

"I didn't do anything."

"Yes, yer did," he cried. "Yer threw a lump o' sand on my head. I'm half blind, and my ears is full. Just wait till I gets hold on yer, I'll pay yer for it."

Then he began panting, and spitting, and muttering about his eyes, and at last—"Here, where are yer?"

"I'm here, close by you," I said. "Don't you understand? The sand has fallen and shut us in."

There was silence for a few minutes—a terrible painful silence to me, as I felt that I was face to face with death. Then Shock seemed to have grasped the situation, for he said coolly enough:

"Like the rabbuds. Well, we shall have to get out."

"Yes, but how?" I cried.

"Same's they do. Scratch yer way, and make a hole. I don't mind, do you?"

"Mind!" I said, "it's horrible."

"Is it?" he replied quietly. "Why?"

"Don't you see—"

"No," he said sharply, "not werry well. I can a little."

"But I mean, don't you understand?" I cried in an awe-stricken choking voice, "that if we don't get out soon, we shall die."

"What, like when you kills a rabbud or a bird?"

"Yes."

"Get out!" he cried in contemptuous tones. "I hadn't finished my rabbud, and my eyes is half full of sand still."

"Never mind the rabbit," I said angrily, "let's try and dig our way out."

"Let Ikey do it," he said, "he's got the shovels."

"But will he find out where we are," I cried, for I must own to being terribly unnerved, and ready to marvel at Shock's coolness.

"Why, of course he will," said Shock. "I say, don't you be frightened. You don't mind the dark, do you?"

"I don't mind the dark," I replied, "but it's horrible to be shut in here."

"Why, it's only sand," he said, "only sand, mate."

"But it nearly smothered you," I cried. "It would have smothered you if I hadn't pulled you out."

"Yes, but that was because it fell atop of my head and held me down, else it wouldn't. I thought it was your games."

I had never heard Shock talk like this before. Our mutual distress seemed to have made us friends, and I felt ready to shake hands with him and hold on by his arm.

"I say," he cried, his voice sounding, like mine, more and more subdued—at least so it seemed to me—"I say, I weren't looking; it didn't go down on the dog too—did it?"

"No, Shock, I saw her run away."

There was a few moments' silence and then he said:

"Well, I am glad of that. I likes dorgs, and we was reg'lar good friends."

"Hark!" I said; "is that Ike digging?"

"No," he said; "it was some more sand tumbled down, I think."

I knew he was right, for there was a dull thud, and then another; but whether inside or outside I could not tell. It made me tremble though; for I wondered whether I should be able to struggle out if part of the roof came down upon my head.

All at once Shock began to whistle—not a tune, but something of an imitation of a blackbird; and as I was envying him his coolness in danger I heard a scratching noise and saw a line of light. Then there was another scratch and a series of little sparkles. Another scratch, and a blue flame as the brimstone on the end caught fire; and then, as the splint of wood burned up, I could see in the midst of a ring of light the face of Shock, looking very intent as he bent over the burning match, and held to it the wick of a little end of a common tallow candle.

"I allus carries a bit o' candle out of the lanthorns," he said, showing his teeth; and then he held up the light, and I could see that the opening to the cave was completely closed up, just as if the roof had all come down, and the cave we were in was not half the size it was at first, a slope of sand encroaching on the floor. I felt chilled, for I felt that it would be impossible to tunnel through that sand.

"Now, then," said Shock coolly, "that there's the way—ain't it? Well, we don't want no light to see to do that; so you put it out 'case we wants it agen, and put it in yer pocket. I'll go down on my knees and have first scratch, and when I'm tired you shall try, and we'll soon get through it. We won't wait for Ike."

I longed to keep the candle burning, but what Shock said seemed to be right; so I put it out, and as I did so I saw the boy begin to scratch away as hard as he could at the sand in the direction of the entrance, and then in the dark I could hear him panting away like some wild animal.

"I say," he cried at last.

"Yes," I said.

"It don't seem no good. More you pulls it away, more it comes down. It's like dry water, and runs all through your hands."

"Let me have a try," I said.

"All right. You go where I did, and keep straight on."

Keep straight on! It was, as he said, like grasping at water; and the more I tore at it, in the hope of making a tunnel through, the more it came pouring down, till in utter despair I gave it up and told Shock it was no good.

"Never mind," he said. "It's dry and warm. I've been in worse places than this is, where you couldn't keep the rain out. Let's sit down and talk. I say I wish I'd got the rest o' my rabbud."

I didn't answer, for, hot, weary, and despairing at our position, I was lying down on the sand with my hands covering my face.

I don't know how long a time passed, for I felt confused and strange; but I was aroused by Shock, who exclaimed suddenly:

"Here, I want to get out of this. Let's have another try at scratching a hole."

I heard him move, and then he struck a light again so as to see where to begin.

"Must know, you see," he said. "If I get scratching at the wrong side, it would take so long to get out."

In spite of my trouble I could not help feeling amused, there seemed to be something so droll in the idea of Shock burrowing his way right into the hill and expecting to get out; but the next moment I was listening to him and watching the tiny spark at the end of the burned match die out.

Rustle, rustle, rustle, he went on, and every now and then there was a loud panting such as some wild animal would make. Then I uttered a cry of fear, for I felt a quantity of sand strike me and I bounded aside, for it seemed that the top was coming down.

"What's matter?" cried Shock, stopping short.

"Nothing," I said as I realised the cause of my fright. "Some of the sand hit me."

"What! some as I chucked behind me?"

"Yes."

The scratching and tearing went on again, and I felt the sand scattered over me several times, but the fear did not attack me again.

All at once there was a soft rushing noise, and Shock uttered a yell which seemed to make my heart leap.

"Shock!" I cried, "Shock!" but there was no answer, only a scuffling noise. "Shock! where are you?"

The scuffling noise continued, and their there was a loud panting, a cry of "Oh!" and my companion staggered by me.

"Shock!" I cried.

"Oh! I say," he groaned, "I've got it all in my eyes agen. A lot come down and buried me. I sha'n't do it no more."

He uttered a series of strange gasps and cries, shaking himself, spitting, and stamping on the ground.

"I swallowed lots o' sand, I think, and it come down on my back horrid. You try now."

I hesitated, but felt that I must not be cowardly if I wished for us to escape; and so I asked him to light a match again.

He did so, and by its feeble light I saw where to work, and also that, the place seemed to be filling up with the sand, and that we had not half so much room as we had at first.

Then out went the light, and with a desperate haste I went down on my hands and knees and began to tear at and throw the sand behind me, filling up our prison more and more, but doing nothing towards our extrication, for as fast as I drew the sand away from the tunnel more came; and at last, just as I began to think that I was making a little progress, I heard a rustling, dribbling sound, some hard bits of adhesive sand fell upon my head, and I instinctively started back, as there was a rush that came over my knees, and I knew that if I had remained where I was, tunnelling, I should have been buried.

"What, did you get it?" cried Shock, laughing.

I was so startled that I did not answer.

"Oh! he's buried!" cried Shock in a wild tone; and he threw himself by me, and began to tear at the sand. "Mars Grant, Mars Grant," he cried excitedly. "Don't leave me here alone."

"I'm not there, Shock," I said. "I jumped back."

"Then what did yer go and pretend as you was buried in the sand for?" cried the boy savagely.

I did not reply, and I heard him go as far from me as he could, muttering and growling to himself, and in spite of my position I could not help thinking of what a curious and different side I was seeing of Shock's character. I had always found him so quiet and reserved, and yet it was evident that he could talk and think like the best of us, and somehow it seemed as if in spite of the way in which he turned away he had a sort of liking for me.

This idea influenced me so that I felt a kind of pity for my companion in misfortune. That was a good deal in the direction of liking him in return. I felt sorry that I had frightened him, and at last after a good deal of thinking I said to him:

"Shock!"

"Hullo!"

"I'm sorry I made you think I was buried."

"Are yer?"

"Yes. Will you shake hands?"

"What for?"

This staggered me, and I could make no reply, and so we remained silent for some time.

"Here, let's see," said Shock all at once. "Where's that there candle?"

"Here it is," I said, and as he struck a light I held the scrap of little more than an inch long to the flame, and it burned up so that we could examine our position, and we soon found that our prison was reduced to about half its size.

"It's of no use to try and dig our way out, Shock," I said despairingly, as I extinguished the candle. "We shall only bring down more sand and cover ourselves in."

"Like Old Brownsmith's toolips," said Shock, laughing. "I say, should we come up?"

"Don't talk like that," I said angrily. "Don't you understand that we are buried alive."

"Course I do," he said. "Well, what on it?"

"What of it?" I said in agony, as the perspiration stood upon my brow.

"Yes, what on it? They'll dig us out like we do the taters out of a clamp. What's the good o' being in a wax. I wish I'd some more rabbud."

I drew in a long breath, and sat down as far from the sealed-up opening as I could get, and listened to the rustling trickling noise made by the sand every now and then, as more and more seemed to be coming in, and I knew most thoroughly now that our only course was to wait till Ike missed us, and came and dug us out.

"And that can't be long," I thought, for we must have been in here two or three hours.

All at once I heard a peculiar soft beating noise, and my heart leaped, for it sounded like the quick strokes of a spade at regular intervals.

"Hear that, Shock?" I cried.

"Hear what?" he said, and the noise ceased.

"Somebody digging," I cried joyfully.

"No. It was me—my feet," he said, and the sound began again, as I realised that he must be lying in his old attitude, kicking his legs up and down.

If I had any doubt of it I was convinced the next moment, for he burst out:

"I've been to Paris, and I've been to Do-ho-ver, I've been a travelling all the world o-ho-ver. Over and over, and over, and o-ho-ver, So drink up yer licker and turn the bowl o-ho-ver."

"Don't, don't, don't, Shock," I cried passionately. "I can't bear it;" and I again covered my face with my hands, and crouched lower and lower, listening to the trickling of the sand that seemed to be flowing in like water to take up all the space we had left.

Suddenly I started, for a hand touched me.

"Is that you, Shock?"

"Yes. Mind my coming and sitting along o' you? I ain't so werry dirty now."

"Mind? no," I said: "it will be company."

"Yes," he said. "It's werry dark and werry quiet like, ain't it?"

"Yes, very."

"Ain't Ike a long time?"

"Yes," I said despairingly, for I began to wonder whether we should be found.

"I'd ha' came shovelling arter him 'fore now. I say, ain't you tired?"

"Tired!" I said. "No, I never thought of feeling tired shut up in this horrible place. Let's try if we can't get out by the way the smoke went."

"I've been trying," said Shock; "but it's too high up. You can't reach it."

"Not if you stood on my shoulders?"

"No," he said. "I looked when you had hold of the candle, and if you did try you'd only pull the sand down atop of your head."

I knew it, and heaved a deep sigh.

Then there was a long silence, and I was roused out of thoughts about how we had enjoyed ourselves that morning, and how little we had imagined that we should have such a termination to our holiday, by a heavy breathing.

I listened, and there it was quite loud as if some animal were near.

"Do you hear that, Shock?" I whispered.

There was no answer.

"Shock!" I said, "do you hear that noise?"

No answer, and I understood now that in spite of our perilous position he had fallen fast asleep.



CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

FINDING A TREASURE.

"Can't be time to get up yet," I thought, and I turned over on my soft bed. It was too dark, and I was dozing off again when a loud snorting gasp made me start and throw off the clothes that lay so heavy on me.

Then I stopped short, trembling and puzzled. Where was I? It was very dark. That was not clothes, but something that slipped and trickled through my fingers as I grasped at it. My legs felt heavy and numbed, and this darkness was so strange that I couldn't make it out.

Was I asleep still? I must have been to sleep—heavily asleep, but I was awake now, and—what did it mean?

A curious feeling of horror was upon me, and I lay perfectly still. I could not stir for some minutes, and then it all came like a flash, and I knew that I must have lain listening for some time to Shock breathing heavily, and then insensibly have fallen asleep, and for how long?

That I could not of course tell, but so long that the sand had gone on trickling in till it had nearly covered me, as I lay nearest to the opening. It had been right over my chest, and sloped up and away from, me, so that my legs were deeply buried, and it required quite a struggle to get them free, while to my horror as I dragged them out from beneath the heavy weight more sand came down, and one hard lump rolled down and up against me sufficiently hard to give me pain.

There was the same terrible silence about me, and it seemed to grow deeper. A short time before I had heard Shock breathing hard, but now his breath came softly, and then seemed to cease.

That silence had lasted some time, when all at once it was broken by my companion as I knelt there in the soft sand.

"Mars Grant! I say. You awake?"

"Yes."

"What yer doing of?"

"I am saying my prayers."

There was another silence here, and then Shock said softly:

"What yer praying for?"

"For help and protection in this terrible place," I cried passionately; and I crouched down lower as I bowed myself and prayed that I might see the sunshine and the bright sky once again—that I might live.

Just then a hand was laid upon my shoulder, and I felt Shock's lips almost touch my ear as he whispered softly:

"I say—I want to say my prayers too."

"Well," I said sternly, "pray."

There was again that silence that seemed so painful, and then a low hoarse voice at my side said slowly:

"I can't. I 'most forgets how."

"Shock," I cried, as I caught at his hands, which closed tightly and clung to mine; and for the first time it seemed to come to me that this poor half-wild boy was only different to myself in that he had been left neglected to make his way in life almost as he pleased, and that in spite of his wilful ways and half-savage animal habits it was more the want of teaching than his fault.

I seemed to feel brighter and more cheerful as we sat together soon after, discussing whether we should light the candle again, and all at once Shock exclaimed:

"I say."

"What, Shock?"

"I won't shy nothing at you no more."

"It does not seem as if you will ever have the chance, Shock," I cried dolefully.

"Oh, I don't know, mate," he said; and at that word "mate" I seemed to feel a curious shrinking from him; but it passed off directly.

"Shall I light the candle?" he said after a pause.

"Yes, just for one look round," I said. "Perhaps we can find a way out."

The candle was lit, and I started as I saw how much the sand had crept in during the time that we had been asleep. It had regularly flowed in like water, and as we held the candle down there was one place where it trickled down a slope, just as you see it in an egg-boiler or an old-fashioned hour-glass.

We looked all round; went to the spot where the hole ended in what was quite hard sandy rock. Then we looked up at the top, where we could dimly make out the crack or rift through which the smoke had gone, but there was no daylight to be seen through it, though of course it communicated with the outer air.

Then we had a look at the part where we had come in, but there the sand was loose, and we had learned by bitter experience that to touch it was only to bring down more.

"I say," said Shock, as we extinguished the scrap of candle left, part of which had run down on Shock's hand; "we're shut up."

"Shut up!" I said indignantly; "have you just found that out?"

"Well, don't hit a fellow," he cried. "I say, have a bit?"

"Bit of what?" I cried, as I realised how hungry I had grown.

"Taller," he said. "Some on it run down. There ain't much; two or three little nobbles. I'll give yer a fair whack."

"Why, you don't mean to eat that, you nasty fellow," I cried.

"Don't!" he said; "but I do. Here's your half. I've eat worse things than that."

"Why, Shock," I cried, as a flash of hope ran through me, "I forgot."

"Forgot what?" he cried. "Way out?"

"No," I said gloomily; "but my sandwiches—bread and meat Mrs Solomon cut for me."

"Bread and meat!" he shouted. "Where is it?"

"In my jacket. I hung it on a stone in the side somewhere here. Light a match."

Crick—crick—crack went the match; then there was a flash, and the sputtering bubbling blue flame of the sulphur, for matches were made differently in those days, when paraffin had not been dreamed of for soaking the wood.

Then the light burned up clearly, and Shock held the splint above his head, and we looked round.

"There ain't no jacket here," said Shock dolefully. "What did yer say bread and meat for?" he continued, as the match burned out and he threw it down. "It's made me feel so hungry. I could eat a bit o' you."

"I can't understand it, Shock," I said.

"I wish I'd got some snails or some frogs," he muttered. "I could eat 'em raw."

"Don't," I said with a shudder.

"I knowed a chap once who eat two live frogs. Put 'em on his tongue— little uns, you know—and swallowed 'em down. He said he could feel 'em hopping about inside him after. Wasn't he a brute?"

"Don't talk to me," I cried, as I went feeling about the wall, with my head in a state of confusion. "I know I had the jacket in here."

"Have you got it on?" he said.

"No—no—no! I hung it on a bit of sharp stone that stuck out of the wall somewhere, and I can't feel the place. It's so puzzling being in the dark. I don't know which is front and which is back now."

"Front's where the soft sand is," said Shock.

"Of course," I cried, feeling half stupefied all the time. "Then this is the front here. I hung it on the stone and it was just above my head."

I walked about on the soft sand, feeling about above my head, and all over the face of the cave side for a long time in vain; and then with my head swimming I sank down in despair, and leaned heavily back, to utter a cry of pain.

"What's matter?" cried Shock, coming to me.

"I've struck the back of my head against a sharp stone," I cried, turning round to feel for the projecting piece.

"Why, it's here, Shock. This is the piece I hung my jacket on, but it has sunk down. No, no," I cried; "I forgot; it is the bottom of the hole that has filled up. The sand has come up all this way. Keep back."

I had turned on my hands and knees and was tearing out the sand just below the projecting piece of sand-rock.

"What yer doing?" cried Shock. "You'll make more come down and cover us up."

"My jacket is buried down here," I cried, and I worked away feeling certain that I should find it, and at last, in spite of the sand coming down almost as fast as I tore it out, I scratched and scraped away till, to my great delight, I got hold of a part of the jacket and dragged it out.

"Hurrah!" I cried. "I've got it."

"And the bread and meat?" cried Shock. "Oh, give us a bit; I am so bad."

"No," I said despairingly.

"What! yer won't give me a bit?" he cried fiercely.

"It isn't here," I said. "It was in my pocket, but it's gone. Stop!" I cried; "it was a big packet and it must have come out."

I plunged my arms into the soft sand again, and worked away for long, though I was ready to give up again and again, and my fingers were getting painfully sore, but I worked on, and at last, to my great delight, as I dug down something slipped slowly down on to the back of my hands—I had dug down past it, and the sand had brought it out of the side down to me.

"Here it is!" I cried, standing up and shaking the sand away from the paper as I tore it open.

Shock uttered a cry like a hungry dog as he heard the paper rustle, and then I divided the sandwiches in two parts and wrapped one back in the paper.

"What yer doin'?" cried Shock.

"Saving half for next time," I said. "We mustn't eat all now."

Shock growled, but I paid no heed, and gave him half of what I had in my hands, and then putting the parcel with the rest right at the end where the sand did not fall, I sat down and we ate our gritty but welcome meal.

We tried round the place again and again, using up the candle till the wick fell over and dropped in the sand; and then first one match and then another was burned till we were compelled to give up all hope of escaping by our own efforts.

Refreshed and strengthened by the food, Shock expressed himself ready for a new trial at digging his way out.

"I can do it," he said. "I'll soon get through."

Soon after he was clinging to me, hot, panting, and trembling in every limb, after narrowly escaping suffocation, and when I wanted to take up the task where he had left off, he clung to me more tightly and would not let me go from his side.

"Yer can't do it," he said hoarsely. "Sand comes down and smothers yer. Faster yer works, faster it comes. Let Ike bring the shovels."

There was no other chance. I felt that, and sat down beside Shock and talked and tried to cheer him up; and when I broke down he roused up and tried to cheer me. Then I talked to him about stories I had read, where people had been buried alive, and where they were always dug out at last, and when I was weary he took his turn, showing me that in his rough way he could talk quickly and in an interesting way about catching birds and rats. How at times he had caught rats with his hands, and had been bitten by them.

"But," he added, with a laugh, "I served 'em out for it—I bit them after I'd skinned and cooked 'em."

"How horrible!" I said.

"Horrible! Why? They'd lived on our fruit and corn till they were fat as fat, I like rat."

Then we grew tired, and as soon as we ceased talking a curious sensation of fear came over us. I say us, for more than once I knew that Shock felt it, by his whispering to me in an awe-stricken tone:

"I never know'd as being in the dark was like this before. It's darker like, much darker, you know than being in one of the lofts under the straw."



CHAPTER THIRTY.

HOW WE WERE RESCUED.

It is all confused at times as I try to recall it. Some of our adventure stands out clear to me, as if it took place only yesterday, while other parts seem strange and dreamy, and I know now that we both dozed a great deal in the warm close place like a pair of animals shut up for their winter sleep.

We soon finished our food, for we were in such good hope of soon being dug out that we had not the heart to save a part of it in our hungry state. Then we slept again, and woke, and slept again, till waking and sleeping were mixed up strangely. The horror seemed to wear off a great deal, only when Shock started up suddenly and began talking loudly about something I could not understand, my feeling of fear increased.

How time went—when it was night and when it was day—I could not tell; and at last almost our sole thought was about what we should eat when we got out again.

At last I felt too weak and helpless to do more than lie still and try to think of a prayer or two, which at times was only half uttered before I dropped asleep.

Then I woke to think of Mr Solomon and the garden, and fell asleep again. And then I recall trying to rouse up Shock, who seemed to be always sleeping; and while I was trying feebly to get him to speak to me again I seem to have gone to sleep once more, and everything was like being at an end.

At first I had suffered agonies of fear and horror. At last all seemed to fade, as it were, into a dreamless sleep.

"It was like this here," Ike told me afterwards. "I lay down and made myself comfortable, and then after smoking a pipe I went off asleep. When I woke up I heerd you two a chiveying about and shouting, but it was too soon to move, so I went asleep again.

"Then I woke up and looked about for you, and shouted for you to come down and have something to eat, and bring up the horse again, for I thought by that time he'd have had a good rest.

"I shouted again, but I couldn't make you hear, so I went up higher and hollered once more, and then Juno came trotting up to me and looked up in my face.

"I asked her where you two was, but she didn't say anything of course, so I began to grow rough, and I said you might find your way back, my lads; and I went down to the public, ordered some tea and some briled ham; see to my horse having another feed and some water, and then, as you hadn't come down, I had my tea all alone in a huff.

"Then I finished, and you hadn't come, so I says, 'Well, that's their fault, and they may go without.' But all the same I says to myself, 'Well, poor chaps, they don't often get a run in the country!' and that made me a bit soft like, and I pulled a half-quartern loaf in two and put all the briled ham that was left in the middle, and tied it up in a clean hankychy for you to eat going home.

"Then I pays for the eating and the horse, harnessed him up, after a good rub down his legs, and whistled to Juno, who was keeping very close to me, and we went up the hill to the sand-pit again.

"I shouted and hollered again, and then, as it was got to be quite time we started, I grew waxy, and pulls out my knife and cuts a good ash stick out of the hedge for Master Shock, for I put it down to him for having led you off.

"Still you didn't come, and though I looked all about there was nothing fresh as I could see, only sand everywhere; and at last I says to myself, 'I sha'n't wait with that load to get out of the pit here,' and so I started.

"Nice tug the hoss had, but she brought it well out on to the hard road, and there I rested just a quarter of an hour, giving a holler now and then.

"'I'm off!' I says at last, 'and they may foller. Come on, Juno,' I says; but the dog wasn't there.

"That made me more waxy, and I shouted and whistled, and she come from out of the sand-pit and kept looking back, as if she wanted to know why you two didn't come. She follered the cart, though, right enough; and feeling precious put out, I went on slowly down the hill; stopped in the village ten minutes, and then, knowing you could find out that I'd gone on, I set to for my long job, and trudged on by the hoss.

"It was a long job, hour after hour, for I couldn't hurry—that little looking load was too heavy for that. And so I went on, and eight o'clock come, and nine, and ten, and you didn't overtake me, and then it got to be twelve o'clock; and at last, reg'lar fagged out, me and hoss, we got to the yard just as it was striking four, and getting to be day.

"I put the hoss up, and saw Juno go into her kennel, but I was too tired to chain her, and I lay down in the loft on some hay and went off to sleep.

"I didn't seem to have been asleep above ten minutes, but it was eight o'clock when Old Brownsmith's brother stirs me up with his foot, and I sat up and stared at him.

"'Where's young Grant and the boy?' he says.

"'What! ain't they come?' I says, and I told him.

"'And you've left the dog behind too,' he says, quite waxy with me.

"'No,' I says; 'she come home along o' me and went into her kennel.'

"'She's not there now,' he says.

"'Then,' says I, 'she's gone back to meet 'em.'

"'Then there's something wrong,' he says sharply; 'and look here, Ike, if you've let that boy come to harm I'll never forgive you.'

"'Why, I'd sooner come to harm myself,' I says. 'It's larks, that's what it is.'

"'Well,' he says, 'I'll wait till twelve o'clock, and if they're not back then you must come along with me and find 'em, for there is something wrong.'

"I never cared a bit about you, my lad, but I couldn't sleep no more, and I couldn't touch a bit o' breakfast; and when twelve o'clock came, Mrs Old Brownsmith's brother's wife had been at me with a face as white as noo milk, and she wanted us to go off before.

"We was off at twelve, though, in the light cart and with a fresh horse; and though I expected to see you every minute along the road, we got back to the public, and asked for you, and found that you hadn't been seen.

"Then we put up the hoss and went and looked about the sand-pits, and could see nothing of you there, and we didn't see nothing of the dog. Then we went over the common and searched the wood, and there was no sign.

"Then back we was at the sand-pits, and there was the sand everywhere, but nothing seemed to say as it had fallen down. There was some holes, and we looked in all of 'em, but we couldn't tell that any of 'em had filled up. Last of all, it was getting dark, when we heard a whine, and saw Juno come out of the fir-wood on the top with a rabbit in her mouth.

"But that taught us nothing, and we coaxed her down to the public again, and drove home.

"'I've got it,' I says, as we stood in the stable-yard: 'that boy Shock's got him on to it, and they've gone off to Portsmouth to be sailors.'

"Old Brownsmith's brother looked at me and shook his head, but I stack to it I was right; and he said he'd go down to Portsmouth and see.

"But he didn't, for next day he goes over to Isleworth, and as I was coming out of the garden next night he was back, and he stops me and takes me to the cottage.

"'Good job,' he says, 'as Sir Francis ain't at home, for he thought a deal of that boy.'

"'Warn't my fault,' I says; but he shook his head, and took me in, and there sat Old Brownsmith's brother's wife, with a white face and red eyes as if she had been crying, and Old Brownsmith himself.

"Well, he gives me a long talking to, and I told him everything about it; and when I'd done I says again as it warn't my fault, and Old Brownsmith turns to his brother and he says, as fair as a man could speak, 'It warn't his fault, Solomon; and if it's as he says, Grant's that sort o' boy as'll repent and be very sorry, and if he don't come back before, you'll get a letter begging your pardon for what he's done, or else I shall. You wait a couple of days.'

"I dunno why, but I was reg'lar uncomf'table about you, my lad, and I didn't understand Juno stopping away so, for next day she was gone again, but next night she was back. Next day she was gone again, and didn't come back, and on the fourth, when I was down the garden digging—leastwise, I wasn't digging, for I was leaning on my spade thinking, up comes Old Brownsmith's brother with his mouth open, and before he could say a word I says to him, 'Stop!' I says; 'I've got it,' for it come to me like a flash o' lightning.

"'What?' he says.

"'Them boys is in that sand-pit, covered over!' I says.

"'That's it!' he says. 'I was coming to say I thought so, and that we'd go over directly.'

"Bless your heart, my boy, I was all of a shiver as I got into the light cart alongside Old Brownsmith's brother and six shovels and four spades in the bottom of the cart as I felt we should want, and I see as Old Brownsmith's brother had got a flask o' something strong in his breast-pocket. Then I just looked and saw that Juno warn't there, and we were off.

"My hye, how that there horse did go till we got to the little public. We stopped once to give her mouth a wash out and a mouthful of hay, and then we were off again, never hardly saying a word, but as we got to the public we pulls up, and Old Brownsmith's brother shouts to the landlord, 'Send half-a-dozen men up to the sand-pit directly. Boys buried.'

"You see he felt that sure, my lad, that he said that, and then we drove on up the hill, with the horse smoking, and a lot of men after us.

"First thing we see was Juno trotting towards us, and she looked up and whined, and then trotted back to a place where it was plain enough, now we knew, a great bit of the side had caved down and made a slope, and here Juno began scratching hard, and as fast as she scratched the more sand come down.

"I looked, at Old Brownsmith's brother, and he looked at me, and we jumped out, slipped off our coats and weskits, took a shovel apiece, and began to throw the sand away.

"My head was all of a buzz, for every shovelful I threw out I seemed to see your white gal's face staring at me and asking of me to work harder, and I did work like a steam-engyne.

"Then, one by one, eight men come up, and we set 'em all at work; but Old Brownsmith's brother, the ganger, you know, stops us after a bit.

"'This is no use!' he says; 'we're only burying of 'em deeper.'

"Right he was, for the sand kept crumbling down from the top as soon as ever we made a bit of space below, and twice over some one called out 'Warning!' and we had to run back to keep from being buried, while I got in right up to the chest once.

"'There's hundreds o' tons loose,' says the old—the ganger, you know; 'and we shall never get in that way.' He stopped to think, but it made me mad, for I knowed you must be in there, and I began digging again, wondering how it was that Juno hadn't found you before, and 'sposed the sand didn't hold the scent, or else the rabbits up above 'tracted her away.

"'I can see no other way,' said the ganger at last. 'You must dig, my lads. Go on. I'll get on the top, and see how much more is loose. Take care. You,' he said to a tall, thin lad of sixteen—'you stand there; and as soon as you see any sand crumbling down, you shout.'

"The men began to dig again, and at the end of a minute the lad shouted, and we had to scuttle off, or we should have been buried, and things looked worse than ever. We'd been digging and shovelling back the sloping bank, but it grew instead of getting less, and this made me obstint as I dug away as hard as I could get my shovel down.

"All at once I hears a shout from the ganger. 'Come up here, Ike,' he says; and I shouldered my spade, and had to go a good bit round 'fore I could climb up to him, and I found him twenty or thirty foot back from the edge, among some furze.

"'Look here,' he says; 'I was hunting for cracks when I slipped down here.'

"I looked, and I saw a narrow crack, 'bout a foot wide, nearly covered with furze.

"'Now, listen,' he says, and he kneeled down and shouted, and, sure enough, there was a bit of a groan came up.

"'Echo!' I says.

"'No,' he says. 'Listen again,' and he shouted, and there was a sort of answer.

"'They're here,' he says excitedly. 'Hi! Juno, Juno!' The dog came rushing up, and we put her to the hole or crack, and she darted into it, went down snuffling, and came back again barking. We sent her down again, and then she didn't come back, and when we called we could hear her barking, but she didn't come to us, and at last we felt that she couldn't get back.

"'What's to be done?' said the ganger. 'We can't get down there.'

"'Dig down,' I says.

"'No, no,' says he. 'If we do we shall smother them.'

"'That boy, then, you sot to look out—send him down.'

"'Go and bring him,' says the ganger; 'and—oh, we have no rope. Bring the reins; they're strong and new.'

"Five minutes after, the boy was up with us, and he said he'd go down if we'd put the reins round him like a rope, and so we did, and after we'd torn some furze away he got into the hole feet first, and wriggled himself down till only his head was out.

"'Goes down all sidewise,' he says, 'and then turns round.'

"'Will you go, my lad? The dog's down there, and we'll hold on to the reins, and have you out in a minute, if you shout.'

"'And 'spose the sand falls?'

"'Why, we've got the reins to trace you by, and we'll dig you out in a jiffy,' I says.

"'All right!' he says, and he shuffled himself down and went out of sight, and he kept on saying, 'all right! all right!' and then all at once, quickly, 'I've slipped,' he says, as if frightened. 'There's no bottom. I'm over a big hole.'

"Just then, my lad, the rein had tightened, but we held on.

"'Pull me up!' he says, and we pulled hard, and strained the reins a good deal, and at last he come up, looking hot and scared.

"'I couldn't touch bottom,' he says, 'and the dog began to bark loudly.'

"'I see,' says the ganger, 'the dog slipped there, and can't get out. We must have a rope; you, Ike, take the reins, and drive down to the village and get a stout cart-rope. Bring two.'

"The landlord of the inn had just come up, and he said he'd got plenty, and he'd go with me, and so he did, and in a quarter of an hour we'd been down and driven back with two good strong new ropes.

"There was no more digging going on, it was no use; but while we'd been gone they'd chopped away the furze, cutting through it with spades, so that the hole, which was a big crack, was all clear.

"'Now, then,' says Old Brownsmith's brother, 'go down again, my boy. With this stout rope round we can take care of you,' but the boy shook his head, he'd been too much scared last time.

"'Who'll go?' says the ganger. 'A sovereign for the man who goes down and fetches them up.'

"The chaps talked together, but no one moved.

"'It'll cave in,' says one of 'em.

"'You must cut a way down, Ike,' says the ganger. 'I'm too stout, or I'd go down myself.'

"'Nay,' I says, 'if they're down there, and you get digging, you'll bury 'em. P'r'aps I could squeedge myself down. Let's try.'

"So they ties the rope round me, and I lets myself into the hole, which was all sand, and roots to hold it a bit together.

"'It's a tight fit,' I says, as I wriggled myself down with my face to the ganger, but I soon found that wouldn't do, and I dragged myself out again and took off my boots, tightened my strap, and went down the other way.

"That was better, but it was a tight job going all round a corner like a zigger-me-zag, as you calls it, or a furnace chimney; and as I scrouged down with my eyes shut, and the sand and stones scuttling down after me, I began to wonder how I was going to get up again.

"'Here!' I shouts, 'I shall want two ropes. See if you can reach down the other.'

"I put up my hand as far as I could reach, and the thin boy put a loop round his foot and come down, shutting out the light, till he could reach my hand, and I got hold of the second rope, and went scuttling farther, till all at once I found it like the boy had said—my legs was hanging and kicking about.

"'Here's in for it now,' I says to myself; and I wondered whether I should be buried; but I shouts out, 'Lower away,' and I let myself slide, and then there was a rush of falling sand and I was half smothered as I swung about, but they lowered down, and directly after I touched bottom with my feet, and Juno was jumping about me and barking like mad.

"'Found 'em?' I heard the ganger shout from up in daylight, and I began to feel about for you; and, Lor'! there has been times when I've longed for a match, when I've wanted a pipe o' tobacco; but nothing like what I longed then, so as to see where I was, for it was as black as pitch.

"But I felt about with the dog barking, and followed to where she was, and feeling about, I got hold of you two boys cuddled up together as if you was asleep, and nearly covered up with sand.

"I puts my hands to my mouth, and I yells out as loud as I could: 'I've got 'em!' and there came back a 'Hooray!' sounding hollow and strange like, and then I s'pose it was the sand had got in my eyes so as they began to water like anything.

"But I knelt down trembling all over, for I was afraid you was both dead, and I can't a-bear touching dead boys. I never did touch none, but I can't a-bear touching of 'em all the same.

"Then I felt something jump up in my throat, as if I'd swallowed a new potato, only upside down like, other way on, you know, the tater coming up and not going down for when I got feeling you about you was both warm.

"'Out o' the way, dog,' I says, for she kept licking of you both, and I feels to find out which was you, and soon found that out, because Shock had such a rough head; and then I says to myself, 'Which shall I send up first?'

"I did think o' sending Shock, so as to make him open the hole a bit more; but I thought p'raps the top'd fall in with sending the first one up, and you was more use than Shock, so I made the rope, as was loose, fast round your chest, and then I shouts to 'em as I lifted you up.

"'Haul steady,' I shouts, and as the rope tightened hoisted you more and more, till you went up and up, and I was shoving your legs, then your feet, and then you was dragged away from me, and I was knocked down flat by 'bout hunderd ton o' sand coming on my head. I didn't weigh it, so p'r'aps there warn't so much.

"I was made half stupid; but I heerd them cheering, and I knowed they'd got you out, for they shouted down the hole for the next, and I had to drag the rope I had out of the sand before I fastened it round Shock, who give a bit of a groan as soon as I touched him, and I wished I'd heerd you groan too.

"'Haul away,' I shouted, and I walked right up a heap of sand, as they hauled at Shock, and as soon as they'd dragged him away from me, and he was going up, I jumped back, expecting some more sand to fall, and so it did, as they hauled, whole barrowfuls of it.

"Then come some more shouting, and Old Brownsmith's brother roared down the hole:—

"'All right. Safe up.'

"'All right, is it?' I says, scratching the sand out o' my head, 'and how's me and the dog to come?'

"They seemed to have thought of that, for the ganger shouts down the crooked hole—'How are we to get down the rope to you?'

"'I d'know,' I says; and I stood there in the dark thinking and listening to the buzzing voices, and wondering what to do.

"'Wonder how nigh I am to the hole,' I says to myself; and I walked up quite a heap o' sand and tried if I could touch anything, but I couldn't.

"Then I thought of the dog.

"'Hi, Juno!' I says, and she whined and come to me, and I took hold of her.

"'Here, you try if you can't get out, old gal,' I says; and I believe as she understood me as I lifted her up and helped her scramble up, and somehow I got her right with her stomach on my head. Then I lifted her shoulders up as high as I could reach, as I stood on the heap o' sand, and she got her legs on my head, and my! how she did scratch, and then the sand began to come down, and I knowed she could reach the top. Next moment she'd got one of her hind paws on my hand as I reached up high, and then there was a rush and scramble, and I heard another shouting of 'Hooray!' while the sand come down so that I had to get right as far away as I could.

"'What shall we do now?' says the ganger, shouting to me:—

"'Send the dog down again with the two ropes round her.'

"'Right!' he says; and then in a minute there was a scuffling and more rushing, and Juno come down with a run, to begin barking loudly as she fell on the soft sand.

"'There you are, old gal,' I says, patting her, as I took off one rope, and felt that the other was fast round her. 'Up you go again.' I lifted her up and shouted to 'em to haul, and in half a minute she was gone, and I was alone in the dark, but with the rope made fast round my chest.

"'Are you ready?' shouts the ganger.

"'Ay!' I says. 'Pull steady, for I'm heavier than the dog.'

"They began to haul as I took tight hold of the rope above my head, and up I went slowly with the sand being cut away by the tight line, and coming thundering down on me at an awful rate, just as if some one was shooting cart loads atop of me.

"'Steady!' I yelled; and they pulled away slowly, while I wondered whether the rope would give way. But it held, and I felt my head bang against the sand, and some more fell. Then, as I kicked my legs about, I felt myself dragged more into the hole, and I tried to help myself; but all I did was to send about a ton of sand down from under me. Then very slowly I was hauled past an elbow in the hole, and I was got round towards the other when a lot more sand fell from beneath me, and then, just as I was seeing daylight, there was a sort of heave above me, and the top came down and nipped me fast just about the hips.

"'Haul! my lads, haul!' the ganger shouted, and they hauled till I felt most cut in two, and I had to holler to 'em to stop.

"'I shall want my legs,' I says. 'They ain't much o' ones, but useful!'

"There was nothing for it but to begin digging, for they could see my face now, and they began watching very carefully that the sand didn't get over my head, when, all at once, as they dug, there was a slip, and the sand, and the roots, and stones all dropped down into the hole below, and I was hauled out on to the top safe and sound, 'cept a few scratches, and only a bit of the sleeve of my shirt left.

"There, you know the rest."



CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

"WHAT'S THE MEANING OF ALL THIS?"

I did know the rest; how Shock and I lay for a fortnight at the little country inn carefully tended before we were declared fit to go back home, for the doctor was not long in bringing us back to our senses; and, save that I used to wake with a start out of my sleep in the dark, fancying I was back in the pit, I was not much the worse. Shock was better, for he looked cleaner and fresher, but he objected a great deal to our nurse brushing his hair.

I was just back and feeling strong again, when one day Sir Francis came down into the pinery, and stopped and spoke to me. He said he had heard all about my narrow escape, and hoped it would be a warning to me never to trust myself in a sand-pit again.

He was very kind after his manner, which was generally as if he thought all the world were soldiers, and I was going up to my dinner soon, after I had stopped for a bit of a cool down in one of the other houses, when, to my great disgust, I saw Courtenay and Philip back, and I felt a kind of foreboding that there would soon be some more troubles to face.

I was quite right, for during the rest of their stay at home they seemed to have combined to make my life as wretched as they possibly could.

I was often on the point of complaining, but I did not like to do so, for it seemed to be so cowardly, and besides, I argued to myself that I could not expect all sunshine. Old Brownsmith used to have me over to spend Sundays with him, and his brother and Mrs Solomon were very kind. Ike sometimes went so far as to say "Good-morning" and "good-night," and Shock had become so friendly that he would talk, and bring me a good moth or butterfly for my case.

I went steadily on collecting, for Mr Solomon said, as long as the work was done well he would rather I did amuse myself in a sensible way.

The consequence was that I often used to go down the garden of a night, and my collection of moths was largely increased.

I noticed about this time that Sir Francis used to talk a good deal to Shock, and by and by I found from Ike that the boy was going regularly to an evening-school, and altering a great deal for the better. Unfortunately, Ike, with whom he lodged, was not improving, as I had several opportunities of observing, and one day I took him to task about it.

"I know the excuse you have, Ike," I said, "that habit you got into when going backwards and forwards to the market; but when you had settled down here in a gentleman's garden, I should have thought that you would have given it up."

"Ah, yes," he said, as he drove in his spade. "You're a gent, you see, and I'm only a workman."

"I'm going to be a workman too, Ike," I said.

"Ay, but not a digger like me. They don't set me to prune, and thin grapes, and mind chyce flowers. I'm not like you."

"It does not matter what any one is, Ike," I said. "You ought to turn over a new leaf and keep away from the public-house."

"True," he said, smashing a clod; "and I do turn over a noo leaf, but it will turn itself back."

"Nonsense!" I said. "You are sharp enough on Shock's failings, and you tell me of mine. Why don't you attend to your own?"

"Look here, young gent," he cried sharply, "do you want to quarrel just because I like a drop now and then?"

"Quarrel! No, Ike. I tell you because I don't want to see you discharged."

"Think they would start me if they knowed, lad?"

"I'm sure of it," I said earnestly. "Sir Francis is so particular."

"Then," he said, scraping his spade fiercely, "it won't do. I want to stop here. I'll turn over a noo leaf."

One day in the next autumn, as I was carefully shutting in a pill-box a moth that I had found, a gentleman who was staying at the house caught sight of me and asked to see it.

"Ah, yes!" he said. "Goat-moth, and a nice specimen. Do you sugar?"

"Do I sugar, sir?" I said vacantly. "Yes, I like sugar, sir."

"Bless the lad!" he said, laughing. "I mean sugar the trees. Smear them with thick sugar and water or treacle, and then go round at night with a lantern; that's the way to catch the best moths."

I was delighted with the idea and was not long before I tried it, and as luck would have it, there was an old bull's-eye lantern in the tool-house that Mr Solomon used when he went round to the furnaces of a night.

I remember well one evening, just at leaving-off time, taking my bottle of thick syrup and brush from the tool-house shelf, and slipping down the garden and into the pear-plantation where the choice late fruit was waiting and asking daily to be picked.

Mr Solomon was very proud of his pears, and certainly some of them grew to a magnificent size.

I was noticing how beautiful and tawny and golden some of them were growing to be as I smeared the trunk of one and then of another with my sweet stuff, and as it was a deliciously warm still evening, I was full of expectation of a good take.

I had just finished when all at once I heard a curious noise, which made me think of lying in the dark in the sand-cave listening to Shock's hard breathing; and I gave quite a shudder as I looked round, and then turned hot and angry.

I knew what the noise was, and had not to look far to find Ike lying under a large tree right away from the path fast asleep, and every now and then uttering a few words and giving a snort.

"Ike!" I said, shaking him. "Ike! wake up and go home."

But the more I tried the more stupid he seemed to grow, and I stood at last wondering what I had better do, not liking the idea of Mr Solomon hearing, for it was certain to mean a very severe reprimand. It might mean discharge.

It seemed such a pity, too, and I could not help thinking that this bad habit of Ike's was the reason why he had lived to fifty and never risen above the position of labourer.

I tried again to wake him, but it was of no use, and just then I heard Mr Solomon shout to me that tea was waiting.

I ran up the garden quickly for fear Mr Solomon should come down and see Ike, and as I went I made up my mind that I would get the key of the gate into the lane and come down after dark and smuggle him out without anyone knowing.

"Well, butterfly boy," said Mrs Solomon, smiling in her half-serious way, "we've been waiting tea these ten minutes."

I said I was very sorry, and though I felt a little guilty as I sat down I soon forgot all about Ike in my pleasant meal.

Then I felt frightened as I heard some laughing and shouting, and started and listened, for it struck me that Courtenay and Philip might be going down the garden, and if they should see poor Ike in such a state, I knew that they would begin baiting and teasing him, when he would perhaps fly in a passion such as I had seen him in once before, when he abused me, and apologised the next day, saying that it wasn't temper, but beer.

The sound died away, and then it seemed to rise again nearer to us.

"Ah!" said Mr Solomon, "I'm sorry for those who have boys."

"No, you are not, Solomon," said his wife, cutting the bread and butter.

"Well, such boys as them."

"Ah!" said Mrs Solomon. "That's better."

That seemed a long tea-time, and it appeared to be longer still before I could get away, for Mr Solomon had a lot of things to ask me about the grape-house and pit. I kept glancing at the wall where the key hung on a nail, and though another time I might easily have taken it, on this particular occasion it seemed as if I could not get near the place unobserved.

At last my time came; Mrs Solomon had gone into the back kitchen, and Mr Solomon to his desk in the parlour. I did not lose a moment, but, snatching the key from the nail, I slipped it in my pocket, caught my cap from the peg, and slipped out.

I was not going to do any wicked act, but somehow I felt as if all this was very wrong, and I found myself running along the grass borders, leaping over the gravel paths, so that my footsteps should not be heard, and in this way I reached the tool-house, where, quite at home in the darkness, and making no more noise than jingling a hanging spade against the bricks, I reached up on to the corner shelf and found my lantern and matches.

There was the little lamp inside already trimmed, and I soon had it alight and darkened by the shade, slipped it in my pocket, and then started down the long green walk by the big wall where the espaliers were trained, and the wall was covered with big pear-trees.

"I feel just like a robber," I said to myself as I stole along to find Ike and turn him out.

Then I stopped short, for there was a scrambling noise on one side.

"He is awake and trying to get over the wall," I said to myself, and setting down my lantern by one of the big trees, I went forward towards the great pear-tree, whose branches would make a ladder right to the top.

It was very dark, and the great wall made it seem blacker as I stole on over the soft green path meaning to make sure that Ike had gone over quite safely, and then go to my moth-hunting.

"It's as well not to speak to him," I thought.

Then I stopped again, for if it was Ike he was either talking to himself or had some one whispering to him.

"It can't be Ike," I thought, for after the whispering some one jumped down on the soft bed, and then some one else followed—crash.

There was a scuffle here, and some one uttered an ejaculation of pain as if he had hurt himself in jumping, while the other laughed, and then they whispered together.

It was not Ike going away then, but two people come over the wall to get at the great choice pears that were growing on my left.

"What a shame," I thought; and as I recalled a similar occurrence at Old Brownsmith's I wished that Shock were with me to help protect Sir Francis' choice fruit.

I ought to have slipped off back and told Mr Solomon, who would have made the gardener come from the lower cottage; but I did not think of that; I only listened and heard one of the thieves whisper to the other:

"Get up; you aren't hurt. Come along."

Then there was a rustling as they forced their way among the bushes, and went bang up against an espalier. This they skirted, coming close to me as I stood in the shadow of a pear-tree.

"Come along quick!" I heard; and then the two figures went on rustling and crashing among the black-currant bushes, so that I could smell the peculiar herbaceous medicine-scent they gave out.

I knew as well as if I had been told where they were going, and that was to a double row of beautiful great pears that were just ready to pick, and which I had noticed that morning, and again when I was sugaring the trees close by.

At first I had taken them for men, but by degrees, by the tone of their whispers and the faint sight I got of them now and then as they passed an open place, I knew that they were boys.

A few minutes before I had felt excited and nervous; then I felt less alarm. My first idea was to frighten them by shouting for the different men about the place; but as soon as I was sure that they were boys, a curiously pugnacious sensation came over me, and I determined to see if I couldn't catch one of them and drag him up to Mr Solomon, for I felt sure that I should only have one to fight with, the other would be sure to run as hard as he could go.

I stopped short again with an unpleasant thought in my mind. Surely this could not be Shock with some companion.

No, it could not be he, I felt sure, and I was rather ashamed of having thought it as I crept on after the two thieves, so that I was quite near them when, as I expected they would, they stopped by the little thick heavily-laden trees.

"Look out! hold the bag and be quick," was whispered; and then there was snapping of twigs, the rustling of leaves, and a couple of dull thuds as two pears fell.

"Never mind them," was whispered in the same tone. "There's no end of 'em about."

I crept nearer with my teeth grinding together, for it seemed to be such a shameful thing to clear those pears from the tree in that way, and then I grew furious, for one whispered something to the other, and the tree being stripped was shaken, and then thump, thump, thump, one after another the beautiful fruit fell.

They scuffled about, and I was so close now that I could hear the pears banged and bruised one upon another as they were thrown into a bag. Then I felt as if I could bear it no longer. The pears were as if they were my own, and making a dash at the faintly seen figure with the bag I struck him a blow with all my might, and that, the surprise, and the weight of my body combined were sufficient to send him over amongst the black currants, while I went at the other, and in a blind fury began laying on to him with my fists as hard as I could.

He tried to get away, but I held on to him, and this drove him to fight desperately, and for some minutes we were up and down, fighting, wrestling, and hanging on to each other with all the fury of bitter enemies.

I was beaten down to my knees twice over. I struggled up again though, and held on with the stubbornness of a bull-dog.

Then being stronger than I he swung me round, so that I was crushed up against the trunk of one of the trees, but the more he hurt me the more angry I grew, and held on, striking at him whenever I could get an arm free. I could hear him grinding his teeth as he struggled with me, and at last I caught my feet in a currant bush, for even then I could tell it by the smell, and down I went.

But not alone. I held on to him, and dragged him atop of me.

"Let go!" he cried hoarsely, as he struck me savagely in the face; and when the pain only made me hang on all the more tightly he called out to his companion, who had taken no farther part in the fray:

"Here, Phil, Phil. Come on, you sneak."

I felt as if I had been stunned. Not by his blow, but by his words, as for the first time I realised with whom I had been engaged.

A rustling noise on my left warned me that some one else was coming; but I let my hands fall to my side, for I had made a grievous mistake, and must strike no more.

In place now of my hanging on to Courtenay, he was holding me, and drawing in his breath he raised himself a little, raised one hand and was about to strike me, but before he could, Philip seemed to seize me by the collar, and his brother too, but in an instant I felt that it was a stronger grip, and a hoarse gruff voice that I knew well enough was that of Sir Francis shouted out, "Caught you, have I, you young scoundrels."

As he spoke he made us rise, and forced us before him—neither of us speaking—through the bushes and on to the path, a little point of light appearing above me, and puffs of pungent smoke from a cigar striking my face.

"I've got t'other one," said a rough voice that I also recognised, and I cried out involuntarily:

"Ike—Ike!"

"That's me, lad. I've got him fast."

"You let me go. You hurt me," cried Philip out of the darkness.

"Hurt yer? I should think I do hurt you. Traps always does hurt, my fine fellow. Who are you? What's your name?"

"Bring him here," cried Sir Francis; and as Ike half carried, half dragged Philip out from among the trees on to the broad green walk, Sir Francis cried fiercely:

"Now, then! What's the meaning of all this!"

I heard Philip give a gasp as I opened my lips to speak, but before I could say a word Courtenay cried out quickly:

"Phil and I heard them stealing the pears, and we came down to stop them—didn't we, Phil?"

"Yes: they pounced upon us in the dark."

"I am knocked about," cried Courtenay.

"What a wicked lie!" I exclaimed, as soon as I could get my breath.

"Lie, sir, lie!" cried Sir Francis fiercely, as he tightened his grasp upon my collar. "Why, I saw you come creeping along with that dark lantern, and watched you. You had no business down here, and yet I find you along with this fellow, who has no right to be in the garden now, assaulting my sons."



CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.

"Now, sir," cried Sir Francis angrily, "have the goodness to explain what you were doing there."

This was to Ike, who seemed stupid and confused. The excitement of the fight had roused him up for a few minutes; but as soon as that was over he yawned very loudly, and when Sir Francis turned fiercely upon him and asked him that question he said aloud:

"Eh?"

"Answer me, you scoundrel!" cried Sir Francis. "You heard what I said."

"Eh? Hah, yes. What had I been a-doing—heigh—ho—hum! Oh, how sleepy I am! What had I been a-doing here? What I been doing, Mars Grant?"

"You were asleep," I said on being appealed to; and I spoke angrily, for I was smarting under the accusation and suspicion of being a thief.

"Asleep!" cried Ike. "To be sure. That's it. Asleep I was under the bushes there. Dropped right off."

"You repeat your lesson well," said Sir Francis. "Pray, go up to the house—to the library, you boys—you, sir, follow me."

Courtenay and Philip went on in advance, Sir Francis followed, and we were bringing up the rear when Ike exclaimed in remonstrance:

"That ain't fair, master. You ought to sep'rate them two or a nyste bit of a tale they'll make up between them."

"You insolent scoundrel!" roared Sir Francis.

"All right, sir; scoundrel it is, just as you like. Wonder who'll tell the truth, and who won't?"

"Hold your tongue, Ike!" I said angrily.

Plop!

That strange sound was made by Ike, who struck his mouth with his hand as if to stop it up and prevent more words coming.

Meanwhile we were going up the garden, and came suddenly upon a spot of fire which kept glowing and fading, and resolved itself into Mr Solomon's evening pipe in the kitchen-garden middle walk.

"Hallo! young gentlemen!" he exclaimed; and then, seeing his master: "Anything the matter, Sir Francis?"

"Matter!" cried Sir Francis, who was in a great passion. "Why are you, my head gardener, not protecting my place with the idle scoundrels I pay? Here am I and my sons obliged to turn out of an evening to keep thieves from the fruit."

"Thieves! What thieves?" cried Mr Solomon. "Why, Isaac, what are you doing here?"

"Me!" said Ike. "Don't quite know. Thought I'd been having a nap. The master says I've been stealing o' pears."

"Silence!" cried Sir Francis. "You, Brownsmith, see that those two fellows come straight up to the library. I hold you answerable for their appearance."

Sir Francis went on first and we followed, to find ourselves, about ten minutes later, in the big library, with Sir Francis seated behind a large table, and a lamp and some silver candlesticks on table and mantel-piece, trying to make the gloomy room light.

They did not succeed, but there was light enough to show Courtenay and Philip all the better for running up to their rooms and getting a wash and brush, while I was ragged, dirty and torn, bruised and bleeding, for I could not keep my nose from giving forth tokens of the fierce fight.

Courtenay was not perfect, though, for his mouth looked puffy and his eyes were swelling up in a curious way that seemed to promise to reduce them to a couple of slits.

I glanced at Mr Solomon, and saw that he was looking very anxious, and as our eyes met his lips moved, and he seemed to be saying to me: "How could you do such a disgraceful thing?" but I smiled at him and looked him full in the eyes without flinching, and he appeared to be more cheerful directly.

"Attention!" cried Sir Francis as if he were drilling his men; but there was no more fierceness. The officer and angry master had given place to the magistrate, and he cleared his throat and proceeded to try the case.

There was a little shuffling about, and Philip whispered to Courtenay.

"Silence!" cried Sir Francis. "Now, Courtenay, you are the elder: tell me what you were doing down the garden."

"We were up by the big conservatory door, papa," said Courtenay boldly—"Phil and I—and we were talking together about getting some bait for fishing, when all at once there came a whistle from down the garden, and directly after some one seemed to answer it; and then, sir—'what's that?' said 'Phil,' and I knew directly."

"How did you know?" cried Sir Francis.

"Well, I guessed it, sir, and I said it was someone after the fruit; and I asked Phil if he'd come with me and watch and see who it was."

"And he did?"

"Yes, sir; and we went down the garden and couldn't hear or see anything, and we went right to the bottom, and as we were coming back we heard the pear-trees being shaken."

"How did you know it was the pear-trees, sir?—it was dark."

"It sounded like pear-trees, sir, and you could hear the big pears tumbling on the ground."

"Well, sir?"

Courtenay spoke out boldly and well. He did not hesitate in the least; and I could not help feeling what a ragged dejected-looking object I seemed, and how much appearances were against me.

"I said to Phil that we ought to try and catch the thieves, and he said we would, so we crept up and charged them, and I had this boy, and I suppose Phil brought that man, but it was so dark I could not see what he did."

"Well, sir?"

"Well, papa, this boy knocked me about shamefully, and called me all sorts of names."

"And you knocked him about too, I suppose?" said Sir Francis.

"Yes, I suppose I did, sir. He hurt me, and I was in a passion."

"Now, Philip, what have you to say?"

Philip looked uneasy as he glanced at his brother and then at Sir Francis.

"Well, go on, sir."

"We were up by the big con—"

"Yes, yes, we have heard all about that," cried Sir Francis.

"Yes, pa; and we heard whistles, and Courtenay said, 'What's that?'"

"I thought it was you said 'What's that?'"

"No, pa, it was Courtenay," cried the boy quickly: "he said it. And then I wanted to go down and catch the thieves, and Courtenay came too, and we could hear them shaking down the pears. Then I went one way and Courtenay went the other, and I saw that new labourer—that man—"

"Fine eyes for his age," said Ike in a low growl.

"How dare you speak, sir, till you are called upon for your defence!" cried Sir Francis.

"Oh, all right, your worship!" growled Ike. "On'y you know how dark it weer."

"Silence, man!"

Plop!

That was Ike's hand over his mouth again to enforce silence.

"Go on, Philip," said Sir Francis quietly.

"Yes, pa," cried the boy excitedly. "As soon as I saw that man shaking down the big pears I ran at him to try and catch him."

"You should ha' took off your cap, young un, and ketched me like a butterfly," growled Ike.

"Will you be silent, sir!"

Plop!

"He struck me, then, in the chest, pa, and knocked me right down in among the bushes."

"No, he did not," I exclaimed indignantly; "it was I."

"It was not; it was that man," cried Philip; and Ike burst out into a hearty laugh.

"Am I to order you out of the room, sir?" cried Sir Francis, severely.

"All right, your worship! No," cried Ike.

Plop!

"Now, Philip, go on."

"Yes, pa. I'm not very strong, and he shook me and banged me about ever so; but I was determined that I would not let him go, and held on till we heard you come; and then instead of trying to get away any more he turned round and began to drag me towards you, pretending that he had caught me, when I had caught him, you know."

"Go and sit down," said Sir Francis. "You boys talk well."

"Yes, papa, we are trying to tell you everything," said Philip.

"Thank you," said Sir Francis, and then he turned to me and looked me all over.

"Well, sir," he said, "your appearance and the evidence are very much against you."

"Yes, Sir Francis," I said; "very much indeed."

"Well, what have you to say?"

I could not answer for some moments, for my feelings of indignation got the better of me, but at last I blurted out:

"I went down the garden Sir Francis, to try and catch some moths."

"With this, eh?" said Sir Francis picking up something from the floor, and placing my old dark lantern on the table.

"Yes, Sir Francis," I said. "I am making a collection."

"Where is it, then?"

"Down at the cottage, Sir Francis."

"Humph!" ejaculated Sir Francis. "Have you seen his collection, Brownsmith?"

"Yes, Sir Francis; he has a great many—butterflies and moths."

"Humph! Sugar the trees, eh?"

"Yes, sir," I said quickly.

"And do you know that he goes down the garden of a night?"

"Yes, Sir Francis, often," said Mr Solomon.

"Isn't it enough to tempt him to take the pears?"

"No, Sir Francis," replied Mr Solomon boldly. "I might just as well say to you, 'Isn't it enough to tempt him to take the grapes or the peaches to trust him among them alone.'"

"He did steal the peaches when he first came. I caught him at it," cried Philip viciously.

"No, you did not, young gentleman," said Mr Solomon sternly; "but I saw you cut two bunches of grapes one evening—the Muscat of Alexandria—and take them away."

"Oh what a wicked story!" cried Philip, angrily.

"Call it what you like, young gentleman," said Mr Solomon; "but it's a fact. I meant to speak to Sir Francis, for I hate the choice fruit to be touched till it's wanted for the house; but I said to myself he's only a schoolboy and he was tempted, and here are the young gentleman's nail scissors, Sir Francis, that he dropped in his hurry and left behind."

As Mr Solomon spoke he handed a pair of pearl-handled scissors—a pair of those spring affairs with a tiny knife-blade in each handle—and in the midst of a dead silence laid them on the table before Sir Francis.

"Those are not mine," said Philip hastily.

"Humph!" ejaculated Sir Francis, picking them up and examining them. "I shall have to order you out of the room, man, if you make that noise," he cried, as he turned to Ike.

"I weer on'y laughin', your worship," said Ike.

"Then leave off laughing, sir," continued Sir Francis, "and have the goodness to tell me what you were doing down the garden. Were you collecting moths with a dark lantern?"

"Me, your honour! not I."

"What were you doing, then?"

"Well, your honour's worship, I was having a bit of a sleep—tired, you see."

"Oh!" exclaimed Sir Francis. "Now, look here, Grant, you knew that man was down the garden."

"Yes, Sir Francis."

"And didn't you go to join him?"

"Yes, Sir Francis."

"To get a lot of my pears?"

"No, Sir Francis."

"Then why did you go?" he thundered.

I was silent.

"Do you hear, sir?"

"Yes, Sir Francis."

"Then speak, sir."

I remained silent.

"Will you tell me why you went down the garden to join that man?"

I looked at poor Ike, and felt that if I spoke it would be to get him discharged, so I preferred to remain silent, and said not a word.

"Will you speak, sir?" cried Sir Francis, beating the table with his fist.

"I can't tell you, Sir Francis."

"You mean you won't, sir?"

"Yes, Sir Francis."

"Why not tell the whole truth, Grant?" said Mr Solomon, reproachfully.

"Because I can't, sir," I replied sadly.

"Be silent, Brownsmith," cried Sir Francis fiercely.

"He's too good a mate to tell," said Ike stoutly. "Here, I may as well make a clean breast of it, and here it is. I'm an old soldier, sir, and—well, theer, it got hold of me at dinner-time. 'Stead of having anything to eat I had a lot to drink, having had some salt herrin' for breakfast, and I suppose I took too much."

"Herring, my man?"

"No, your worship, beer; and I went to sleep down among the bushes. There, that's the honest truth, Mr Brownsmith's brother. Fact as fact."

"I believe you, Ike," said Mr Solomon. "He's a very honest workman, Sir Francis."

"Thank ye; I call that handsome, I do," said Ike.

"Stop! this is getting very irregular," cried Sir Francis. "Now, Grant, once more. Did you not go down the garden thinking you would get some of those pears?"

"No, Sir Francis."

"To meet that man, and let him take them away?"

"No, Sir Francis."

"Do you mean to tell me, sir, that you did not go down to join that man?"

"I did go down to join him, Sir Francis," I replied. "I saw him asleep and tipsy in among the black currants and I left him there, and took this key to-night to wake him up and let him out by the gate in the wall."

"Why not through the coach-yard?"

"Because I was afraid he would meet Mr Solomon Brownsmith, and get into disgrace for drinking."

"Thankye, Mars Grant, thankye kindly," said Ike.

"Silence!"

Plop!

"A nice tale?" said Sir Francis. "We are getting to the bottom of a pretty state of things."

Just then I saw Courtenay look at Philip as if he were uneasy. Then I glanced at Sir Francis and saw him gnawing at his moustache.

"Lookye here, sir," said Ike sturdily. "Is it likely as we two would take the fruit? Why, we're always amongst it, and think no more of it than if it was so much stones and dirt. We ain't thieves."