rest in his grave, not having made even so tardy a reparation, and never
will rest unless the treasure is found and spent upon the poor.'

I thought much over what Mr. Glennie had said and fell to wondering where
Blackbeard could have hid his diamond, and whether I might not find it
some day and make myself a rich man. Now, as I considered that noise we
had heard under the church, and Parson Glennie's explanation of it, I was
more and more perplexed; for the noise had, as I have said, something
deep and hollow-booming in it, and how was that to be made by decayed
coffins. I had more than once seen Ratsey, in digging a grave, turn up
pieces of coffins, and sometimes a tarnished name-plate would show that
they had not been so very long underground, and yet the wood was quite
decayed and rotten. And granting that such were in the earth, and so
might more easily perish, yet when the top was taken off old Guy's brick
grave to put his widow beside him, Master Ratsey gave me a peep in, and
old Guy's coffin had cracks and warps in it, and looked as if a sound
blow would send it to pieces. Yet here were the Mohune coffins that had
been put away for generations, and must be rotten as tinder, tapping
against each other with a sound like a drum, as if they were still sound
and air-tight. Still, Mr. Glennie must be right; for if it was not the
coffins, what should it be that made the noise?

So on the next day after we heard the sounds in church, being the
Monday, as soon as morning school was over, off I ran down street and
across meadows to the churchyard, meaning to listen outside the church
if the Mohunes were still moving. I say outside the church, for I knew
Ratsey would not lend me the key to go in after what he had said about
boys prying into things that did not concern them; and besides that, I
do not know that I should care to have ventured inside alone, even if I
had the key.

When I reached the church, not a little out of breath, I listened first
on the side nearest the village, that is the north side; putting my ear
against the wall, and afterwards lying down on the ground, though the
grass was long and wet, so that I might the better catch any sound that
came. But I could hear nothing, and so concluded that the Mohunes had
come to rest again, yet thought I would walk round the church and listen
too on the south or sea side, for that their worships might have drifted
over to that side, and be there rubbing shoulders with one another. So I
went round, and was glad to get out of the cold shade into the sun on the
south. But here was a surprise; for when I came round a great buttress
which juts out from the wall, what should I see but two men, and these
two were Ratsey and Elzevir Block. I came upon them unawares, and, lo and
behold, there was Master Ratsey lying also on the ground with his ear to
the wall, while Elzevir sat back against the inside of the buttress with
a spy-glass in his hand, smoking and looking out to sea.

Now, I had as much right to be in the churchyard as Ratsey or Elzevir,
and yet I felt a sudden shame as if I had been caught in some bad act,
and knew the blood was running to my cheeks. At first I had it in my mind
to turn tail and make off, but concluded to stand my ground since they
had seen me, and so bade them 'Good morning'. Master Ratsey jumped to his
feet as nimbly as a cat; and if he had not been a man, I should have
thought he was blushing too, for his face was very red, though that came
perhaps from lying on the ground. I could see he was a little put about,
and out of countenance, though he tried to say 'Good morning, John', in
an easy tone, as if it was a common thing for him to be lying in the
churchyard, with his ear to the wall, on a winter's morning. 'Good
morning, John,' he said; 'and what might you be doing in the churchyard
this fine day?'

I answered that I was come to listen if the Mohunes were still moving.

'Well, that I can't tell you,' returned Ratsey, 'not wishing to waste
thought on such idle matters, and having to examine this wall whether
the floods have not so damaged it as to need under-pinning; so if you
have time to gad about of a morning, get you back to my workshop and
fetch me a plasterer's hammer which I have left behind, so that I can
try this mortar.'

I knew that he was making excuses about underpinning, for the wall was
sound as a rock, but was glad enough to take him at his word and beat a
retreat from where I was not wanted. Indeed, I soon saw how he was
mocking me, for the men did not even wait for me to come back with the
hammer, but I met them returning in the first meadow. Master Ratsey made
another excuse that he did not need the hammer now, as he had found out
that all that was wanted was a little pointing with new mortar. 'But if
you have such time to waste, John,' he added, 'you can come tomorrow and
help me to get new thwarts in the _Petrel_, which she badly wants.'

So we three came back to the village together; but looking up at Elzevir
once while Master Ratsey was making these pretences, I saw his eyes
twinkle under their heavy brows, as if he was amused at the other's
embarrassment.

The next Sunday, when we went to church, all was quiet as usual,
there was no Elzevir, and no more noises, and I never heard the
Mohunes move again.




CHAPTER 3

A DISCOVERY

Some bold adventurers disdain
The limits of their little reign,
And unknown regions dare descry;
Still, as they run, they look behind,
They hear a voice in every wind
And snatch a fearful joy.--_Gray_


I have said that I used often in the daytime, when not at school, to go
to the churchyard, because being on a little rise, there was the best
view of the sea to be had from it; and on a fine day you could watch the
French privateers creeping along the cliffs under the Snout, and lying in
wait for an Indiaman or up-channel trader. There were at Moonfleet few
boys of my own age, and none that I cared to make my companion; so I was
given to muse alone, and did so for the most part in the open air, all
the more because my aunt did not like to see an idle boy, with muddy
boots, about her house.

For a few weeks, indeed, after the day that I had surprised Elzevir and
Ratsey, I kept away from the church, fearing to meet them there again;
but a little later resumed my visits, and saw no more of them. Now, my
favourite seat in the churchyard was the flat top of a raised stone tomb,
which stands on the south-east of the church. I have heard Mr. Glennie
call it an altar-tomb, and in its day it had been a fine monument, being
carved round with festoons of fruit and flowers; but had suffered so much
from the weather, that I never was able to read the lettering on it, or
to find out who had been buried beneath. Here I chose most to sit, not
only because it had a flat and convenient top, but because it was
screened from the wind by a thick clump of yew-trees. These yews had
once, I think, completely surrounded it, but had either died or been cut
down on the south side, so that anyone sitting on the grave-top was snug
from the weather, and yet possessed a fine prospect over the sea. On the
other three sides, the yews grew close and thick, embowering the tomb
like the high back of a fireside chair; and many times in autumn I have
seen the stone slab crimson with the fallen waxy berries, and taken some
home to my aunt, who liked to taste them with a glass of sloe-gin after
her Sunday dinner. Others beside me, no doubt, found this tomb a
comfortable seat and look-out; for there was quite a path worn to it on
the south side, though all the times I had visited it I had never seen
anyone there.

So it came about that on a certain afternoon in the beginning of
February, in the year 1758, I was sitting on this tomb looking out to
sea. Though it was so early in the year, the air was soft and warm as a
May day, and so still that I could hear the drumming of turnips that
Gaffer George was flinging into a cart on the hillside, near half a mile
away. Ever since the floods of which I have spoken, the weather had been
open, but with high winds, and little or no rain. Thus as the land dried
after the floods there began to open cracks in the heavy clay soil on
which Moonfleet is built, such as are usually only seen with us in the
height of summer. There were cracks by the side of the path in the
sea-meadows between the village and the church, and cracks in the
churchyard itself, and one running right up to this very tomb.

It must have been past four o'clock in the afternoon, and I was for
returning to tea at my aunt's, when underneath the stone on which I sat I
heard a rumbling and crumbling, and on jumping off saw that the crack in
the ground had still further widened, just where it came up to the tomb,
and that the dry earth had so shrunk and settled that there was a hole
in the ground a foot or more across. Now this hole reached under the big
stone that formed one side of the tomb, and falling on my hands and knees
and looking down it, I perceived that there was under the monument a
larger cavity, into which the hole opened. I believe there never was boy
yet who saw a hole in the ground, or a cave in a hill, or much more an
underground passage, but longed incontinently to be into it and discover
whither it led. So it was with me; and seeing that the earth had fallen
enough into the hole to open a way under the stone, I slipped myself in
feet foremost, dropped down on to a heap of fallen mould, and found that
I could stand upright under the monument itself.

Now this was what I had expected, for I thought that there had been below
this grave a vault, the roof of which had given way and let the earth
fall in. But as soon as my eyes were used to the dimmer light, I saw that
it was no such thing, but that the hole into which I had crept was only
the mouth of a passage, which sloped gently down in the direction of the
church. My heart fell to thumping with eagerness and surprise, for I
thought I had made a wonderful discovery, and that this hidden way would
certainly lead to great things, perhaps even to Blackbeard's hoard; for
ever since Mr. Glennie's tale I had constantly before my eyes a vision of
the diamond and the wealth it was to bring me. The passage was two paces
broad, as high as a tall man, and cut through the soil, without bricks or
any other lining; and what surprised me most was that it did not seem
deserted nor mouldy and cob-webbed, as one would expect such a place to
be, but rather a well-used thoroughfare; for I could see the soft clay
floor was trodden with the prints of many boots, and marked with a trail
as if some heavy thing had been dragged over it.

So I set out down the passage, reaching out my hand before me lest I
should run against anything in the dark, and sliding my feet slowly to
avoid pitfalls in the floor. But before I had gone half a dozen paces,
the darkness grew so black that I was frightened, and so far from going
on was glad to turn sharp about, and see the glimmer of light that came
in through the hole under the tomb. Then a horror of the darkness seized
me, and before I well knew what I was about I found myself wriggling my
body up under the tombstone on to the churchyard grass, and was once more
in the low evening sunlight and the soft sweet air.

Home I ran to my aunt's, for it was past tea-time, and beside that I knew
I must fetch a candle if I were ever to search out the passage; and to
search it I had well made up my mind, no matter how much I was scared for
this moment. My aunt gave me but a sorry greeting when I came into the
kitchen, for I was late and hot. She never said much when displeased, but
had a way of saying nothing, which was much worse; and would only reply
yes or no, and that after an interval, to anything that was asked of her.
So the meal was silent enough, for she had finished before I arrived, and
I ate but little myself being too much occupied with the thought of my
strange discovery, and finding, beside, the tea lukewarm and the victuals
not enticing.

You may guess that I said nothing of what I had seen, but made up my mind
that as soon as my aunt's back was turned I would get a candle and
tinder-box, and return to the churchyard. The sun was down before Aunt
Jane gave thanks for what we had received, and then, turning to me, she
said in a cold and measured voice:

'John, I have observed that you are often out and about of nights,
sometimes as late as half past seven or eight. Now, it is not seemly for
young folk to be abroad after dark, and I do not choose that my nephew
should be called a gadabout. "What's bred in the bone will come out in
the flesh", and 'twas with such loafing that your father began his wild
ways, and afterwards led my poor sister such a life as never was, till
the mercy of Providence took him away.'

Aunt Jane often spoke thus of my father, whom I never remembered, but
believe him to have been an honest man and good fellow to boot, if
something given to roaming and to the contraband.

'So understand', she went on, 'that I will not have you out again this
evening, no, nor any other evening, after dusk. Bed is the place for
youth when night falls, but if this seem to you too early you can sit
with me for an hour in the parlour, and I will read you a discourse of
Doctor Sherlock that will banish vain thoughts, and leave you in a fit
frame for quiet sleep.'

So she led the way into the parlour, took the book from the shelf, put it
on the table within the little circle of light cast by a shaded candle,
and began. It was dull enough, though I had borne such tribulations
before, and the drone of my aunt's voice would have sent me to sleep, as
it had done at other times, even in a straight-backed chair, had I not
been so full of my discovery, and chafed at this delay. Thus all the time
my aunt read of spiritualities and saving grace, I had my mind on
diamonds and all kinds of mammon, for I never doubted that Blackbeard's
treasure would be found at the end of that secret passage. The sermon
finished at last, and my aunt closed the book with a stiff 'good night'
for me. I was for giving her my formal kiss, but she made as if she did
not see me and turned away; so we went upstairs each to our own room, and
I never kissed Aunt Jane again.

There was a moon three-quarters full, already in the sky, and on
moonlight nights I was allowed no candle to show me to bed. But on that
night I needed none, for I never took off my clothes, having resolved to
wait till my aunt was asleep, and then, ghosts or no ghosts, to make my
way back to the churchyard. I did not dare to put off that visit even
till the morning, lest some chance passer-by should light upon the hole,
and so forestall me with Blackbeard's treasure.

Thus I lay wide awake on my bed watching the shadow of the tester-post
against the whitewashed wall, and noting how it had moved, by degrees, as
the moon went farther round. At last, just as it touched the picture of
the Good Shepherd which hung over the mantelpiece, I heard my aunt
snoring in her room, and knew that I was free. Yet I waited a few minutes
so that she might get well on with her first sleep, and then took off my
boots, and in stockinged feet slipped past her room and down the stairs.
How stair, handrail, and landing creaked that night, and how my feet and
body struck noisily against things seen quite well but misjudged in the
effort not to misjudge them! And yet there was the note of safety still
sounding, for the snoring never ceased, and the sleeper woke not, though
her waking then might have changed all my life. So I came safely to the
kitchen, and there put in my pocket one of the best winter candles and
the tinder-box, and as I crept out of the room heard suddenly how loud
the old clock was ticking, and looking up saw the bright brass band
marking half past ten on the dial.

Out in the street I kept in the shadow of the houses as far as I might,
though all was silent as the grave; indeed, I think that when the moon is
bright a great hush falls always upon Nature, as though she was taken up
in wondering at her own beauty. Everyone was fast asleep in Moonfleet and
there was no light in any window; only when I came opposite the Why Not?
I saw from the red glow behind the curtains that the bottom room was lit
up, so Elzevir was not yet gone to bed. It was strange, for the Why Not?
had been shut up early for many a long night past, and I crossed over
cautiously to see if I could make out what was going forward. But that
was not to be done, for the panes were thickly steamed over; and this
surprised me more as showing that there was a good company inside.
Moreover, as I stood and listened I could hear a mutter of deep voices
inside, not as of roisterers, but of sober men talking low.

Eagerness would not let me wait long, and I was off across the meadows
towards the church, though not without sad misgivings as soon as the last
house was left well behind me. At the churchyard wall my courage had
waned somewhat: it seemed a shameless thing to come to rifle Blackbeard's
treasure just in the very place and hour that Blackbeard loved; and as I
passed the turnstile I half-expected that a tall figure, hairy and
evil-eyed, would spring out from the shadow on the north side of the
church. But nothing stirred, and the frosty grass sounded crisp under my
feet as I made across the churchyard, stepping over the graves and
keeping always out of the shadows, towards the black clump of yew-trees
on the far side.

When I got round the yews, there was the tomb standing out white against
them, and at the foot of the tomb was the hole like a patch of black
velvet spread upon the ground, it was so dark. Then, for a moment, I
thought that Blackbeard might be lying in wait in the bottom of the hole,
and I stood uncertain whether to go on or back. I could catch the rustle
of the water on the beach--not of any waves, for the bay was smooth as
glass, but just a lipper at the fringe; and wishing to put off with any
excuse the descent into the passage, though I had quite resolved to make
it, I settled with myself that I would count the water wash twenty times,
and at the twentieth would let myself down into the hole. Only seven
wavelets had come in when I forgot to count, for there, right in the
middle of the moon's path across the water, lay a lugger moored broadside
to the beach. She was about half a mile out, but there was no mistake,
for though her sails were lowered her masts and hull stood out black
against the moonlight. Here was a fresh reason for delay, for surely one
must consider what this craft could be, and what had brought her here.
She was too small for a privateer, too large for a fishing-smack, and
could not be a revenue boat by her low freeboard in the waist; and 'twas
a strange thing for a boat to cast anchor in the midst of Moonfleet Bay
even on a night so fine as this. Then while I watched I saw a blue flare
in the bows, only for a moment, as if a man had lit a squib and flung it
overboard, but I knew from it she was a contrabandier, and signalling
either to the shore or to a mate in the offing. With that, courage came
back, and I resolved to make this flare my signal for getting down into
the hole, screwing my heart up with the thought that if Blackbeard was
really waiting for me there, 'twould be little good to turn tail now, for
he would be after me and could certainly run much faster than I. Then I
took one last look round, and down into the hole forthwith, the same way
as I had got down earlier in the day. So on that February night John
Trenchard found himself standing in the heap of loose fallen mould at the
bottom of the hole, with a mixture of courage and cowardice in his heart,
but overruling all a great desire to get at Blackbeard's diamond.

Out came tinder-box and candle, and I was glad indeed when the light
burned up bright enough to show that no one, at any rate, was standing by
my side. But then there was the passage, and who could say what might be
lurking there? Yet I did not falter, but set out on this adventurous
journey, walking very slowly indeed--but that was from fear of
pitfalls--and nerving myself with the thought of the great diamond which
surely would be found at the end of the passage. What should I not be
able to do with such wealth? I would buy a nag for Mr. Glennie, a new
boat for Ratsey, and a silk gown for Aunt Jane, in spite of her being so
hard with me as on this night. And thus I would make myself the greatest
man in Moonfleet, richer even than Mr. Maskew, and build a stone house in
the sea-meadows with a good prospect of the sea, and marry Grace Maskew
and live happily, and fish. I walked on down the passage, reaching out
the candle as far as might be in front of me, and whistling to keep
myself company, yet saw neither Blackbeard nor anyone else. All the way
there were footprints on the floor, and the roof was black as with smoke
of torches, and this made me fear lest some of those who had been there
before might have made away with the diamond. Now, though I have spoken
of this journey down the passage as though it were a mile long, and
though it verily seemed so to me that night, yet I afterwards found it
was not more than twenty yards or thereabouts; and then I came upon a
stone wall which had once blocked the road, but was now broken through so
as to make a ragged doorway into a chamber beyond. There I stood on the
rough sill of the door, holding my breath and reaching out my candle
arm's-length into the darkness, to see what sort of a place this was
before I put foot into it. And before the light had well time to fall on
things, I knew that I was underneath the church, and that this chamber
was none other than the Mohune Vault.

It was a large room, much larger, I think, than the schoolroom where Mr.
Glennie taught us, but not near so high, being only some nine feet from
floor to roof. I say floor, though in reality there was none, but only a
bottom of soft wet sand; and when I stepped down on to it my heart beat
very fiercely, for I remembered what manner of place I was entering, and
the dreadful sounds which had issued from it that Sunday morning so short
a time before. I satisfied myself that there was nothing evil lurking in
the dark corners, or nothing visible at least, and then began to look
round and note what was to be seen. Walls and roof were stone, and at one
end was a staircase closed by a great flat stone at top--that same stone
which I had often seen, with a ring in it, in the floor of the church
above. All round the sides were stone shelves, with divisions between
them like great bookcases, but instead of books there were the coffins of
the Mohunes. Yet these lay only at the sides, and in the middle of the
room was something very different, for here were stacked scores of casks,
kegs, and runlets, from a storage butt that might hold thirty gallons
down to a breaker that held only one. They were marked all of them in
white paint on the end with figures and letters, that doubtless set forth
the quality to those that understood. Here indeed was a discovery, and
instead of picking up at the end of the passage a little brass or silver
casket, which had only to be opened to show Blackbeard's diamond gleaming
inside, I had stumbled on the Mohune's vault, and found it to be nothing
but a cellar of gentlemen of the contraband, for surely good liquor would
never be stored in so shy a place if it ever had paid the excise.

As I walked round this stack of casks my foot struck sharply on the edge
of a butt, which must have been near empty, and straightway came from it
the same hollow, booming sound (only fainter) which had so frightened us
in church that Sunday morning. So it was the casks, and not the coffins,
that had been knocking one against another; and I was pleased with
myself, remembering how I had reasoned that coffin-wood could never give
that booming sound.

It was plain enough that the whole place had been under water: the floor
was still muddy, and the green and sweating walls showed the flood-mark
within two feet of the roof; there was a wisp or two of fine seaweed that
had somehow got in, and a small crab was still alive and scuttled across
the corner, yet the coffins were but little disturbed. They lay on the
shelves in rows, one above the other, and numbered twenty-three in all:
most were in lead, and so could never float, but of those in wood some
were turned slantways in their niches, and one had floated right away and
been left on the floor upside down in a corner when the waters went back.

First I fell to wondering as to whose cellar this was, and how so much
liquor could have been brought in with secrecy; and how it was I had
never seen anything of the contraband-men, though it was clear that they
had made this flat tomb the entrance to their storehouse, as I had made
it my seat. And then I remembered how Ratsey had tried to scare me with
talk of Blackbeard; and how Elzevir, who had never been seen at church
before, was there the Sunday of the noises; and how he had looked ill at
ease whenever the noise came, though he was bold as a lion; and how I had
tripped upon him and Ratsey in the churchyard; and how Master Ratsey lay
with his ear to the wall: and putting all these things together and
casting them up, I thought that Elzevir and Ratsey knew as much as any
about this hiding-place. These reflections gave me more courage, for I
considered that the tales of Blackbeard walking or digging among the
graves had been set afloat to keep those that were not wanted from the
place, and guessed now that when I saw the light moving in the churchyard
that night I went to fetch Dr. Hawkins, it was no corpse-candle, but a
lantern of smugglers running a cargo. Then, having settled these
important matters, I began to turn over in my mind how to get at the
treasure; and herein was much cast down, for in this place was neither
casket nor diamond, but only coffins and double-Hollands. So it was that,
having no better plan, I set to work to see whether I could learn
anything from the coffins themselves; but with little success, for the
lead coffins had no names upon them, and on such of the wooden coffins as
bore plates I found the writing to be Latin, and so rusted over that I
could make nothing of it.

Soon I wished I had not come at all, considering that the diamond had
vanished into air, and it was a sad thing to be cabined with so many dead
men. It moved me, too, to see pieces of banners and funeral shields, and
even shreds of wreaths that dear hearts had put there a century ago, now
all ruined and rotten--some still clinging, water-sodden, to the coffins,
and some trampled in the sand of the floor. I had spent some time in this
bootless search, and was resolved to give up further inquiry and foot it
home, when the clock in the tower struck midnight. Surely never was
ghostly hour sounded in more ghostly place. Moonfleet peal was known over
half the county, and the finest part of it was the clock bell. 'Twas said
that in times past (when, perhaps, the chimes were rung more often than
now) the voice of this bell had led safe home boats that were lost in the
fog; and this night its clangour, mellow and profound, reached even to
the vault. Bim-bom it went, bim-bom, twelve heavy thuds that shook the
walls, twelve resonant echoes that followed, and then a purring and
vibration of the air, so that the ear could not tell when it ended.

I was wrought up, perhaps, by the strangeness of the hour and place, and
my hearing quicker than at other times, but before the tremor of the bell
was quite passed away I knew there was some other sound in the air, and
that the awful stillness of the vault was broken. At first I could not
tell what this new sound was, nor whence it came, and now it seemed a
little noise close by, and now a great noise in the distance. And then it
grew nearer and more defined, and in a moment I knew it was the sound of
voices talking. They must have been a long way off at first, and for a
minute, that seemed as an age, they came no nearer. What a minute was
that to me! Even now, so many years after, I can recall the anguish of
it, and how I stood with ears pricked up, eyes starting, and a clammy
sweat upon my face, waiting for those speakers to come. It was the
anguish of the rabbit at the end of his burrow, with the ferret's eyes
gleaming in the dark, and gun and lurcher waiting at the mouth of the
hole. I was caught in a trap, and knew beside that contraband-men had a
way of sealing prying eyes and stilling babbling tongues; and I
remembered poor Cracky Jones found dead in the churchyard, and how men
_said_ he had met Blackbeard in the night.

These were but the thoughts of a second, but the voices were nearer, and
I heard a dull thud far up the passage, and knew that a man had jumped
down from the churchyard into the hole. So I took a last stare round,
agonizing to see if there was any way of escape; but the stone walls and
roof were solid enough to crush me, and the stack of casks too closely
packed to hide more than a rat. There was a man speaking now from the
bottom of the hole to others in the churchyard, and then my eyes were led
as by a loadstone to a great wooden coffin that lay by itself on the top
shelf, a full six feet from the ground. When I saw the coffin I knew that
I was respited, for, as I judged, there was space between it and the wall
behind enough to contain my little carcass; and in a second I had put out
the candle, scrambled up the shelves, half-stunned my senses with dashing
my head against the roof, and squeezed my body betwixt wall and coffin.
There I lay on one side with a thin and rotten plank between the dead man
and me, dazed with the blow to my head, and breathing hard; while the
glow of torches as they came down the passage reddened and flickered on
the roof above.




CHAPTER 4

IN THE VAULT

Let us hob and nob with Death--_Tennyson_


Though nothing of the vault except the roof was visible from where I
lay, and so I could not see these visitors, yet I heard every word
spoken, and soon made out one voice as being Master Ratsey's. This
discovery gave me no surprise but much solace, for I thought that if the
worst happened and I was discovered, I should find one friend with whom
I could plead for life.

'It is well the earth gave way', the sexton was saying, 'on a night when
we were here to find it. I was in the graveyard myself after midday, and
all was snug and tight then. 'Twould have been awkward enough to have the
hole stand open through the day, for any passer-by to light on.'

There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear more
coming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they
were carrying burdens. There was a sound, too, of dumping kegs down on
the ground, with a swish of liquor inside them, and then the noise of
casks being moved.

'I thought we should have a fall there ere long,' Ratsey went on, 'what
with this drought parching the ground, and the trampling at the edge when
we move out the side stone to get in, but there is no mischief done
beyond what can be easily made good. A gravestone or two and a few spades
of earth will make all sound again. Leave that to me.'

'Be careful what you do,' rejoined another man's voice that I did not
know, 'lest someone see you digging, and scent us out.'

'Make your mind easy,' Ratsey said; 'I have dug too often in this
graveyard for any to wonder if they see me with a spade.'

Then the conversation broke off, and there was little more talking, only
a noise of men going backwards and forwards, and of putting down of kegs
and the hollow gurgle of good liquor being poured from breakers into the
casks. By and by fumes of brandy began to fill the air, and climb to
where I lay, overcoming the mouldy smell of decayed wood and the dampness
of the green walls. It may have been that these fumes mounted to my head,
and gave me courage not my own, but so it was that I lost something of
the stifling fear that had gripped me, and could listen with more ease to
what was going forward. There was a pause in the carrying to and fro;
they were talking again now, and someone said--

'I was in Dorchester three days ago, and heard men say it will go hard
with the poor chaps who had the brush with the _Elector_ last summer.
Judge Barentyne comes on Assize next week, and that old fox Maskew has
driven down to Taunton to get at him before and coach him back; making
out to him that the Law's arm is weak in these parts against the
contraband, and must be strengthened by some wholesome hangings.' 'They
are a cruel pair,' another put in, 'and we shall have new gibbets on
Ridgedown for leading lights. Once I get even with Maskew, the other may
go hang, ay, and they may hang me too.'

'The Devil send him to meet me one dark night on the down alone,' said
someone else, 'and I will give him a pistol's mouth to look down, and
spoil his face for him.'

'No, thou wilt not,' said a deep voice, and then I knew that Elzevir was
there too; 'none shall lay hand on Maskew but I. So mark that, lad, that
when his day of reckoning comes, 'tis _I_ will reckon with him.'

Then for a few minutes I did not pay much heed to what was said, being
terribly straitened for room, and cramped with pain from lying so long in
one place. The thick smoke from the pitch torches too came curling across
the roof and down upon me, making me sick and giddy with its evil smell
and taste; and though all was very dim, I could see my hands were black
with oily smuts. At last I was able to wriggle myself over without making
too much noise, and felt a great relief in changing sides, but gave such
a start as made the coffin creak again at hearing my own name.

'There is a boy of Trenchard's,' said a voice that I thought was
Parmiter's, who lived at the bottom of the village--'there is a boy of
Trenchard's that I mistrust; he is for ever wandering in the graveyard,
and I have seen him a score of times sitting on this tomb and looking out
to sea. This very night, when the wind fell at sundown, and we were hung
up with sails flapping, three miles out, and waited for the dark to get
the sweeps, I took my glass to scan the coast-line, and lo, here on the
tomb-top sits Master Trenchard. I could not see his face, but knew him by
his cut, and fear the boy sits there to play the spy and then tells
Maskew.' 'You're right,' said Greening of Ringstave, for I knew his
slow drawl; 'and many a time when I have sat in The Wood, and watched the
Manor to see Maskew safe at home before we ran a cargo, I have seen this
boy too go round about the place with a hangdog look, scanning the house
as if his life depended on't.'

'Twas very true what Greening said; for of a summer evening I would take
the path that led up Weatherbeech Hill, behind the Manor; both because
'twas a walk that had a good prospect in itself, and also a sweet charm
for me, namely, the hope of seeing Grace Maskew. And there I often sat
upon the stile that ends the path and opens on the down, and watched the
old half-ruined house below; and sometimes saw white-frocked Gracie
walking on the terrace in the evening sun, and sometimes in returning
passed her window near enough to wave a greeting. And once, when she had
the fever, and Dr. Hawkins came twice a day to see her, I had no heart
for school, but sat on that stile the livelong day, looking at the gabled
house where she was lying ill. And Mr. Glennie never rated me for playing
truant, nor told Aunt Jane, guessing, as I thought afterwards, the cause,
and having once been young himself. 'Twas but boy's love, yet serious for
me; and on the day she lay near death, I made so bold as to stop Dr.
Hawkins on his horse and ask him how she did; and he bearing with me for
the eagerness that he read in my face, bent down over his saddle and
smiled, and said my playmate would come back to me again.

So it was quite true that I had watched the house, but not as a spy, and
would not have borne tales to old Maskew for anything that could be
offered. Then Ratsey spoke up for me and said--''Tis a false scent. The
boy is well enough, and simple, and has told me many a time he seeks the
churchyard because there is a fine view to be had there of the sea, and
'tis the sea he loves. A month ago, when the high tide set, and this
vault was so full of water that we could not get in, I came with Elzevir
to make out if the floods were going down inside, or what eddy 'twas that
set the casks tapping one against another. So as I lay on the ground with
my ear glued close against the wall, who should march round the church
but John Trenchard, Esquire, not treading delicately like King Agag, or
spying, but just come on a voyage of discovery for himself. For in the
church on Sunday, when we heard the tapping in the vault below, my young
gentleman was scared enough; but afterwards, being told by Parson
Glennie--who should know better--that such noises were not made by
ghosts, but by the Mohunes at sea in their coffins, he plucks up heart,
and comes down on the Monday to see if they are still afloat. So there he
caught me lying like a zany on the ground. You may guess I stood at
attention soon enough, but told him I was looking at the founds to see if
they wanted underpinning from the floods. And so I set his mind at ease,
for 'tis a simple child, and packed him off to get my dubbing hammer. And
I think the boy will not be here so often now to frighten honest
Parmiter, for I have weaved him some pretty tales of Blackbeard, and he
has a wholesome scare of meeting the Colonel. But after dark I pledge my
life that neither he nor any other in the town would pass the churchyard
wall, no, not for a thousand pounds.'

I heard him chuckling to himself, and the others laughed loudly too, when
he was telling how he palmed me off; but 'he laughs loudest who laughs
last', thought I, and should have chuckled too, were it not for making
the coffin creak. And then, to my surprise, Elzevir spoke: 'The lad is
a brave lad; I would he were my son. He is David's age, and will make a
good sailor later on.'

They were simple words, yet pleasing to me; for Elzevir spoke as if he
meant them, and I had got to like him a little in spite of all his
grimness; and beside that, was sorry for his grief over his son. I was so
moved by what he said, that for a moment I was for jumping up and calling
out to him that I lay here and liked him well, but then thought better of
it, and so kept still.

The carrying was over, and I fancy they were all sitting on the ends of
kegs or leaning up against the pile; but could not see, and was still
much troubled with the torch smoke, though now and then I caught through
it a whiff of tobacco, which showed that some were smoking.

Then Greening, who had a singing voice for all his drawl, struck up
with--

Says the Cap'n to the crew,
We have slipt the revenue,

but Ratsey stopped him with a sharp 'No more of that; the words aren't
to our taste tonight, but come as wry as if the parson called _Old
Hundred_ and I tuned up with _Veni_.' I knew he meant the last verse
with a hanging touch in it; but Greening was for going on with the song,
until some others broke in too, and he saw that the company would have
none of it.

'Not but what the labourer is worthy of his hire,' went on Master Ratsey;
'so spile that little breaker of Schiedam, and send a rummer round to
keep off midnight chills.'

He loved a glass of the good liquor well, and with him 'twas always the
same reasoning, namely, to keep off chills; though he chopped the words
to suit the season, and now 'twas autumn, now winter, now spring, or
summer chills.

They must have found glasses, though I could not remember to have seen
any in the vault, for a minute later fugleman Ratsey spoke again--

'Now, lads, glasses full and bumpers for a toast. And here's to
Blackbeard, to Father Blackbeard, who watches over our treasure better
than he did over his own; for were it not the fear of him that keeps off
idle feet and prying eyes, we should have the gaugers in, and our store
ransacked twenty times.'

So he spoke, and it seemed there was a little halting at first, as of
men not liking to take Blackbeard's name in Blackbeard's place, or raise
the Devil by mocking at him. But then some of the bolder shouted
'Blackbeard', and so the more timid chimed in, and in a minute there
were a score of voices calling 'Blackbeard, Blackbeard', till the place
rang again.

Then Elzevir cried out angrily, 'Silence. Are you mad, or has the liquor
mastered you? Are you Revenue-men that you dare shout and roister? or
contrabandiers with the lugger in the offing, and your life in your hand.
You make noise enough to wake folk in Moonfleet from their beds.'

'Tut, man,' retorted Ratsey testily, 'and if they waked, they would but
pull the blankets tight about their ears, and say 'twas Blackbeard piping
his crew of lost Mohunes to help him dig for treasure.'

Yet for all that 'twas plain that Block ruled the roost, for there was
silence for a minute, and then one said, 'Ay, Master Elzevir is right;
let us away, the night is far spent, and we have nothing but the sweeps
to take the lugger out of sight by dawn.'

So the meeting broke up, and the torchlight grew dimmer, and died away
as it had come in a red flicker on the roof, and the footsteps sounded
fainter as they went up the passage, until the vault was left to the dead
men and me. Yet for a very long time--it seemed hours--after all had gone
I could hear a murmur of distant voices, and knew that some were talking
at the end of the passage, and perhaps considering how the landslip might
best be restored. So while I heard them thus conversing I dared not
descend from my perch, lest someone might turn back to the vault, though
I was glad enough to sit up, and ease my aching back and limbs. Yet in
the awful blackness of the place even the echo of these human voices
seemed a kindly and blessed thing, and a certain shrinking loneliness
fell on me when they ceased at last and all was silent. Then I resolved I
would be off at once, and get back to the moonlight bed that I had left
hours ago, having no stomach for more treasure-hunting, and being glad
indeed to be still left with the treasure of life.

Thus, sitting where I was, I lit my candle once more, and then clambered
across that great coffin which, for two hours or more, had been a
mid-wall of partition between me and danger. But to get out of the niche
was harder than to get in; for now that I had a candle to light me, I saw
that the coffin, though sound enough to outer view, was wormed through
and through, and little better than a rotten shell. So it was that I had
some ado to get over it, not daring either to kneel upon it or to bring
much weight to bear with my hand, lest it should go through. And now
having got safely across, I sat for an instant on that narrow ledge of
the stone shelf which projected beyond the coffin on the vault side, and
made ready to jump forward on to the floor below. And how it happened I
know not, but there I lost my balance, and as I slipped the candle flew
out of my grasp. Then I clutched at the coffin to save myself, but my
hand went clean through it, and so I came to the ground in a cloud of
dust and splinters; having only got hold of a wisp of seaweed, or a
handful of those draggled funeral trappings which were strewn about this
place. The floor of the vault was sandy; and so, though I fell crookedly,