"Because you know now who imprisoned you, and if you escaped you would tell it to the world. I dare not let the world know this, so you and Eli will have to die."

I felt sure there was some trick in this, although I could not tell what it was.

"But if I had been set free the world would have known," I replied.

"No, you would have been taken to a far-off spot, and you would never have known where your prison was, nor could you have sworn who imprisoned you."

"But I am going to escape," I said, still keeping my eyes on him, while I could hear Eli grunting as he struggled with the serving-man.

"No," he said, "you are as weak as a baby. Your strength even now has gone. You thought bodily strength everything; I, on the other hand, know that brains is more than bodily strength. Do you think I did not know who I was dealing with? You are a fool. Every mouthful of food you have been eating while you have been here has kept you weak. Now you are no match for me. And I am going to kill you! Shall I tell you where you are? You are at Trevose, the house that was Naomi's. Shall I tell you something else?" and he laughed mockingly. "Naomi Penryn loved you – but she's dead; and now Trevose House and lands belong to the Tresidders, do you see?"

Then, I know not how, but a great strength came to me, an unnatural strength. My heart grew cold, but my hands and arms felt like steel. His bitter, mocking words seemed to dry up all the milk of human kindness in my nature. At that moment I ceased to be a man. I was simply an instrument of vengeance. His words gave me a great joy on the one hand, for I knew he would not have told me she loved me, did he not believe it to be true, but this only intensified my feeling of utter despair caused by those terrible words, "But she's dead." I felt sure, too, that she had been persecuted; I knew instinctively of all that she had had to contend with, how they brought argument after argument to persuade her to marry Nick, and how, because she had refused, they had slowly but surely killed her.

And Nick gloated over the fact that Trevose lands belonged to him as though that were the result of good luck rather than as the outcome of systematic cruelty and murder.

I was very calm I remember, but it was an unnatural calm. I looked around me, and Eli was still struggling with the serving-man, and to my delight he was slowly mastering him.

"Nick Tresidder," I said, "you and your brood robbed my father, you have robbed me, robbed me of everything I hold dear. I am going to kill you now with these hands."

He laughed scornfully, as though I had spoken vain words; but he knew not that there is a passion which overcomes physical weakness.

"I know it is to be a duel to the death," he laughed, "for I could not afford to allow you to leave here alive."

"God Almighty is tired of you," I said; "He has given me the power to crush the life out of you," and all the time I spoke I felt as though my sinews were like steel bands.

He leapt upon me as quickly as a flash of light, but it did not matter. In a minute I caught him in what the wrestlers call the cross-hitch. I put forth my strength, and his right arm cracked like a rotten stick, but he did not cry out. Then I put my arm around him and slowly crushed the breath out of his body. I think he felt the meaning of my words then.

"Stop, Jasper," he gasped, "she's not dead – she's – "

"What?" I asked.

But he did not speak. I do not think he could. I relaxed my hold, but he lay limp in my arms like a sick child. Never in my life could I hurt an unresisting man, so I let him fall, and he lay like a log of wood. But he was still breathing, and I knew that he would live. But my passion had died away, and so had my strength.

I turned around and I saw that Eli had mastered the serving-man. He had placed his hands around his neck, and had I not pulled the dwarf away the man would have died.

"Eli," I said, picking up the torch, "they will not follow us now. Come."

But Eli did not want to come. He looked at the men we had mastered, and his eyes glared with an unearthly light, and like a lion who has tasted blood he did not seem satisfied.

"An eye for an eye," he said; "tha's what mawther do zay. Iss, an' a tooth for a tooth."

"Lead the way to the sea, Eli," I said, and like a dog he obeyed. Taking the torch from me he crawled down the passage, laughing in a strange guttural way as he went. All the time my mind was resting on Nick Tresidder's words, "She's not dead. She's – " and in spite of myself hope came into my heart again, while a thousand wild thoughts flashed through my mind.

A few minutes later we felt the sea-spray dashing against our faces, while the winds beat furiously upon us. Below us, perhaps twenty feet down, the sea thundered on the rocky cliff.

"What are we to do now, Eli?" I asked.

He looked anxiously around him like one in doubt; then he put his fingers in his mouth, and gave a long piercing whistle.

"Who are you whistling to?"

"He's coming," he answered, looking out over the wild waters.

"Who's coming?"

"The man that told me."

"Who is he?"

"I'll tell 'ee, Maaster Jasper. I've bin 'ere fer days, I have. I was loppin 'round 'cawse I knawed you was 'ere."

"How did you know?"

"I'll tell 'ee as zoon as we git away, Maaster Jasper. Well, as I was loppin' round I zeed a man, he looked oal maazed. He spoked to me, and I spoked to 'ee. Then we got a talkin' 'bout lots o' things. He seemed afraid to meet anybody, but axed scores ov questions. Oal he tould me about hisself was that he was an ould smuggler that used to land cargoes round 'ere. One day I seed a hankerchuff 'angin' from thickey winder, an' I knawed 'twas yours. I was wonderin' 'ow I cud git to 'ee, and I axed the man ef he knawed anything 'bout the 'ouse. After a bit he tould me that there was a sacret passage a-goin' from the cliff to the room where the winder was. Tha's 'ow 'twas. I'll tell 'ee more zoon. There he es, look."

I saw something dark moving on the water, and presently discerned a man in a boat.

Eli whistled again, and the whistle was answered.

"How did you get from the sea up here?" I asked.

"I climbed up, Maaster Jasper, but I can't go down that way."

The boat came nearer.

"Es et saafe to plunge?" shouted Eli.

"Yes," was the reply underneath.

"No rocks?"

"Dive as far out to sea as you can, and you'll go into twenty feet of water."

"All right," shouted Eli, then turning to me, he said, "I'll dive first, Maaster Jasper."

"Can you swim?" I asked.

"Swem!" he sneered; "ed'n my mawther a witch?"

He plunged into the sea, and I heard the splash of his body as it fell into the water, then I saw him get into the boat, which was rocked to and fro with the great waves.

"All right," I heard a voice from beneath say, "now then!"

I gathered myself together for the dive, and I think my heart failed me. My strength seemed to have entirely left me, and it looked an awful distance between me and the frothy waves beneath. Besides, might I not strike against a rock? Then I think my senses left me, although I am not sure. It seemed as though the sea became calm, and a great silence fell upon everything. After that I heard a voice which seemed like Naomi's.

"Help, Jasper!" it said.

Then all fear, all hesitation left me, and I plunged into the sea beneath. I felt my body cutting the air, then an icy feeling gripped me as I sunk in the waters. When I rose to the surface I saw the boat a few yards from me rising on the crest of a wave.

I could hear nothing, however, save a roar which seemed like ten thousand thunders. I struck out boldly for the boat, but Eli and the other man seemed to mock me with jeering menaces. I struggled hard and long, but the boat seemed to get no nearer, and presently I thought I heard unearthly laughter above the wild roar of the breakers.

"Ha, ha," I thought I heard them saying, "now we've got you; this is Granfer Fraddam's phantom boat, this is. Swim, Jasper Pennington, swim!"

I tried to swim, but my legs seemed to be weighted, while around me floated thousands of hideous jabbering things which I thought tried to lure me on to the rocks.

I looked landward and the house in which I had been imprisoned appeared to shine in a strange ruddy light, until it looked like one of those enchanted houses which one sees in dreams.

Then I thought I heard Naomi's voice again, "Help, Jasper, help!"

But all my struggles seemed of no avail. I fancied I was being carried by the force of the waves farther and farther out to sea, while all the time Eli and the other man beckoned me onward, their boat rising and falling on the bosom of the ever-heaving waters.

Then I felt cold hands grip me, and I was dragged I knew not whither, while everything was engulfed in impenetrable darkness.

CHAPTER XVII
TELLS OF THE MANNER OF MY ESCAPE, OF THE STRANGE MAN I MET, AND OF ELI'S STORY OF A BURIED TREASURE

The next thing I can remember was a sensation of choking, of trying in vain to get my breath; then a weight seemed to be slowly rolled from me, and I felt myself free.

I opened my eyes and found myself in a cave. At first I thought it was the one in which I had fought with Nick Tresidder, but I soon found myself to be mistaken. I lay upon coarse, dry sand, while close to me a fire burned. Its grateful light and warmth caused a pleasant sensation; then I realised that my wet clothes had been taken from me, and that I was rolled in a warm, dry blanket.

"You be better now, Maaster Jasper, be'ant 'ee, then?" I looked up and saw Eli Fraddam bending over me.

"How did I get here?" I asked, in a dazed kind of way, "and where am I?"

"You be cloase to Bedruthan Steps, an tha's where you be, Maaster Jasper; you be in one of the caaves. 'Tes oal lew and coasy 'ere, and you'll be oal right again. But you've bin as sick as a shag, and as cowld as a coddle."

I tried to call to memory what had passed. Then I said, "But how did I get here, Eli, and how long is it since we came?"

"We brought 'ee 'ere, Maaster Jasper, in the booat, ya knaw. You tumbled in the say, and we was a goodish bit afore we cud git 'ee on boaard. We was feard for a long time that you was dead, but you're oal right now. Yer things 'll zoon be dry, and then you c'n dress up oal spruce and purty."

Slowly my mind became clear; then I remembered the man who had been in the boat while Eli and I had been together in the secret passage.

"Where is the man who helped you with the boat?" I asked.

"Here 'ee es. Come 'ere, maaster."

Then I saw a strange-looking man who, as far as I could judge, might be any age between fifty and seventy. I looked at him steadily for some time. Somehow his face seemed familiar. I could not call to mind where I had seen it, however. He had a long gray beard, while his hair was also long and unkempt. His eyes shone with a wild brilliancy, and he seemed to be always eagerly watching.

"Thank you for helping me," I said; "it was very good of you."

"Was it?" he replied. "Do you really think it was good of me?"

"It was, indeed," I responded. "I wish I could repay you somehow. Some time I hope to have the power."

He looked at me eagerly.

"I'm glad you think it was good of me," he said; "so very glad. Will you tell me something?"

"If I can I will," I replied.

"Do you think it possible that many good deeds – many, many, many – can atone for wild, bad, murderous actions?"

"God takes everything into account," I replied.

"Do you think He does – do you? I'll tell you something," and he drew closer to me. "Years ago – long years ago – oh! so long, so long! – well, say I was a smuggler, a wrecker – oh, what you like! Well, say in self-defence, in passion, in frenzy, I killed a King's officer – do you think God will forgive me? And say, too, that since then I've roamed and roamed, all over the world, always trying to do good deeds, kind deeds – do you think God takes them into account?"

"I'm sure He does," I answered.

"I only wanted to know your opinion," he replied, as though trying to speak carelessly. "Of course I only imagined a case, only imagined it – that's all."

Now this kind of talk set me wondering about the man, and imagining who he might be. Wildly as he looked, strangely as he spoke, curiously as he was dressed, he still spoke like an educated man. I watched him as he continued to cast glances around the cave, and I came to the conclusion that he was mad. I opened my mouth to ask him questions, but the remembrance that Eli might be able to tell me what I wanted to know about the Tresidders restrained me.

"How did you know how to find me?" I asked of Eli. "Tell me everything that happened since I left you that morning."

Eli, who had continued to look at me all the time I had been speaking to the stranger, gave a start as I asked the question.

"Wondered why you did'n come back from Fammuth," he grunted, "so I went and axed 'bout 'ee. Cudden vind out nothin'. Then I beginned to worm around. I vound out that Neck Trezidder 'ad tould the passon not to cry the banns at church. Then I got the new cook at Pennington to come to mawther and 'ave 'er fortin tould; then mawther an' me wormed out oal she knawed 'bout the things up to Pennington."

"What?" I asked, while all the time the strange man seemed to be eagerly devouring Eli's words.

"The Trezidders and the purty maid ev quaruled about you."

"Are you sure?"

"Iss. Neck wanted the purty maid to marry un, and she wudden, and they axed 'er 'bout you, and she wudden tell nothin'."

"How did the new cook know this?"

"She 'arkened at the door."

I did not feel then, neither do I feel now, that I did wrong in trying to find out the actions of the Tresidders even by such means as this. My heart was torn by a great anxiety, and my love for Naomi seemed to grow every hour.

"Well, what then?"

"The cook cudden maake it oal out, but the purty maid axed to go to some plaace called a convent."

"Ah! a convent – yes," I cried, my mind reverting back to the conversation I had heard between Richard Tresidder and his son.

"Well, she went; tha's oal I do knaw 'bout she."

"You are sure?" I asked, eagerly.

Eli hung his head.

"Tell me is that all?" I gasped. "Tell me all you know – everything."

"Poor Jasper, deear Jasper!" crooned Eli, patting my hands. "Eli loves Jasper."

"But tell me everything, Eli."

"You wa'ant go maazed?"

"No."

"Then I heerd she was dead; but I dunnaw. There, do'ant 'ee give way, Maaster Jasper."

For a few seconds I was stunned, but I called to mind Nick's words, and I was comforted; at any rate, there was hope.

"And the rest, Eli?" I asked. "How did you find out where I was?"

"It took me a long time. I went to Kynance, and I 'arkened round Pennington, but I cudden 'eer nothin'. Then wawn day I seed Israel Barnicoat talkin' with Maaster Trezidder, then I beginned to wonder."

"Yes; what then?"

"I tried to pump un, but I cudden."

"Well?"

"Then wawn day I got'n home to mawther's, and we maade un nearly drunk, and then I vound out. He'd bin 'ired by Maaster Trezidder to taake 'ee to Trevawse 'Ouse. Little by little I vound out where it was, then I comed to 'ee."

I did not ask him any more questions. I knew nearly all he could tell me now; besides, the presence of the stranger kept me from entering into further details. My imagination filled up what was not related.

"Eli got summin to tell Maaster Jasper when we git aloane," grunted Eli presently.

The man with whom I had been speaking walked out of the cave, and I could not but think he had been brought up as a gentleman in spite of his wild, unkempt appearance.

"What is it?" I asked. "Where is the convent to which Miss Penryn was taken? Can you tell me that?"

"No, I ca'ant; ted'n 'bout that."

"What then?"

"You reckleck thicky night when you comed 'ome from say – that night when mawther brought out the crock and brandis, and tould yer fortin?"

"Yes."

"And you do mind to that Cap'n Jack and Cap'n Billy Coad comed to 'ee?"

"I remember."

"Well, you eerd 'em axin mawther 'bout the saicret paaper that tould 'em 'bout a treasure?"

"Yes."

"Well" – and Eli put his mouth close to my ear – "I do knaw where thicky paaper es. I've vound un out, an' saved un for Maaster Jasper."

"What do you mean?"

"Eli do love Maaster Jasper" – and again the poor gnome began fondling and caressing my hands – "so Eli have wormed around and around, and ev vound out where et es. Aw, aw, when Cap'n Jack an' Cap'n Billy cudden vind et they ded swear they ded, but Eli do knaw, an' Eli'll give ut to Maaster Jasper, 'ee will, then Maaster Jasper c'n pay 'em oal out. Turn out Maaster Trezidder, my deear, and live at Pennington."

"Tell me more about it, Eli?" I cried.

"Hush, we mus'n tell nobody. Aw, aw!" and again the dwarf laughed gleefully.

"There's no witchcraft, no wizard's charms about the treasure, is there? It wasn't made in hell, was it?"

"No, no; tes oal right. Granfer Fraddam was once a pirut on the 'igh says."

"Yes; I know he was once a pirate on the high seas, but what of that?"

"Well, he got the paaper from another pirut. Some do zay he ded kill un, but that ed'n true. Well, 'ee got et."

"Yes; but if he got a paper telling where the treasure was, why did he not take it away?"

"Well, Granfer cudden raid, fur wawn thing, and fur another, 'ee wos feared."

"Afraid of what?"

"Several things. For wawn thing, he was tould that 'twas onlucky to git a treasure that was got through killin' people; but that wudden stop Granfer, I do knaw."

"Then what was it?"

"Well, Granfer cudden raid the direckshuns, and 'ee cud never maake up his mind to shaw et to anybody that cud. Now, they do zay that when 'ee talked 'bout et 'ee was awful feared. He zed ef 'ee shawed et to anybody they'd kill un. I spoase Granfer was a wisht ould man after 'ee 'ad a accident, and was too ould to live out to say. He repented and turned religious. That was why 'ee ded'n do nothin' but smugglin'. Well, so 'ee did eed away the paper wot 'ee got from the man, and waited till 'ee cud vind somebody to trust. But he cudden vind nobody – nobody toal. Besides, everybody was frad to 'ave anything to do wi' Granfer. People did believe 'ee was a wizard, and 'ad dailins weth the devil. Mawther do zay that nobody would go out mor'n seven mile out to say weth Granfer."

"And where is this paper?"

"Aw, aw. I vound out I did. Granfer tould mawther, and mawther did tell me. I vound et, and did eed it in another plaace. Aw, aw, you shud a eerd Cap'n Jack and Cap'n Billy swear when they cudden vind et. Aw, aw. But I did love Maaster Jasper, and I'll take 'ee to et, Maaster Jasper, my deear."

All the time Eli was speaking he kept fondling my hands and caressing me, just as a man would caress a maid whom he loves.

"But does your mother know what you have done?"

"No, she doan't. She do believe it have been sperrited away."

"Spirited away; what do you mean?"

"Mawther do knaw. Aw, aw. But she ed'n right this time, and yet she is oal the time."

As I have before mentioned, it was no uncommon thing to hear about hidden treasures along our coast. Indeed, from earliest childhood I have heard of gangs of pirates burying treasures in many of our secret hiding-places; so common were such stories that we had ceased to pay attention to them. Consequently I had given but little attention to the conversation I had heard between Cap'n Jack and Betsey, neither did I attach much value to what Eli had been telling me. If such a treasure existed, and if Granfer Fraddam knew of it, he would have found means to have obtained it. I knew that during Granfer Fraddam's later years he was said to have tried to get religion, and wanted very hard to break away from a compact he made with the evil one in his young days. There were also stories telling how he pleaded with Betsey to give up all connection with witchcraft, and that because she would not agree to this he died in his secret cave rather than have her near him. But all these were stories to which I, who had had a fair amount of schooling, had paid but little attention.

Besides, at this time I was thinking about the sweet maid that I loved rather than the treasure that Eli spoke about. What were treasures to me if she were dead? What was Pennington, the home of my fathers even, if she had been slowly killed by the Tresidder brood? I asked myself many times what Nick Tresidder had meant by his words; I wondered, too, where the convent was in which she had been placed, and as I wondered my heart was torn with anguish, for all the world was nothing to me without Naomi.

And so for a long time I did not talk to Eli concerning that about which he had spoken. I seemed rather to be eating my heart away, and almost wished that I had died when I had plunged into the sea a few hours before, for what could I do? Where was the convent in which she was placed? How could I get to her? And if I tried, what steps would the Tresidders take to hinder me? From the fact that Nick Tresidder had come to Trevose, would it not suggest that he had come to claim the land as his? And would he not take steps even now to get me out of the way?

These and a hundred other questions I asked myself, until my brain became weary again, and my heart was sick with disappointment, sorrow, and despair.

"Will Maaster Jasper go with poor little Eli?" grunted my companion presently. "I knaw where the paper es, Maaster Jasper. 'Tes covered weth ritin' and funny lines; but Maaster Jasper es clever, he can vind et out. Spanish money, Maaster Jasper – 'eaps and 'eaps ov et. You could buy back Pennington, Maaster Jasper, and pay out the Trezidders – pay 'em out; iss, an' turn 'em out, neck and crop!"

Why is it, I wonder, that the human heart turns so naturally to revenge? In my despair it came to me as a comfort, this thought of driving the Tresidders from Pennington. For the moment I became eager about Eli's story of the treasure, and asked many questions – foolish as the whole business might be – as to what Granfer Fraddam had told his mother, and what she had told him.

After a while I remembered the man who had been our companion, and I sent Eli to try and find him.

When Eli had gone I examined my clothes and found them dry. So I put them on, wondering all the time as to whose they might be, and who had worn them prior to the time the man had given them to me.

No sooner had I finished dressing than Eli and the man came in. I thought the latter looked more calm and self-possessed. He brought some bread, too, and some salted fish. Then for the first time I saw some simple cooking utensils in the cave.

"Have you been living in this cave?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied; "I have been living here for a month. But you are welcome. I want to do good deeds if I may. I want to atone."

"Have you done anything so bad, then," I asked, "else why do you wish to atone?"

He looked at me eagerly for a few seconds; then, without speaking, he put two pans on the fire, first of all filling them with water. After this he placed the fish in one of the pans, and waited while the water boiled.

"What is your name, young man?" he asked presently.

"Jasper Pennington."

"Of Pennington?"

"Yes; what do you know about it?"

"I knew of a family of that name long years ago. Pennington of Pennington. Why are you in this plight?"

"Because I have been robbed of my birthright," I replied, bitterly.

"By whom?"

"The Tresidder family."

"The Tresidder family – ah!" He said this with great bitterness and passion. After a few seconds he grew calm again. "And have you sought to be revenged?"

"I have sought rather to win back my own. But what do you know of the Tresidders?"

"Nothing – oh, nothing, nothing, nothing! What could I, a poor shipwrecked sailor, know about a great family?" This he said hurriedly, almost fearfully, I thought. Presently he continued, "And you have done no rash deeds, Jasper Pennington?"

"No."

"You have not killed any of their men, their women?"

"No; not yet."

"Oh, be careful. Do you know" – and he heaped some driftwood on the fire – "that one moment of madness drives a man to hell? I've been in hell now for – oh, nigh upon twenty years. Hell, Jasper Pennington, a burning hell! Suffer anything, anything rather than – than – oh, it's nothing. I'm only imagining still; but there – " And he became silent again.

In spite of my many doubts and fears I became interested in the man, and I watched him closely.

"Look, Jasper Pennington," he said presently, "anything got through evil, through bloodshed, through murder carries a curse with it. I've had the curse of Cain upon me now for many a year. I have been a wanderer on the face of the earth, but I have kept my eyes open. Everywhere it has been the same. Blood money, hate money, money evilly got, always carries a curse. Don't touch it, don't touch it! It does not burn the hands – oh, but it burns the heart, the soul! Oh, I have seen! I know!"

"But supposing your father had his home stolen from him by lies, treachery, fraud – suppose your father said to you with his dying breath, 'Get back that land; it is yours, it is your birthright, your true possession,' what would you do?"

"Jasper Pennington, there be other birthrights than those of law – there be those of God. There is the birthright of clean, bloodless hands and a pure heart; there is the birthright of an easy conscience, and the power to pray! It is more than money."

"You do not know everything," I said, "or you would speak differently."

"I not know!" he cried; "I not know! My God! my God!"

For a few seconds I thought him mad again, but presently he became calm. "The food is ready," he said; "we will eat of it. I got it from a cottage yonder. After we have eaten you may like to tell me all about yourself. Perchance I could help you; perchance, too, I am not what I seem."

Something about the man charmed me. As I have mentioned, he spoke correctly, and in spite of his strange attire he looked like a gentleman. So when I had eaten I told him my story.

"Is that all?" he said, when I had finished. "There is something else. Your eyes would never shine so at the thought of being robbed of lands."

"Yes, there is more," I cried, for I had not told him of my love; and then – and I wondered at myself as I did so – I told him of my love for Naomi, but only in barest outline. I did not tell her name, I did not speak of her as coming from Trevose, I did not relate how Richard Tresidder hoped through her to gain Trevose.

When I had finished he sat for many minutes looking steadfastly into the fire, while his eyes grew as red as the red coals into which he looked.

"You have not told me all yet, Jasper Pennington," he said; "there is much behind. Why do you think they have ill-treated if not killed the fair maid you love? Why should they seek to put her into the convent? Ay, more, how and by what right were you taken to yon house on the cliffs? Tell me that, Jasper Pennington."

He spoke slowly, but with terrible intensity, and for a moment a feeling which I cannot describe passed through my heart.

"There is something else, Jasper Pennington," he continued. "What is the name of the fair maid you love, and whose child is she?"

On saying this he caught my hand with a hard, tight grasp, and looked eagerly into my eyes.