THE next morning the doctor was up early, that he might get a last bathe before breakfast. It was a beautiful day, and this made it all the harder for him to go away. Everything, he thought, looked its brightest and its best. Val put his head out of his bedroom window as he passed the Castle.
‘Wait a moment,’ he said; ‘I’m coming.’
Mrs. Norris was sitting on a three-legged stool milking, just outside the gate, and he went up to her, to tell her he should drop in later in the day to say goodbye. He was still talking to her when Val and Billy joined him.
‘Where’s Dick?’ Forester asked, as they went down the hill together.
‘He must have gone on in front,’ said Val. ‘When did he start, Billy?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Billy; ‘I must have been asleep when he got up. He’s got quite a mania for early rising just now. Catch me turning out at six in the morning, on a pouring wet day, to see any old Sly-boots off!’
Jack and Don joined them at the corner of the road leading from the village, and they all went on together to the shore. They expected to find Dick there, but he never appeared.
‘I wonder what he’s after,’ said Billy; ‘bathing off the rocks somewhere, I expect. He’s got a great craze for diving this last week.’
They all enjoyed their bathe, and Jack and Don took the doctor back with them to the Bank. Everyone seemed rather out of spirits at breakfast; they were all fond of Forester, all sorry that he was going.
‘It won’t seem a bit right without you,’ said Don. ‘Why can’t that stupid old hospital take care of itself?’
They were just preparing to go out when Val appeared. ‘Is Dick here?’ he asked.
‘Dick? No; hasn’t he turned up yet?’
‘No, he hasn’t; we’ve been expecting him all the time, and mother thought he might be here. It does not matter, he’s bound to turn up soon. He never has any idea of time. Can I help you to pack up your tent, Forester?’
‘Thanks, Val; Maxie is coming, but I won’t refuse a good offer; an extra hand in packing will be a great help.’
‘I’ll come too,’ said Don. ‘We’ll soon get it done between us. Let’s hurry up and finish, and then get back to the shore.’
They climbed the hill together, and, as they passed the Castle, saw Joyce looking out of the gate.
‘Is Dick back?’ shouted Val.
‘No, not yet.’
‘It strikes me he’ll want his breakfast when he does come,’ said Don. ‘It’s hungry work prowling about before breakfast.’
They found Maxie, with his donkey and cart, waiting for them close to the tent.
‘Be this belonging to any of you young gentlemen?’ he said, as he fumbled in his pocket and brought out a soft grey cap.
‘Hand it here,’ said Val. ‘Why, it’s just like Dick’s cap!’
It was Dick’s cap, they all knew it well, they had seen him wearing it many and many a time.
‘Wherever in the world did you find this, Maxie?’
Maxie pointed vaguely in the direction of the sea.
‘Over there,’ he said.
‘Where?’ asked Forester; ‘tell us exactly.’
But this was more than Maxie was able to do; his brain was somewhat bewildered at all times, but when he was questioned about anything he seemed to lose what little intelligence he had, or, at any rate. to be unable to express what he meant to say, or to give a direct answer to any question that was put to him. They asked him one thing after another, but were quite unable to get any information out of him, beyond the mere fact that he had found the cap ‘over there.’
‘Look here, you fellows,’ said Forester to the others, ‘not a word of this to Mrs. Sinclair. She will only alarm herself, and think something has happened to Dick, when, in all probability, we shall find the explanation is as simple as daylight. Possibly Dick is at home now, and ready to start off again to look for his cap. The best thing you can do, Val, is to go home and tell him when he comes that it is safe in my tent; in fact, you had better stop about near home and look out for him. We shall manage the tent all right. I’ve no doubt he has been on the rocks, and his cap has blown off, and he has lost it.’
Val went back somewhat reluctantly, and as soon as he was out of hearing Forester whispered to Don, ‘I don’t like this at all.’
‘And I don’t like it either,’ said Don. ‘Something’s up!’
‘Will I begin to pull him down, master?’ asked Maxie, with his hand on one of the tent pegs.
‘No, Maxie, leave it alone now. Take your donkey and cart to the Castle, leave them there with one of the farm lads, and come back to me.’
‘All right, master, all right.’
‘And not a word about that cap. That’s not your business, Maxie, remember.’
‘Not a word, not a word, master,’ repeated Maxie, as he led his donkey away down the road.
‘Now, Don,’ said Forester, ‘perhaps we are making a mountain out of a mole-hill. Perhaps Dick may even now be at home; but, at the same time, accidents do happen, and I must say it appears to me a strange thing that a fellow’s cap should be picked up; he would hardly go on without it, would he?’
‘Hardly!’ said Don. ‘Well, what do you mean to do?’
‘Make Maxie collect his wits, and take us to the place where he found that cap. He can’t tell us, but he may be able to show us, and then we can come to our own conclusions.’
The doctor and Don sat down on the heather to await Maxie’s return. At last they saw him coming back; his pace was that of his old donkey, they were such constant companions that the old man had fallen into the habit of walking at exactly the same rate as that of his leisurely four-footed friend.
‘Come on, Maxie,’ cried Forester; ‘hurry up!’ The old man came on at an ambling pace.
‘Shall we pull him down now, master?’
‘No, Maxie; we will leave the tent now. I way it you to do something else first.’
‘Yes, master.’
‘Look at me, Maxie. I want you to think, and to try to remember where you found that cap, and then I want you to show me. Can you do it?’
‘Do what, master?’
‘Can you take me now to the place where you picked up that cap?’
The old man’s bewildered brain at last grasped what was wanted of him, and he turned round and began to cross the moorland. Forester and Don followed him, and he led them, by a number of short cuts unknown to them before, towards the woods that covered one side of the promontory.
After a time Maxie climbed over a fence, and they followed him. He led the way to a small path, not much wider than a sheep track, which took them through the thickest part of the wood. This path was lined with ferns and moss, and the trees overhead were hung with ivy, and their trunks covered with lichen. Every now and then they had to climb over the trunk of a fallen tree, or to push their way through a tangled mass of brambles. The path led steeply downhill, and soon they could catch a glimpse of the sea lying far down below.
Still Maxie went on in front, looking back from time to time to see if they were following him. At last, when they were nearly at the bottom of the wood, they saw him stop under the shadow of a large spreading oak tree. He waited for them to come up, and then, pointing to the ground close to the gnarled trunk, and just where a quantity of harts-tongue fern was growing, he said shortly—
‘The cap was there, master.’
There was a fallen tree close by covered with moss and fern.
‘Now, Maxie,’ said the doctor, ‘sit down by us here and tell us all about it. When did you find it? And what made you come here?’
‘I was going to my pots, master, to look for crabs; plenty of them down below here. Sometimes they come in and get caught; sometimes I never catch one.’
‘Well, you were coming down to look at your pots this morning. What time, Maxie?’
But Maxie was not at all clear on this point. Five o’clock, six o’clock; he did not know which; he never took much notice of time.
‘Anyone about, Maxie, when you came?’
‘Nobody.’
‘Anyone on the shore when you got down there?’ ‘No,’ he saw nobody and nothing; nothing but the cap. ‘Says I, “That’ll belong to one of them young gents.” So I picks it up, and puts it in my pocket, and goes away to my pots.’
This seemed to be all the information to be got out of Maxie, so they told him he might go.
‘Will we pull the tent down now, master?’
Forester considered a moment. ‘Go to the Castle, Maxie, and get your donkey,’ he said at length, ‘ask when you get there if Master Dick is at home; if he is, go to the tent and wait there for me; if he is not, go home till I send for you.’
After the doctor had repeated this several times Maxie appeared to grasp what was said to him, and began to climb the hill.
‘Now, Don, let us carefully examine the ground under this oak tree.’
They stooped down, and looked attentively at every part of the ground covered by the branches, and in doing so they noted two things. First, that in one place the ferns and moss were crushed and flattened as if something Very heavy had been laid upon them; and secondly, that, not far from this particular spot, the green moss was discolored by a few drops of blood.
‘What do you make of that, Don?’
‘His nose was bleeding, perhaps, and he rested here for a time until it stopped.’
‘Well,’ said Forester, ‘it may have been so. Let us hope that in that case he is home by this time. It’s useless to alarm ourselves without cause; the first thing to be done is to go up to the Castle and enquire.’
So they went quickly up the hill, and arrived at the Castle gate almost as soon as Maxie. Mrs. Sinclair was looking out of it as they came up.
‘Well, Mrs. Sinclair,’ said Forester cheerily, ‘has your wandering boy come back?’
‘No,’ she said; ‘and I do begin to feel rather anxious. Mr. Sinclair says it’s very foolish of me to worry, for what could happen to Dick here? And of course it is a perfectly safe place; still, it is not like Dick to stay away so long. He is such a kind-hearted boy, and he knows that I soon get anxious.’
‘Does anyone know what time he went out this morning?’
‘No; neither Rupert nor his wife saw him at all, nor did any of the farm servants, and they were here at six o’clock. Mary says she was down very early this morning, for it is churning day, and she was working at the churn out here in the courtyard. She is quite sure he never came out after she was up. Oh! I think he can’t be long now. I’ve asked them to keep the kettle boiling for his breakfast. What time is it?’
It was ten o’clock. She ran in to give some further directions about Dick’s breakfast, and the doctor took hold of Don’s arm and hurried him away before she returned.
‘Come along,’ he said; ‘we must lose no time. Let’s find Jack, and get him to help us.’
‘What to do?’
‘Why, to search the shore and the wood thoroughly. Dick may have hurt himself in some way, sprained his ankle, or even broken his leg, and may be in need of immediate help.’
They were soon down the hill and in the village. They met the girls on the way, coming towards the Castle with grave and anxious faces.
‘Has he turned up?’ Doris asked.
‘Not yet,’ said the doctor; ‘I hope he will soon.’
Then they hurried on, feeling every moment might be of importance, and the girls followed more slowly behind.
Forester ran for a moment into the post office and sent off two telegrams. One was to his old housekeeper. ‘Not returning today; will wire time tomorrow.’ The other was to a cab proprietor in Llantrug, to countermand his previous order for a cab to take him to the station that evening.
Then they went on to the shore, and here they found Mr. Sinclair, Jack, Val, and Billy. They had been hunting amongst the sandhills, thinking that Dick might have gone there after bathing, and might have sprained his ankle stepping into one of the many rabbit holes with which they abounded. They quite hoped that they would hear of Dick’s return to the Castle from the doctor and Don, but discovered to their disappointment that they had no good news for them, and that they were much more anxious than they had so far been.
They all sat down on the shingle to make their plans. Mr. Sinclair’s idea was that Dick might have gone by the early ‘bus to Llantrug.
‘He was doing amateur detective work on those two rascals who were always hanging about the Castle,’ said Mr. Sinclair, ‘and he seemed very vexed that he Ind found nothing out before they left. Now, is it not possible that he may have gone to Llantrug to try to follow them, or at any rate to find out what their movements were, after they left Hildick on Saturday?’
Don and Forester exchanged glances.
‘You don’t think so,’ said Mr. Sinclair.
‘No,’ said the doctor, ‘I don’t; and I think I ought to tell you what we have discovered.’
He then told them of Maxie’s finding the cap, and of the strange out-of-the-way place in which he had come across it. But neither Forester nor Don liked to tell Dick’s father, at that time, of the red drops that they had seen on the moss under the oak tree.
They now formed themselves into a search party, under the leadership of Forester. He had great presence of mind, and seemed to know exactly the right way to go to work. They all leant on him, and were glad to do what he told them, feeling sure that it was the best thing that could be done. They agreed that it was most important that Mrs. Sinclair should not be unduly alarmed, and Doris undertook to go at once to the Castle and to do all she could to cheer her. Mab and Dolly were also to remain near home, so that if Dick returned they might be able at once to bring the good news to the searchers on the shore below.
‘Now,’ said Forester, ‘there are six of us. If we are unsuccessful we can get help later on from the village; but if Dick has simply sprained his ankle, or something of that kind has happened, he will not care for an awful fuss to be made. So, for the present, suppose we go to work in this way. We will first of all thoroughly search the wood, looking into every nook and cranny of it, and behind every bit of brushwood and rock. Dick may be feeling faint and unable to call to us; he may even be unconscious. Then we will meet on the open ground, on the other side of the wood, and confer again.’
They started at once; the doctor and Don taking the lower part of the wood, so that Mr. Sinclair might not come across what had so much alarmed them under the oak tree.
After about an hour’s diligent search they all met on the moorland beyond, but no one had anything to report, except that in certain places there were signs of footsteps having recently passed over the undergrowth of the wood; but these might have been Maxie’s footsteps when he went down to his lobster pots that morning.
‘Now,’ said Forester, ‘we will search the shore. Don and I will cross over the top of the promontory, go down on the other side, and begin at the cove beyond. The rest of you had better go down to the rocks there, and work on round the promontory until you meet us.’
Every one of the party was ready to do just what he was told, and soon Forester and Don were crossing the fields leading down into the valley where Dan’s cottage stood.
‘I do hope he’ll turn up all right,’ said Don, when they were alone.
Forester did not answer.
‘What are you afraid of, Norman?’
‘Well, I hardly know; but I can’t help wondering, Don, whether there has been foul play.’
‘Foul play?’
‘Yes; you know how he has been spying on those two rascals, Clegg and De Jersey. Depend upon it, they must have noticed it, and my opinion of those two is, that they would stick at nothing.’
‘But they’re gone—they went on Saturday. Don’t you remember Dick saw them off?’
‘Yes, I know; but their fellow-conspirator isn’t gone. Whatever they are after, Dan knows of it, and Dan is helping them, you may be sure of that.’
And when Don heard all that the doctor had to tell him on the subject, he fully agreed with him.
‘Now,’ said Forester, ‘you see why I wanted to begin at this part of the shore. I’m going to find Dan, and to hear what he has to say about it.’
They hurried on down the valley and made their way to the cottage. As they drew near they caught sight of Dan himself, in his shirtsleeves, with his arms on the garden gate, leaning over it, and smoking. He took no notice of the doctor when he came near, and when he wished him good morning only answered by a grunt.
‘We have come for the young gentleman,’ said Forester.
‘You’ve come for the young gent? What do you mean by that? I’ve got no young gents here, no, nor don’t want no young gents here, neither; and as you be young gents yourselves, you can take yourselves off.’
‘Keep a civil tongue in your head, man, and answer a civil question. Have you seen the young gentleman anywhere on the shore here?’
‘What young gentleman?’
‘One from the Castle. There’s a party searching for him along the shore, and we want to know whether you’ve seen him. You had better tell the truth,’ added Forester, ‘or it will be the worse for you.’
Dan did not deign to take the slightest notice of what was said, further than to pour out such a torrent of oaths that the doctor said to Don—
‘Come on. We’ve given him his chance, now; he will have to tell some day in a way he won’t like.’
‘I’d give anything to go inside that cottage,’ said Forester, as they went on; ‘we might find some clue to the mystery there; but he stands to guard his castle, and we could not enter it without a warrant; it would not be a safe game for either of us to play. If nothing turns up soon we must get the police from Llantrug.’
They walked quickly along the shore, and soon met the rest of the search party. Mr. Sinclair was evidently growing very anxious, as he felt that time was passing on, and that no trace of Dick’s movements had been found. It was then nearly two o’clock; no one had thought of dinner, but Forester could see that they were all tired and disheartened, and he proposed that they should go home, rest for an hour, get some food, and then start afresh in another direction.
Mr. Sinclair seemed at first loth to give up the search even for a time, but, on the doctor’s suggesting that it was possible that Dick might have already returned, he consented to go back to the Castle. On the way he seemed so upset and exhausted, that Forester was doubly glad that he had insisted on a pause in their search. He walked with him some way behind the others, and impressed upon him the necessity of husbanding his strength, as much might be required later on. He also begged him, if possible, not to let Mrs. Sinclair see his anxiety more than was actually necessary. The poor father took hold of Forester’s arm; he seemed to lean upon the doctor for support, both physical and mental.
Joyce ran to meet them when they drew near the Castle; they could see by her face that she had no good news to tell them; Dick had evidently not returned.
‘You’ll come and dine with us, of course,’ said Mr. Sinclair.
‘Yes, if you would like me to do so. But, perhaps—’
‘Oh, you must come; you will help me so much to comfort my wife, and after dinner we must plan out what is to be done next.’
Rupert and the old man were standing in the courtyard as they entered it. Mr. Sinclair passed into the house, but the doctor stopped to have a word with them before entering.
‘This is a bad job,’ said Rupert.
‘Oh, he’s all right,’ said the old man. ‘I can’t imagine what all this fuss is about. Why, he has only been gone half a day, and here has everyone jumped to the conclusion that he has killed himself, or something of that sort! When I was a boy, I often went off for a day along the shore; lads will be up to pranks of one kind or another, and you can’t stop them. And there’s his poor mother crying her eyes out!’
‘Did you hear what Maxie found in the wood?’ asked the doctor.
No, they had not heard. Maxie had obeyed orders, and not said a single word about the cap. Forester told them shortly where it was found, and what he had seen under the tree; but he charged them not to say anything to Mrs. Sinclair about what he had told them.
Old Mr. Norris thought a moment, and then said, ‘Now, that throws a fresh light on the subject. It seems to me now, that it works out this way. Young Master Sinclair wakes early, very early, before our folks are up, or the men at work in the farm. He comes downstairs, opens the room window, slips out, closes it again, and runs down the hill to bathe. It was high tide about five o’clock. He thinks he will go down through the wood to the rocks. Climbing down through the brambles, and not keeping to the path, maybe, he hurts himself in some way, cuts his hand, or stumbles on some glass and cuts his foot. He only has those, tennis shoes on, and they’re no manner of good here. Nothing but strong soles are any good at Hildick. He has got holes in them, to my certain knowledge. Well, we’ll say he cuts himself, and we’ll say it was his toe. Most likely going to bathe he didn’t even put his socks on. Well, he stops under the tree and he ties his foot up, but not before some drops have fallen on the moss. He isn’t going to lose his bathe however, so on he goes, gets down there and dives from the rocks.’
The old man stopped.
‘Go on,’ said Forester.
‘I don’t like to go on, sir.’
‘But I want you to go on. If that be the case, where is he now?’
‘Where is he now?’ said the old man sorrowfully.
‘Ah, that’s what it is, where is he now? Wait till the tide comes in at six o’clock this evening, and perhaps we shall see.’
‘You surely don’t think he’s drowned!’
‘Maybe not, sir, maybe not; we’ll wait for the incoming tide.’