"We're not a continent off the toe of the Bay," replied Burke; "though if you ask me to pin it on the chart for you, I don't know ez I could do within a hundred mile. The shore's foreign to me except by hearsay, and that's bad enough."
"I've heard strange things of it," said Messenger; "but there's no time to think of them now. The immediate necessity is meat and drink, and after that cover."
"If I'm choosing, it's more drink you may order to bring on," interposed Kenner; "I'm as weak as a rabbit."
"You'll have to walk a while, any way," said Messenger; "and if you can't, we'll have to carry you. There should be some path up to the heights from here, and the sooner we find a camping-place the better."
Kenner rose at this inducement, and, walking between two of them, made good way along the smooth sand, following the trend of the bay toward the distant river. They walked with moderate ease a mile or more, finding no break in the sheer face of the rock upon their right; for the headland was extraordinarily prominent and precipitous where its crags did not absolutely jut out above the beach. Yet they could see that there was lower land toward the neck of the bay; and they were moved with such a powerful excitement, begotten of the thought that the money might in some part be recovered, that they went with light step, and that which was near to merriment. So they came to the place where the cliff began to show a less rugged and a shorter face, when of a sudden there was a rattling of rocks just ahead of them, and a curious figure jumped out as it were from a ledge of the headland to the soft sand below.
The figure was that of a dark, weather-beaten Spaniard, a man of some age, but exceedingly ill-clad. He carried an old musket slung across his worn and ragged zamarra; and wore sea boots to his hips, though they spoke of much service and of decay. His sombrero was black, with velvet trimming upon a portion of it; and his beard fell deep upon his chest, and had grown over his face so that little was to be seen of him but dark and savage eyes, and ears that were outstanding beyond experience. But he displayed a surprised curiosity in the coming of the four; and stood watching them, or shooting quick glances out at the sea, as though he looked to find their ship at anchor or in difficulty.
When he had satisfied himself that they had no ship, but apparently were equally curious as to his identity, he wheeled round as he had come, and disappeared in a moment behind a low bush, plunging, as it seemed, into the face of the rock. They saw him, some minutes after, higher up on the side of the precipice; and then it was evident that he followed a path which led to the verdurous plains between the distant hills and the foreshore. Often he looked back at them, or stayed in his curiosity to see if they would follow him; but, observing that they did not, he went from their sight at last, although his path was to be traced by a peculiarly shrill whistling, which echoed across the ravine, but was not answered.
This sudden apparition did not appear to be to the liking either of Messenger or of Burke.
"Prince," said the latter, "that chap don't mean peace and goodwill, you bet. There's more like him in the hills, for sartin, and just as handsome. I'm for moving on quick."
"Exactly," said Messenger; "the traditions of this part of the Bay aren't quite what you would call pleasant. Let's get on."
They moved at a brisk pace now, coming quickly to the goat path up which the Spaniard had disappeared; but, keeping the shelter of the lower bay, they struck for the river, thinking the probability of getting some boat to be larger there; and when they had walked a mile, they fell upon a little cabin built curiously as a nest some few feet above the beach. It was no more than a shanty of wood, roofed with weed, and curiously ornamented with shells; but smoke mounted from a hole in its roof and curled up the cliff; and its door stood open, showing proofs of habitation within. The four men stopped at once before this curious dwelling, and seeing that no one was for the moment in possession, they held a consultation.
"I ain't goin' to say for sure, but it appears to me that this is the particular hotel of Goat-in-the-boots yonder," said Burke; "the first house in the city by the look of it."
"It's a dreadful-looking hole, certainly," said Messenger, putting his head in at the door, to withdraw it quickly, "and doesn't exactly smell of attar of roses—but there might be food there. What do you think, Kenner?"
"I was thinking you might find a keg of beer," said Kenner, stumping up, "and leave an I O U on the table for it."
"Of course," cried Messenger, "we sha'n't raid the men; but who's going in? I'd sooner face a cattle stampede than that hole."
"Your senses is too highly developed. Prince," said Burke bluffly; "you've never run a cargo of black cattle, I guess—why, for sure, they ain't exactly violets; but it depends on your taste."
With this he made a dive into the room, the others watching him while he rummaged with no gentle hand, and came out again presently, laden with three bottles of a common wine and some great hunks of pan de centeno, the dry and unpalatable maize-bread of the Galicians. He was walking away with them when Fisher called out—
"I say, we ought to pay something. I've got half-a-crown, if that will do."
Burke took the money, returned to the room, put the coin in his own pocket, and came out again.
"Now," said he, "the sooner we reach a yard of grass and lie low the better; I don't hanker arter ovations myself—not much, in summer."
A walk of a few furlongs carried them to the slope of the cliff, and as the precipice decreased, so was the vegetation more abundant. They came at last to a point where the path rose, with broad steps, from the seashore to the wooded land above; and this they ascended, to find themselves upon a bare plain whereon rye had been grown; but there were trees green with some luxuriance beyond it, and a close-knit wood edging upon these again. It was in the wood that they finally took shelter, grouping themselves round the trunk of a chestnut-tree which had been felled; and upon this they spread their victuals for lack of table. The meal was sorry enough; but the men were long gone in fasting, and the American especially gulped down his wine with the unslakable thirst of the fever-stricken or the delirious.
"I was near dead for that," said he with satisfaction, when he had emptied a bottle; "and it isn't exactly Château Lafitte, is it?"
"It's not bad stuff," said Messenger, partaking of it moderately; "but all these Spanish wines are poor in the north."
"What about the bread, then?" asked Fisher. "It reminds me of sawdust or mortar—I'm not sure which."
"The bread's all right," said Kenner, making pretence to eat it with satisfaction; "if our chance of getting up the kegs of yellow stuff was as good, I don't know that I'd find fault with the menu."
"You're waking up, Kenner," said Messenger; "that's the first sensible thing you've said. The question is, Where are we going to clap hands upon a boat? There ought to be a village, or at least an inn, somewhere within five miles; but it will take a lot of tacking to get a craft without raising the neighbourhood. Of course two will have to stay to watch from the shore here; it would be a mad thing to lose sight of the place for a moment."
"That's sense," said Burke; "two of us make inland, two remain within a mile of here; but the two that goes hasn't got time on their hands, and shouldn't sleep over the job—leastwise, that's my notion of it."
The interesting point was not argued, for there came as he spoke a sharp report from the shore; and while they yet listened the first report was followed by a second and a third, which echoed in the distant hills and sent the birds screaming from the trees.
"Do you hear that?" cried Burke. "That ain't no Spanish rat-piece, I'd lay my life on it—that's a Winchester, and I guess we're moving!"
They all sprang to their feet at his words; and, keeping to the shelter of the wood, made their way quickly, that they might get a sight of the shore.