The Toll-Gate Page 19

  Chirk brought Mollie up alongside, and stared keenly at an unmistakable track, winding through the undergrowth towards the hill. They had reached the big gorge John had seen from the pass; it ran back into the hill, deeply undercutting it; and the rank grass and fading clumps of willow-herb had been trodden down on the rising ground which led into it.

  John touched Beau with his heel, saying briskly: ‘We will tether the horses round the next spur. Come on!’

  A few minutes later, as they dismounted, out of sight of the big gorge, Chirk drew his pistols out of their holsters, slipped one into the capacious pocket of his coat, and thrust the other into the top of his breeches. John, unfastening the lantern from his saddle, noticed this, and said instantly: ‘If you start a cannonade with those damned barking-irons, I’ll murder you! You’re too fond of pulling out a gun! I thought, moreover, that you were sure we should find nothing in the cavern?’

  ‘I daresay we won’t,’ replied Chirk, setting the second lantern on the ground, and throwing his greatcoat over the mare. ‘But, if it’s all the same to you, Soldier, now I’ve seen that track I’ll be easier in my mind if I have my pops handy. If that pair from the Manor was to visit the cavern while we’re there, maybe they’ll save our groats for us!’ He waited while John loosened Beau’s girths, and covered him with his cloak, and then led the way back to the gorge, steering wide of the bushes until he reached the path through them. He had not gone far along this before he stopped, drawing John’s attention to some confused but deep footprints in a patch of softer ground. His face had sharpened, and his quick, frowning eyes glanced about, at the beaten grass, and the bushes encroaching on the track. ‘Seems to me, Soldier, there’s been several coves here.’

  ‘Several coves,’ agreed John, ‘and they were carrying something heavy, from the look of these marks. What’s more, one or two of these brambles have been lopped back. See?’

  Chirk nodded, but said nothing. They went on, the ground steadily rising as it approached the back of the gorge. The hill now towered above them, its rocky face seeming almost to overhang them; and the gorge narrowed rapidly. A tangle of dead gorse lay ahead, and when they drew nearer to it they saw that it had been arranged to hide a rude fence. As soon as the gorse had been pulled away, the fence was seen to cover an opening in the rock, perhaps six foot high, and almost as broad. Closer inspection revealed rusted iron staples driven into the rock on either side of the opening. To these the rude fence was secured with lengths of twine.

  ‘Fresh,’ Chirk said, a little grimly, pulling the knot apart. ‘If you ain’t had the sense to bring your own pistols, Soldier, you’d better have one of mine!’

  ‘You can give it to me, if we’re followed,’ replied John. ‘That there’s no one inside at least we know: you couldn’t tie the fence to the staples from inside that hole.’ He dropped on his knee as he spoke, setting the lantern he carried down within the cave-mouth, and taking his tinder-box from his pocket.

  Both lanterns alight, and burning fairly, Chirk said: ‘One of us ought to stay and keep watch.’

  ‘Well, if you’ve a fancy for sentry-duty, you stay and do so!’ recommended the Captain light-heartedly.

  ‘Danged if I will!’ said Chirk.

  ‘Then come on!’ John said, and, stooping, entered the cavern.

  Twelve

  Almost immediately, he found himself able to stand upright, and holding the lantern high saw that he was standing in a roughly vaulted chamber of considerable size. Chirk, entering behind him, and looking around, said, with a certain amount of satisfaction: ‘Well, there ain’t nothing here, that’s certain! Queer sort of a place to find in a hill! Was it made natural?’

  ‘Quite natural. Have you never been inside a limestone cavern before?’

  ‘No, I can’t say as I have. I’ve heard tell of them, though. Big, ain’t it?’

  ‘Bigger than you think, I fancy.’ John walked forward, still holding up the lantern. ‘Yes, I thought as much! This is only the antechamber, Jerry.’ He walked to the back of the cave, where a narrow opening, like a rude Gothic doorway, led into a passage through the rock. This ran slightly downwards into dense darkness. The lantern-light showed the uneven rock-face gleaming damply; underfoot the ground was soft, mushy with moisture; and the air felt dank. John heard Chirk draw in his breath sharply, and said, amusement in his voice: ‘Have your nerves enough steel for this adventure?’

  ‘What you’ve got bottom for, I have!’ Chirk answered through his teeth. ‘Go on!’

  John went forward, easily at first, but was soon obliged to duck his head, and, in a very few moments, to bend almost double. He could hear Chirk breathing hard behind him, and said: ‘Careful! The roof’s devilish low ahead: we may have to crawl!’

  They were not actually obliged to do this, but by the time they had reached a loftier space they were thankful to pause, and to stand upright. Something grazed John’s head as he straightened his aching back, and he directed the lantern’s beam upwards, running it over the roof of the chamber. ‘By Jupiter!’ he said softly. ‘That’s something to have seen, Jerry!’

  ‘What are they?’ asked Chirk, staring upwards. ‘They look like icicles to me, and the lord knows it’s cold enough!’

  ‘Not icicles: stalactites. They’re formed by the dripping of the water – thousands of years of it! I told you this would be a capital go!’

  ‘I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed myself more,’ said Chirk sardonically. ‘If this was where young Stornaway came, I’m not surprised he caught a chill! Look, Soldier! The walls are streaming wet! What makes ’em so?’

  ‘Water, of course. What’s more, it’s Carlton House to a Charley’s shelter there’s a river somewhere below us. There’s one in the Peak cavern, and a boat on it: Miss Nell told me about it. Are you ready to go on?’

  ‘I’m within ames-ace of going back!’ replied Chirk, with mordant humour. ‘Howsever, if we’ve got to go on, let’s cut line and go!’

  John had moved cautiously forward, peering ahead. ‘Take care!’ he said suddenly. ‘We’re dropping down fast now, and there’s a damned lot of loose rubble! Hell and the devil confound it, I wish I hadn’t put these boots on! Lord, it’s a regular stairway! Look!’

  The passage had widened considerably. Chirk, who was standing with his lantern directed on to the rock-face above his head, withdrew his fascinated gaze to glance down the steep descent. Fragments of jutting rock did indeed form the semblance of a stairway, but the drop from one to another was sometimes of several feet, and for the most part the ground was littered with rubble, and treacherously loose stones, some of them of great size. It was not difficult to perceive how Henry Stornaway’s father had broken a leg in the cavern. Chirk said so, with some asperity. He then begged the Captain to pause. ‘Just you cast your ogles over this devil’s work!’ he adjured him, keeping the beam of his lantern fixed on the rock. ‘Don’t you tell me that wicked face came there natural, Soldier!’

  It took John a moment to perceive what was holding Chirk chained to the spot. Then he laughed, and said: ‘Good God, it’s only the weathering of the rock that’s done that! If we had the time to waste, I daresay we could pick out a dozen weird faces!’

  ‘Thank ’ee, I’d as lief go on!’ said Chirk. ‘But for the lord’s sake take care how you set your feet down!’

  The descent, though it was not very long, took time, but close to the walls the rocks were reasonably firm, and after perhaps thirty feet the staircase became a slope, down which it was easy to walk. Occasionally the roof dipped suddenly, making it necessary for them to stoop, and once a long stalactite knocked Chirk’s hat off. The cold was intense, and a faint sound of rushing, steadily increasing, did nothing to add to Chirk’s enjoyment.

  ‘Hear that noise?’ John said, in a satisfied voice. ‘I told you there would be a river! Now what have we come to?’

  The ground had ceased to slop
e downwards, and the passage suddenly widened. The sweep of John’s lantern failed to discover the walls, and when he turned it upwards it only dimly illuminated the roof.

  ‘We must have reached the main cavern. Jupiter, what a place! Stay where you are. I want to find how big it is, and whether it leads on farther still.’ He moved to one side as he spoke, playing the lantern before him. In a moment it lit up the rock-face, jagged and gleaming. Chirk, standing at the entrance to the huge chamber, watched it travel on, and then swing round to light the wall opposite to where he stood. A black cavity yawned, and the Captain said, his words resounding eerily: ‘I’ve found another passage!’

  ‘I see you have,’ replied Chirk.

  To his secret relief, the Captain moved on, and presently rounded the corner of the chamber, and began to make his way slowly back towards the entrance, his lantern playing all over the rock-face. ‘Chirk, this is a wonderful place!’ he declared. ‘Come over here! The rock’s honeycombed with galleries above our heads! I wish we had a ladder! There’s no reaching them without one!’

  ‘I don’t doubt you’d like to go crawling along a lot of galleries,’ said Chirk tartly, walking towards him, and gazing up with revulsion, ‘but we’ve got no call to do so, because if there ain’t no ladder here it stands to reason no one –’ He broke off, with a startled oath, almost losing his balance, as his foot came up against some obstacle. He recovered it, and brought the beam of his lantern downwards. His voice changed; he said with careful calm: ‘Never mind the galleries! Just you come over here, Soldier!’

  John turned. ‘What –’ Then he too stopped abruptly, for Chirk was holding the storm-lantern high, and by its golden light he saw a number of corded chests ranged along the side of the cavern. ‘Good God!’ he ejaculated.

  Three or four strides brought him up to Chirk, who, finding one chest standing on end, set his lantern down on it, and said: ‘That’s a coachwheel I owe you. Lordy, I’d have laid you any odds there’d be nothing here! But what the devil’s in them?’

  The Captain was on his knee, closely scrutinizing one of the chests. ‘Chirk!’ he said, rather oddly. ‘Unless I’m much mistaken – this is an official seal!’

  ‘What?’ demanded Chirk, so sharply that his voice seemed to echo round the cavern. He too dropped on his knee, staring at the red seal over the knot of the cord. Then he rose, and ran his eyes over the other chests. ‘Six of ’em, and all alike!’ he said softly, and whistled. ‘Small –’ he bent and with an effort lifted the end of one – ‘but remarkable heavy!’

  ‘The seal’s been broken on this one, and – yes, the lock’s been forced!’ John said, pausing beside a chest which had been set down upon another. ‘Well! – let us see what’s inside it!’

  He put his lantern down on another of the chests, and set to work to untie the knot. The cord fell away, and he lifted the lid. The chest was packed with neat little bags, and the chink of metal as John picked one up was not needed to tell him what these must contain. He untied the string about its neck, plunged in his hand, and drew out a fistful of yellow coins, and held them in the lantern-light, staring down at them.

  ‘Wansbeck ford!’ Chirk cried, after a stunned minute. ‘That’s why I know the name! Lord, what a clunch, what a totty-headed dummy! How could I have been such a beetle-head as to have forgot it?’

  John looked up at him. ‘What has Wansbeck ford to do with this?’

  Chirk was breathing rather rapidly. ‘Don’t you never read the newspapers, Soldier?’

  ‘I do, yes, but not with any particular attention in these peaceful times. Tell me what I should have read and did not!’

  ‘A couple o’ sennights back – a Government coach, bound for Manchester!’ uttered Chirk jerkily. ‘Took the wrong fork somewhere short of a place called Ashbourne – matter of twenty-five to thirty miles south-west of here. It was after dark, and seemingly a lonesome stretch o’ country. By what I read, it was as clever a hold-up as I ever heard of! ’Cos what did they do? They –’

  ‘Changed the two arms of the sign-post!’

  ‘You did read about it!’

  ‘No. Go on!’

  ‘Well, it’s like you said. That’s what they did. By God, they had it planned bang-up! There ain’t so much as a cottage within half a mile of this ford, and there’s a steepish drop down to it, and up t’other side, and woods either side of the lane. The coach was set on when it was pulling out of the stream. There was two guards shot dead afore they could aim their barkers. The driver, and another man with him, which was at the horses’ heads at the time, was found gagged and trussed up like cackling-cheats next morning. The coach had been broke open, and not a chest left inside of it.’ He paused, and wiped the back of his hand across his brow. ‘And you’re telling me it was Henry Stornaway and Coate which did it? Lord love me, I don’t know when I’ve been so flabbergasted! But – what do they want to leave ’em here for? There’s only one been opened, and there ain’t nothing gone from it, by the looks of it! I see it would queer anyone to know where to stack all these chests, but what I don’t see is why they’ve took none of the gelt away! Well! They say as it’s an ill wind as blows no one any good! Here, let’s see if there’s Yellow Goblins in all these bags!’

  ‘They are not Yellow Goblins.’

  Chirk looked sharply at him, struck by an odd note in his voice. ‘What? You’re not going to tell me they’re counterfeit? With that seal on the cases?’

  ‘Not counterfeit, but not guineas. Take a look!’

  Chirk stared down at the coins in John’s hand. He picked one up, to inspect it more closely, and said: ‘Danged if I ever see one of them before, but they’re gold all right and tight, and new-minted! What are they, Soldier?’

  ‘Do you never read the newspapers? They are the new coins – the sovereigns which are to replace the guineas!’

  ‘Are they?’ Chirk turned the piece he was holding over, regarding it with interest. ‘They’re the first I’ve seen.’ He added, with a grin: ‘Ah, well, I won’t quarrel over the odd shillings! Lord love us, there must be thirty or forty thousand pounds in these cases! And to think if it hadn’t been for Rose I wouldn’t have come along with you today! No more rank-riding! A snug farm – and never did I think to see the day!’

  He thrust his hand into the chest as he spoke, and would have lifted out of it another of the bags had not the Captain caught his wrist, and held it. ‘Put that down! You’ll take none of this money, Chirk!’

  An ugly look came into Chirk’s eyes. He said: ‘Won’t I? Take care, Soldier!’

  John let him go. ‘If that’s the mind you’re in, draw your pistol, and add me to the men who have been murdered for this gold!’

  Chirk flushed, and growled: ‘Ah, have done! You know I wouldn’t do that! But you can’t stop me taking some of it! There’ll never come such a chance again! It’s all very well for a well-breeched cove like you to stick to pound dealing, but –’

  ‘Pound dealing! Ay, that’s just what this is!’ John interrupted, with a short laugh. ‘These are pounds, not the old guineas! You fool, don’t you see why the chests have been stored here, and not a sovereign taken from them? This is the most perilous treasure that was ever stolen! One of these coins would send you to the gallows! Take a bag of them, and try if you can buy your farm with them! Try if there’s a fence alive who will give you flimsies in exchange for them! I’ll come to see you hanged! This coinage was only minted this summer: none of it’s in circulation yet! That’s why it has been stored in this place! I should doubt whether it would be safe to touch it under a year.’

  Chirk sat down limply on one of the chests. ‘A year! But – it could be hid away! just a few bags of it!’

  John dropped a hand on his shoulder. ‘Listen, Jerry! I didn’t tell you, but Stogumber – the man you rescued last night – isn’t searching for an estate, as he’s tried to hoax us into believing. He’s se
arching for this gold, and for the men who stole it. He’s a Bow Street Runner!’

  The shoulder stiffened under his hand. ‘What?’ Chirk said. ‘A Redbreast? A Redbreast which I – I! – saved from being stuck in the back?’

  ‘You never did a better day’s work in your life. He’s not ungrateful, and I fancy I see how he may be made more grateful yet! Don’t look so blue-devilled! You’ll win your fortune! Why, Jerry, where have your wits gone begging? There will be a huge reward paid to the man who discovers these chests! You told me you wanted no more than a monkey to set you up: if all these cases hold sovereigns and half-sovereigns, as I think they may well, a monkey won’t be more than a fraction of what the Government will pay for their recovery!’

  Chirk drew in his breath with a hissing sound. ‘That’s so!’ he said, as though a great light had dawned. ‘And pound dealing, too! But this Redbreast – ! You’re not gammoning me, Soldier?’

  ‘No. While you were holding his head over the sink last night, I picked up the notebook which had fallen from his pocket when we threw his coat aside. Have you heard of Occurrence Books?’ Chirk nodded. ‘This was one. He doesn’t know yet that I’ve smoked him: I think he has a notion I too may be concerned in this business.’

  ‘Well, he’ll soon know you ain’t.’

  ‘Not too soon, if I can contrive it! Chirk, you found the gold, and the reward will be yours, but will you trust me to manage the business as will be best for all of us?’

  ‘Ay, but it wasn’t me found the dibs!’ Chirk pointed out. ‘It was you brought me here! I may be a bridle-cull, but I’m danged if I’m a cove as diddles my friends!’

  ‘I may have brought you here, but did I find these chests? All I found was a gallery! I don’t want the reward, so let us have no more talk of that! What I want is to keep Miss Nell and the Squire out of this business – and Henry Stornaway, too, for their sakes, though it goes against the grain! I don’t know how I may do that, but some way there must be! Sir Peter must not know what you and I have discovered, and I’d give all I possess to keep it from Miss Nell tool How much Stogumber knows already I can’t guess: something he must know, for why else should he have come to this district? But not much, surely! If he had proof to bring against Coate or Henry, he would have arrested them; if he knew where this gold was hid we shouldn’t have found it here today!’