Esther's Charge: A Story for Girls Read online

  CHAPTER IX.

  THE MAGICIAN'S CAVE.

  Esther had taken her mother for a little drive upon that hot Septemberafternoon, but they had not stayed out so long as usual. The banks ofcloud rising in the sky had frightened Mrs. St. Aiden, and Esther turnedthe pony's head for home, not very wishful herself to test Punch's nervein a thunderstorm.

  They got home, however, before the first rumble sounded, and Mrs. St.Aiden went up-stairs to lie down. She said that the heavy air made herhead ache, and that perhaps she should get a nap before tea-time.

  Esther had taken off her hat, and was watching the first flashes of thelightning amid the piled-up clouds, when the little maid came to saythat there was a poor woman who wanted to speak to one of the ladies,and should she tell the mistress, or would Miss Esther see her?

  "Oh, I'll go," said Esther; "mother must not be disturbed."

  She ran down to the back gate. Genefer was out, and for the moment therewas only the little maid available for any service. The cook was pickingfruit in the garden over the road. She must not be hindered, as the rainwould very likely soon come.

  Esther did not remember ever to have seen this wrinkled old womanbefore. She did not know in the least who she was, nor what she wanted.She could only just understand her when she spoke, for she had a verybroad, soft accent, and used many funny words that the little girlhardly understood.

  At first she thought the woman must be making a mistake in what she wassaying; for she was telling Esther that the little gentlemen, and littleMiss Milly from the rectory, were out in a boat on the bay, and that shewas afraid there was a storm coming on, and had come up to tell somebodylest they should come to harm.

  It was some time before Esther could be persuaded that there was not amistake somewhere. She could not believe that Pickle and Puck and thelittle Polperrans could possibly be out in a boat by themselves. But theold woman assured her that they were, and told her, in a half-frightenedway, how they came down on most Saturdays and took her husband's oldboat across to the little island opposite, where they played for a fewhours and then came back. But it had always been calm and quiet on thewater hitherto, and she had had no uneasiness on their account; but nowthe wind was getting up, and it looked like a storm coming, and shethought she ought to tell somebody, and didn't know what to do lest herold man should be vexed with her. So she had come to see the ladiesabout it. Perhaps they could send somebody.

  "Oh yes," answered Esther quickly, casting about in her mind what to do;"I think I could find somebody who would help. Is the storm going tocome very quickly?"

  "I don't think so very quick, missie, and they'll be all safe on theisland; they don't come back ever till a good bit later than this. But Idon't like to think of them trying to get the heavy old boat homealone, with the wind blowing off shore like this. I don't think as theycould do it; and it might get blown out to sea, and they would beskeered like."

  Esther was a little scared herself at the bare thought.

  She turned things quickly over in her mind. She had to take command ofthe situation. Genefer was away for the afternoon. Cook was no good inan emergency, as she always lost her head; and it was one of Esther'stenets that her mother must be spared all worry and anxiety.

  Whatever was to be done she must do herself, and her thoughts flewinstantly to Mr. Earle. He had become something like a real friend tothe little girl during these past weeks. She was not without a certaintimid fear of his cleverness, his stores of occult knowledge, and thethings in which he took part up at the Crag, which made folks shaketheir heads sometimes, and say that they feared some hurt to somebodywould be the result. Yet for all that Esther believed in him thoroughly,and felt that he was certain to go to the aid of the boys if he knewtheir predicament, and it must be her work to let him know as soon aspossible.

  She looked up at the threatening sky, but thunder and lightning did notfrighten Esther much. She would have been glad of company through thedark pine wood, but she was not really afraid to go alone. She was moreafraid of approaching the Crag at a time when it was popularly supposedthat the master and his assistant were always engaged upon one of theiruncanny experiments; but there seemed nothing else to be done, since thepony carriage had been already sent back by the boy in charge. Afterdismissing the woman with a small fee and a few words of thanks, Estherput on her hat once more and commenced the climb to the Crag.

  She had got about half-way there when she uttered a little exclamationof joy, for there was Mr. Earle himself swinging away down the path asif to meet her.

  She ran eagerly forward to meet him.

  "O Mr. Earle, did they tell you too?"

  "Tell me what?" he asked, stopping short and looking straight at her."What are you doing here all alone, with a storm coming up?"

  "O Mr. Earle, it's the boys. I'm afraid about them. I was coming to askyou what to do." And then she plunged into the story, and told himexactly what the old woman had told her.

  Mr. Earle's face looked a little grim as he heard, and his eyes scannedthe clouds overhead and the aspect of things in general.

  "Look here," he said to Esther in his clear, decisive way; "I'll tellyou what we must do. Leave me to see after the boys. I'll go after themin the _Swan_; for they ought not to be alone any distance from land,with the wind getting up and blowing off shore. But if I do that foryou, you must go up to the Crag for me with a message; and if the stormbreaks, or looks very like breaking, you must stop up there till it'sover. I'll leave word as I pass your house where you are, so that nobodywill be uneasy about you."

  Esther shook a little at the thought of going alone to the Crag, but shenever thought of shirking.

  "What is the message?" she asked.

  "It's like this," said Mr. Earle, speaking rapidly and clearly: "Mr.Trelawny and I are at a stand-still in some of our experiments for acertain chemical, which has been on order from London for some time. Wethink the carrier may have brought it to-day, and I'm on my way to thelittle shop to see if it's been left. Mr. Trelawny is waiting for me insome impatience. You must take word that I shall probably be detained,and that I want him not to go on any farther till I come back. You canremember that, can't you? You had better send Merriman to fetch him tocome and see you; then you can explain all about it, and if you haveonce got him safe out of the laboratory, you keep him out. I don't wanthim to go on experimenting without me. It wants two for that sort ofthing. Do you understand?"

  "Yes," answered Esther, and then the pair parted. Mr. Earle wentswinging down the path which passed the Hermitage and led to the villagewhere the carrier's cart deposited parcels; and Esther, with a verygrave face, went slowly upwards towards the house upon the crag.

  She was glad to think she need not seek Mr. Trelawny himself amid hiscrucibles and retorts and strange apparatus; but she was a little afraidat having to face him all alone, although she had been trying hard toconquer her fears of him, and she had to own that he was alwaysespecially kind to her.

  She could not walk very fast here, for the ground was steep, and she hadtired her limbs by hurrying along the first part of the way. The airseemed very hot and close about her, and she felt the sort of ache inher head which thunder often brought.

  All of a sudden she gave a little jump, and stopped short, for she saw astrange thing just in front of her--a little spiral of sulphurous smoke,curling upwards from the ground, very much as she had read that it didwhen volcanoes were going to have an eruption; and she very nearlyforgot everything else, and turned to run away, when her steps werearrested by something even more alarming--the distinct sound of a groan,proceeding, as it seemed, from the very heart of the earth.

  Esther's feet seemed rooted to the spot. She could not run away now;she had not the power. Meantime her wits were hard at work, and in a fewmoments she realized that she was close to the hole which the boyscalled the chimney of the underground cave, and the smoke she saw wascoming up from that place, whilst the groan must surely have beenuttered by some person down there.
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  All the old terror of that subterranean cave came like a flood overEsther--all the talk of the boys about prisoners and victims, and herown vague and fearful imaginings of the horrors of such places. She wasshaking all over, and beads of moisture stood upon her brow. Reason forthe moment had taken wing, and it seemed to Esther as though she hadsuddenly come upon some fearful mystery of human suffering.

  There was some wretched human being in that cave, groaning inpain--bound, perhaps, in fetters, and awaiting some terrible doom. Couldshe leave him like that? Having made this discovery, ought she not topursue it farther? Her heart beat to suffocation at the bare thought,but she fought fiercely with her fears. Had she not resolved toovercome them? And how could she leave this poor creature withoutseeking to do something?

  With failing limbs she crept towards the mouth of the shaft. She hadlooked down it many times before this, when the boys had been with her.But then there had been no smoke curling out of it, and noblood-curdling sounds coming up.

  She could not put her head right over it to-day, for the smoke chokedher and made her cough; and immediately there seemed to come from belowa sort of muffled cry.

  Esther caught her breath and called back,--

  "Is there anybody down there?"

  "Yes; come to me! Help!" spoke the voice, which sounded from the verydepths of the earth. And Esther's resolve was taken.

  She must go. She must go herself, and at once. To summon help from theCrag might be worse than useless. This miserable victim was probablyimprisoned there by the master of that place. Esther's mind had goneback for the moment to its old standpoint, and Mr. Trelawny was theterrible magician, whose doings were so full of mystery if not ofiniquity. If any captive were there, he had placed him in that terribleprison. His servants were probably in collusion with their master. Ifanything could be done, it must be done quickly and by herself alone.

  "I'm coming!" she cried down the mouth of the shaft, and then set off torun for the door in the hillside, the position of which she knewperfectly by this time.

  The boys had often shown it to her, and had shown her the trick ofopening it. But they had never gone in. Mr. Trelawny had forbidden themto do so, knowing their mischievous tendencies. Esther had the freeright of entrance, but she would sooner have put her head into a lion'smouth than have exercised it. She had never been in since that first daywhen she had had to be carried out by Mr. Trelawny. She had hoped neverto have to enter the fearful place again.

  But she must to-day, she plainly must, though her knees were quaking atthe bare thought.

  She had had one or two talks with Mr. Earle about fear of the dark andhow to conquer it. Esther was not afraid of the dark in the ordinarysense of the word. She was not afraid of going about in the dark in herown home; for she had tried that, and only now and then, when in anervous mood, had felt any fear. But she knew that she could not bearstrange underground dark places, and she had once asked Mr. Earle if hethought she ought to go there to get used to them. But he had looked ather for a few moments, and had then said,--

  "No, I do not think so--not unless there were some object to be gainedby it. There are many people in the world who dislike undergroundplaces, and avoid them. As a rule there is no call for them to conquerthe dislike. Of course, if one could do any good by going, if there weresome sufficient reason for it--if it were to help somebody else, forinstance--then it would be right to try and overcome one's repugnance.But without some such motive, I do not see that any one would be greatlybenefited by going into uncongenial places of the kind."

  Esther thought of all this as she ran along. Hitherto it had been acomfort to her to think of this decision. But now it seemed to her thatthe time had come when she was bound to go. Somebody wanted help. Therewas nobody but herself to give it. She might not be able to accomplishmuch, but at least she ought to go and see. To turn and run away wouldbe like the priest and Levite in the parable, who left the poor manwounded and half dead. Everybody knew that they were wicked. She musttry and copy the good Samaritan, who, she knew, was the type of JesusHimself.

  That thought came to her like a ray of comfort, and it helped to driveback the flood of her fears. Then she remembered what Mr. Earle had saidabout what his mother told him to do; and, just as she reached thestrange old door in the hillside, Esther dropped upon her knees andburied her face in her hands.

  It was only for a few seconds, but when she got up again she felt thatshe could go into the cave. A few minutes before, it had seemed as if itwere almost impossible.

  The heavy door yielded to her touch. She knew it would swing back againwhen she let it go, so she took a big stone with her and set it wideopen. There would be comfort in the feeling that there was light and airbehind her, though the cave looked fearfully dark and gloomy, and thestrange smell inside it, as she went slowly forward, brought back someof the dizzy feeling she had experienced upon her first visit.

  A heavy groan smote upon her ears, and she gave a start and clasped herhands tightly together. She was through the passage now, and could justsee the outline of the great dim cave. But where the living thing wasthat was making these sounds she could not guess. She stood quite still,and called timidly,--

  "Is anybody there?"

  "Yes, child," answered a voice which she knew, now that she heard itmore plainly. "Come a little nearer. I can't see you. I'm afraid I'vebeen an old fool; and if I haven't blinded myself, I shall have betterluck than I deserve."

  Esther sprang forward with a little cry of relief. It was no chainedcaptive, no unknown, mysterious prisoner. It was Mr. Trelawny himself,and he was hurt.

  In a moment she was by his side, bending over him, seeing a veryblackened face and a brow drawn with pain. Mr. Trelawny was halfsitting, half lying upon the cold floor of the cave, and there was a lotof broken glass all about him. So much she could see, and not muchbeside.

  "O Uncle Robert, I am so sorry! What can I do?"

  "Isn't there a lot of glass about?"

  "Yes."

  "Well, there is a broom somewhere about. Get it and sweep it away, andI'll try to get up. Every time I've tried to move I've got my hands cut.I can't see a thing, and I've little power to help myself."

  Esther forgot all about being afraid now that there was something to do.She found the broom, and was soon sweeping away like a little housemaid.Now and then a groan broke from Mr. Trelawny, and at last she saidgently,--

  "I think there's no more glass. Please, are you very much hurt?"

  "Earle will tell me I ought to have been blown into a thousandfragments," was the rather grim reply. "I think I've got off cheap. ButI've had a tremendous electric shock; and I'm a good bit cut and burnt,I expect. If only my eyes are spared, I'll not grumble at anything else.How came you here, child? I thought I should have an hour or more towait till Earle got back."

  Esther explained then what had happened, for Mr. Trelawny, although inmuch pain, had all his wits about him; and when he knew that Mr. Earlemight be detained, he said to Esther,--

  "Then you must be my attendant messenger instead. Go up by those stairsinto the house, and fetch down Merriman and another of the men. I don'tthink I can get up there without more help than your little hands cangive."

  Esther quickly obeyed. She knew the way up into the house, and the keywas in the door, so that she had no difficulty in getting there. Thehall above was almost as dark by that time as the cave below; for thestorm had gathered fast, and the black clouds seemed hanging right overthem. But Esther had other things to think of now, and she quicklysummoned the men, and sent them down to Mr. Trelawny; and then, beingused in her own house to illness, she ran for the housekeeper, andbegged her to get oil and linen rag and wine and soup ready, because Mr.Trelawny had burnt and hurt himself, and somebody must look after him,till the doctor came, and he could not well be sent for till after thestorm had gone by, for it was going to be a very bad one.

  So before very long Mr. Trelawny was lying at full length upon a greatwide oak settle in the hall,
and Esther was gently bathing his cut andblackened and blistered face and hands, and covering up the bad placeswith oiled rag, as she had seen Genefer do when cook had burnt herselfone day.

  Mr. Trelawny kept his eyes closed, and he drew his breath ratherharshly, like one in pain, and his brows were drawn into great wrinkles.

  "Do I hurt you?" Esther asked from time to time. The housekeeper seemedto think that Esther had better do the actual handling of the patientwhile she kept her supplied with the things she wanted. Mr. Trelawny'sservants--and especially the women servants--stood in considerable aweof him. He never liked any attentions from a woman that a man couldbestow, and the housekeeper preferred to remain discreetly in thebackground, leaving Esther to play the part of nurse.

  Esther was well used to the _role_, and had a gentle, self-contained waywith her that had come from her long tendance upon her mother. Her touchwas very soft and gentle, but it was not uncertain and timid. Indeed shedid not feel at all afraid of Mr. Trelawny now, only afraid of huntinghim.

  "No, no, child," he answered when she put the question; "your littlehands are like velvet. They don't hurt at all. But what's all that noiseoverhead?"

  "It's the rain," answered Esther. "There is such a storm coming up.Hark! don't you hear the thunder? And there was such a flash oflightning."

  Mr. Trelawny put his hand up to his eyes, and made an effort to openthem, but desisted almost immediately, with an exclamation of suffering.

  Esther clasped her soft little hands round one of his in token ofsympathy. She could understand the terrible fear which must possess himjust now.

  The servants had moved away by this time. They knew that the master didnot like being looked at and fussed over. He had made a sign with hishand which they had understood to be one of dismissal, and Esther wasalone with him now in this big place.

  The storm was raging fearfully, but the child was not frightened. Shehad other things to think of, and she was thinking very hard.

  "I hope Mr. Earle has got the boys safe," she said, with a tone ofanxiety in her voice.

  There was no reply. Mr. Trelawny was suffering keenly both in mind andbody. Esther looked at him, and realized that this was so. She hardlymeant to speak the words out loud, but they came into her head and theypassed her lips almost before she was aware of it.

  "Jesus can stop the storms and make them quiet again, and keep peoplesafe in them. And He can make blind people see."

  There was no reply; but Esther felt one of the bandaged hands feel aboutas if for something, and she put her own little hand into it at once.The fingers closed over it, and the man and the child sat thus togetherfor a very long time.

  Then there was a little stir in the hall, as the butler appeared,bringing tea; and Mr. Trelawny told Esther to get some, and give him acup, as he was very thirsty.

  She was glad enough to serve him, and did so daintily and cleverly; andbefore they had finished, the storm had very much abated. The rain stillfell, and the wind blew; but the sun was beginning to shine out again,and Esther knew that the worst was over now.

  "It is light again now," she said. "It was so dark all that time--almostas dark as the cave."

  Mr. Trelawny looked more himself now. The pain of his burns was soothedby the dressing laid upon them, and the lines in his face had smoothedthemselves out.

  "Ah, the cave!" he repeated. "I thought that the cave was your specialabhorrence, Esther. How came you to be there all alone to-day?"

  "I came after you," answered Esther. "I heard somebody groan and callfor help."

  "Did you know who was calling?"

  "No, the voice sounded so muffled and strange."

  "I wonder you weren't afraid, you timid little mouse. Suppose it hadbeen some great, rough smuggler fellow, such as used to live in thatcave long ago!"

  "But I knew he was hurt; he was groaning and calling for help."

  "And that gave you courage?"

  Esther hesitated.

  "I don't think I felt very brave, but I knew I ought to go."

  "Why ought you?"

  "O Uncle Robert, you know we ought always to help people when they arein trouble--especially if they are hurt."

  "Didn't you think you might get hurt too?"

  Esther's face was rosy now, though he could not see it.

  "I thought a great many silly things," she confessed softly. "I think Ihave been very silly and cowardly often, but I'm going to try not to beany more. I don't think I should mind going down into the cave againnow."

  "Tell me what you thought about it before," said Mr. Trelawny, in hisimperious way; and though it was rather a hard command to obey, Estherthought it might, perhaps, amuse him to hear some of the things that sheand the boys together had imagined about him, and perhaps he would tellher then how much of it all was true. So she told what Puck had saidabout the tanks where skeletons were pickled, and about the electriceye, and the elixir of life, and the different things that differentpersons had said, and the interpretation the boys had put upon theirwords, and how she had fancied that the groans she heard that day mustproceed from some miserable captive destined for one of the tanks. Itwas rather hard to say all this, for some of it sounded quite silly now;but Esther bravely persevered, for she thought if she could once talk itright out she might never feel so frightened again.

  Mr. Trelawny lay still, and she could not quite see the expression onhis face, because it was partly covered up; but at last he seemed ableto contain himself no longer, and he broke into a real laugh--not quiteso loud or so gruff as usual, but very hearty for all that.

  At the sound of that laugh Esther's fears seemed to take wing. It mustall have been nonsense, she was sure. Nobody who had really been doingwicked and cruel things would laugh to know that they had been foundout.

  "I shall have to take you over my laboratory one of these days, andreally show you my pickled skeletons, and my electric eye, and all theother mysteries. Now you need not shake, my dear. I have nothing inpickle worse than a specimen animal; and as for the electric eye, thatis very far from being perfect, and it will be a long while before I canmake you understand its use, or what we mean by the term. Anyhow, it isnot an eye that we carry about with us. In your mind it would not be aneye at all, though it has some analogy to one. And as for the elixir oflife, my dear, I would not drink of it if I were to find it. To liveforever in this mortal world of ours would be a poor sort of thing; andwe know that there is an elixir of life preparing for us, of which weshall all drink one day--all to whom it is given, that is. And thenthere will be new heavens and a new earth, and we shall all be glorifiedtogether."

  Esther sat very still, trying to take in the magnitude of that idea, andfeeling that she should never be afraid of Mr. Trelawny again, now thatshe had spoken so freely of her fears to him, and he had been so kind,and had said such nice things.

  The shadows were beginning to fall now, and she was wondering how longshe would have to stay here. She did not mean to leave Mr. Trelawny tillMr. Earle got back to take care of him; but she began to wish that hewould come, and that she might get news of the boys.

  At last the sound of a firm, ringing step was heard without, and Esthersprang to her feet. The big door was open, for it was quite warm still,though the rain had taken the sultriness out of the air. She ran out,and met Mr. Earle face to face. He was wet through and almost dripping,but he looked as quiet and composed as ever.

  "O Mr. Earle, where are the boys?"

  "Safe at home in bed, like a pair of drowned rats. It was a good thingyou came to warn me, Esther, or they might have been miles out at sea bythis time, or else at the bottom of it."

  Esther's face paled a little.

  "O Mr. Earle, what did they do?"

  "You'd better run home and hear all about it from them. I thought you'dbe back before I was."

  "O Mr. Earle, I couldn't go till you came. Mr. Trelawny has hurthimself. They've sent for the doctor now. But they couldn't just atfirst, the storm was so bad. Please, will you go to him?
Then I can gohome. But may I come again to-morrow to see how he is?"

  Mr. Earle had uttered a startled exclamation at hearing Esther's words,and was now striding into the hall, almost forgetful of her.

  "Trelawny!" she heard him exclaim; and then Mr. Trelawny said in his dryway,--

  "Yes; crow over me now as much as you like. I neglected your valuableadvice, and see the result!"

  Mr. Earle went and bent down over him; and Esther, feeling her taskdone, took her hat and stole out into the soft dusk, and ran down thehill home as fast as she could.