CHAPTER XII

DISCOMFITED

A couple of minutes of breathless silence followed. Norah stood motionless, with Malachy's arm round her, his bristling red beard close beside her face, and the heavy shawl, saturated with the reek of peat smoke, weighing her down and dragging backwards off her head. Lanty and the other men were endeavouring to stare out over each other's shoulders through the square foot of greenish glass which served as a window. The brush of feet on the short grass outside became audible, someone's iron-shod boot-heel struck with a metallic click upon a stone, and the next moment there came a loud, imperative knock against the half-closed door.

It was opened wide instantly. Captain Lester stood outside, with Roderick beside him, and four policemen closing in behind. The hot, red blood mounted up into Norah's face as Roderick, stooping his tall head to look under the low doorway, gazed straight at her. It seemed impossible that he should not recognize her, but she had forgotten that to him, standing outside in the bright morning sunshine, the interior of the cabin appeared to be in almost total darkness, and if he was able to distinguish her at all, it was only as a little country girl, frightened by the sudden appearance of the police, and keeping close to her father's side.

"Malachy Flanagan," said Captain Lester, "I have come up here with a search-warrant, having received information that you are in the habit of carrying on illicit distillation in these premises."

"Innicint dissitation!" returned Malachy, scratching his head in much apparent perplexity. "An' what wud yer honour be manin' by that?"

"Nonsense, my man!" Captain Lester answered sharply. "You know what I mean well enough; there is no use in pretending ignorance. You are suspected of manufacturing whisky up here, or potheen if you prefer to call it so."

"Arrah, Mither, did iver ye hear the likes o' that?" said Malachy, turning in well-feigned astonishment to the old woman. "Mannifacterin' potheen, an' up here on Drinane Head, av all places on this mortial airth! But shtep in, yer honour, an' mak' yer resarches."

This last with a lofty air and a sweep of his arm, which implied that there was nothing within the four corners of his cabin which the forces of the law were not entirely welcome to inspect.

Captain Lester did not hesitate to avail himself of the permission so magnificently given--at least he stood without at the door with Roderick whilst two of the policemen went in and ransacked the house, searching everywhere, in the heap of rags which was the nearest approach to a bed, amongst the litter heaped up in the corner, even in the thatch of the roof, but naturally without finding anything to reward them for their labours. Norah had another pang of apprehension when her hat was tossed out with the rest of the lumber, and rolled right across the floor almost to Roderick's feet. She thought he could not fail to know it again, but, fortunately for her and for those she had come to warn, Roderick had the common masculine lack of observation where articles of female apparel were concerned. Often as he had seen that hat with its bow of discoloured ribbon, which bore witness to much battling with wind and weather, upon his little sister's head, it woke no recollection in his mind. Malachy had lighted his pipe, and was puffing away with ostentatious indifference as he watched the efforts of the search-party; the other men looked on either with a malicious grin, or with an expression of sullen ill-will.

"Wudn't yez tak' a look into the pot theer?" enquired Malachy, with feigned politeness, as the constables emerged baffled from the inner room of the hovel, their investigations there having been productive of no better result than in the outer apartment. "Maybe 'tis potheen herself is stirrin' to give us for our breakfast."

Amidst the shout of laughter which this sally evoked from the other occupants, the baffled members of the constabulary made haste to withdraw from the scene. Captain Lester, however, lingered at the door before following his retreating forces.

"Listen to me, boys, and let me give you a word of good advice before I go," he said gravely. "You have been too many for me this time, I admit freely, whether it was through getting warning of my coming or not. But I know well enough that half a dozen able-bodied fellows like yourselves are not up on this desolate spot, where there is no work or lawful trade of any sort, for nothing. And I warn you that the way you are in is not a good way, that whether you succeed in evading the law in future or not, your present courses are certain to bring ruin on yourselves and on everyone belonging to you. Therefore my advice to you is to abandon your way of life without delay and take to some honest calling."

"Sure, 'tis the great counsellor yer honour wud make intirely," said one of the men; "and it's much beholden we shud be for such gran' advice, an' free an' for nothin', mirover."

Captain Lester took no notice of the sneer, but turned to Roderick.

"Come along," he said, "we'd better follow those fellows of mine."

Norah watched them through the open door as they went up over the short grass towards the lake and disappeared round one of the folds of the moorland. Ugly scowls and fierce execrations followed them, clenched fists were shaken at their retreating figures; and when they had passed out of sight, Norah realized the strangeness of her own position for the first time, and felt just a little frightened as she remembered that she was alone with that wild-looking crew of men in the low, smoke-darkened hut, the sheer black cliffs on one side of her, the dark mountain tarn on the other, and that she had their secret in her keeping. Lanty's presence, however, was an assurance that not much harm could befall her, and divesting herself of the shawl which had served as disguise, she said politely:

"I think, if you please, if I may have my hat, I will go home now, or I shall be late for breakfast."

"Thin, begor, alanna, ye'll not set fut to the ground while meself's in it to carry ye!" Malachy exclaimed, and before Norah well understood what he was about to do, he had wrapped the shawl round her once more and lifted her on to his back, knotting the ends of the shawl round his waist, so as to form a sort of hammock for her to sit in, with her hands resting on his shoulders. "Sit ye still, darlint, an' hould yer hoult, an' ye'll have as iligant a roide home as if 'twas yer own carriage ye was sottin' in."

The other men crowded to the door and raised a sort of cheer as Norah departed on her novel charger. "Blessin's on the little lady that give us the warnin', an' on the ould shtock she comes of!"

Malachy did not take the roundabout course by the cliffs by which Norah had come, nor follow the search-party, who were making their way towards the nearest point of the road, where their conveyances waited for them. Instead, he struck straight across the moorland, following a track which was evidently well known to him. Swamps had to be crossed here and there by the aid of stepping-stones, and in one or two places white stones had been bedded in the heather to serve as guiding marks for those who might have to traverse Drinane Head at night. Malachy travelled sometimes at a jog-trot and sometimes at a long, swinging walk, which covered the ground almost as rapidly, the burden on his back scarcely seeming to incommode him at all. Not a single word did he utter till the verge of the moorland had been reached, where he set Norah down, and pointed out the way to her by which she was to reach Kilshane.

"'Tis meself wud carry ye to the very doore, an' proud to do it, but for the fear o' meetin' some wan on the road that wud be axin' questions an' passin' their remarks. But ye'll be home, mavourneen, soon a'most as thim that's had their horses an' ekeepages to dhraw them--bad cess to them for the dirty work they wor afther!"

He lifted his ragged old hat with the air of a courtier, and turned to retrace his steps; then, rushing back suddenly, he caught her small sunburnt hand in his rough grasp and covered it with passionate kisses.

"God's blessin' an' the blessin' of His saints be on ye for what ye've done this day! It's wan of the raal ould O'Briens ye've shown yerself, that always had a heart for the poor. There's thim that'll not forgit it to ye, an'll maybe do a good turn to you and yours afore all's done. It's more nor mannifacterin' potheen the boys talks of betimes! Whisht, thin, what am I sayin'? But you're wan as can kape saycrits for as young as y'are, so niver let on what I've said to ye, nor don't ye be feared for nothin' that happens. Nayther hurt nor harm will come next or nigh you, an' them that's belongin' to you, while Malachy Flanagan's to the fore!"

Norah was rather frightened by the vehemence of this address, of which, to say the truth, she understood very little. She only said, however:

"Oh, I shall not tell anyone, Malachy! you may be quite sure of that, except Manus, my brother. He knows all about your place on Drinane Head already, but he's quite as good at keeping secrets as I am."

Following the line which Malachy had pointed out to her, Norah made her way across the fields and struck the road not far from the gate of Kilshane. She had just scrambled over the loose-built stone wall which skirted the roadside, when she heard the clatter of the whole cavalcade of horses and cars coming down the road behind her. She shrank back behind a bramble bush in the vain hope of escaping being seen, and the next instant they swept past her. First came Roderick and Captain Lester in a dog-cart, and the police followed on two cars. They had hoped to cover themselves with glory by capturing the still and the whole gang, who had succeeded hitherto in carrying on their contraband trade in defiance of the law; but instead, they were returning baffled and somewhat crestfallen from their raid.

Roderick looked rather surprised as he caught sight of his little sister screening herself behind the briar, but he smiled and nodded to her, as they tore past at the full speed of Captain Lester's fast-trotting mare.

Norah had hoped to slip into the house without being perceived, but when she came down the avenue a few minutes later, she found Roderick and Captain Lester standing outside the door enjoying the fresh sea-breeze. Roderick caught hold of her as she tried to pass him by and pulled her to him.

"Hullo, little woman!" he said pleasantly. "Come here and tell me what mischief you've been up to, careering over the country at this hour of the morning."

For the first time in her life Norah could not meet the gaze of those kindly dark eyes that were looking down at her. She hung her head awkwardly, and drew patterns on the gravel with the toe of her boot.

"It was such a fine morning," she began confusedly, "and so--I thought I might as well--that is, I wanted to go out."

Anstace's voice interrupted her, speaking through the open window of the dining-room close at hand.

"Oh, Norah, dear! you have come back. I could not think what had become of you. I suppose you went up to old Mrs. Connor's about those fresh eggs I wanted. Can she let me have them?"

"Yes--that is, I think so--I'm not quite sure," stammered Norah.

"Well, you might have made certain when you set off at such an unearthly hour, There was not such a tremendous hurry; it would have done quite well later in the day. And, my dear child," with just a shade of annoyance in her tone, "what a state you are in! Really, one would think your clothes had been put on you with a pitchfork. And look at your shoes and stockings! I don't know how you found so much mud to walk through on this fine dry morning."

Norah glanced down at her footgear, on which the bog mould had dried by this time, and could not wonder at Anstace's remark.

"Really, Norah, you are getting old enough to be a little more careful," Anstace went on, but in judiciously suppressed tones, so as not to put her sister to shame by a scolding administered before Captain Lester: "Run upstairs now, and make yourself tidy as fast as you can. Breakfast will be ready directly."

Roderick, who had kept his arm round Norah all this time, let her go. He had a suspicion that something was wrong, more than could be accounted for by that expedition in quest of fresh eggs. He prudently refrained from asking questions, however, and Norah lost no time in disappearing into the house.

When she came downstairs again the rest of the party were already assembled at the breakfast-table, and Captain Lester was entertaining them with a humorous account of the fruitless descent he and Roderick had made upon the potheen-brewers' lair, and of the reception which Malachy Flanagan had accorded them.

"I do believe," he said with comic despair, "that not only every man, woman, and child in the county are on the side of lawlessness, but that in Ireland the very winds of heaven are in league with criminals, to carry them intimation of any efforts that may be on foot against them. I declare to you, Miss O'Brien, I did not breathe a word of my object in coming here to anyone except your brother and yourself; and neither of you, I suppose, betrayed my confidence to those gentlemen on Drinane Head. Yet I am as sure as that I am sitting here, receiving this very excellent cup of tea from your hands, that they had been engaged in brewing that infernal stuff--which is the cause of half the crime in the county--not half an hour before we turned up, and that by some means or other, warning of our coming had been conveyed to them."

A sudden thought struck Roderick.

"By the way, I am nearly sure that one of the fellows inside that cabin was that idle young scamp Lanty. I could not be absolutely certain, as he kept as far back as possible, with his back to me, but I think it was he. You were in the room last night, Manus, when Captain Lester was talking of his arrangements for capturing the still. Are you sure that you did not say anything about them to Lanty or to the servants?"

"Not a word," Manus was able to assure him with perfect truthfulness and a most unembarrassed air. "I didn't mention it to a soul except Norah, after she was in bed last night, and I haven't as much as seen Lanty for a week."

He tried to telegraph across the table with his eyes to Norah, "There, wasn't that well done?" but failed in the attempt, as Norah had her face down over her plate, to conceal the burning crimson flush which was surging up to her forehead, and accordingly she did not see his signals.

"Those illicit stills are the very curse of the country," Captain Lester went on. "You saw those men up there to-day, O'Brien, fine stalwart fellows all of them, and the heavy sodden look they had all got? They've been sitting up night after night in that cabin, in a stifling atmosphere, for once the grain is 'wet', as they call it, it has to be watched incessantly till the process is finished, and as you can imagine, a good deal of drinking goes on during these vigils. Then every idle vagabond in the country drops in without being invited, to gossip and taste the brew. And when the stuff is finally manufactured, half of it is generally expended in drunken hospitality. I speak strongly, Miss O'Brien, because I've seen so much of the ruin that this demoralizing trade brings on everyone who embarks in it. I spoke my mind to these fellows on Drinane Head this morning, without getting much thanks for my pains, but the best thing that could have happened for themselves, quite as much as for the Revenue, would have been if I had succeeded in my raid this morning, and had marched the whole lot off to jail. That would have put an end to their distilling once and for all. There, O'Brien, I'm due at the Ballyfin petty sessions, and I've no time to lose. May I ring to have my trap brought round? Good-bye, Miss O'Brien, many thanks for your hospitality."

And the good-humoured, chatty resident magistrate took himself off.

"You see it was a precious good thing you didn't get me to go off on a wild-goose chase to Drinane Head in the middle of the night," observed Manus, when Norah and he found themselves alone in the dining-room, Roderick having gone to see Captain Lester off, and Anstace having departed to her household duties. "I told you Lanty and the boys up there knew how to take care of themselves, and that they could show Captain Lester a trick or two. And a pretty gaby you were at breakfast, turning the colour of a boiled beet-root when they talked of someone having warned those fellows. Why, if anyone had happened to look at you, they'd have twigged at once that you knew something or other about it!"

"I couldn't help it, Manus," pleaded Norah, humbly. "I tried to stop getting red, but I couldn't, and I was so frightened when you said you had told no one but me. Because, you see, Roderick and Captain Lester passed me on the road coming back, and I thought they must guess."

"Passed you on the road? Why, you don't mean to say it was you who warned the fellows?"

"Oh yes it was. I was awake and up, you know, so I thought I might as well go; and it was awfully lucky I did, for they'd only just had time to hide their things away when Captain Lester and the police came. I was inside the house the whole time they were there, and I thought Roderick would be sure to know me, for he stood just at the door, staring straight in at me; but they'd put a shawl over my head, and I stood beside Malachy Flanagan, and pretended to be his little girl, and no one had the least notion who I was."

Manus looked put out and rather ashamed.

"I say, Norah, you've no business to go skying all over the country by yourself like a wild thing. I wonder what all those men thought of your coming up there alone. You ought to have kept pegging on at me until I was really awake, I'd have gone like a shot then. When a fellow's half asleep, as I was, he doesn't know what he's saying, and you oughtn't to have gone without me."

Considering the reception which Manus had given her when she went to wake him, Norah thought that this was hardly fair.