PAGE 25
The Distracted Preacher
by
When they had examined the sod hereabouts for some minutes, one of the men rose, ran to a disused porch of the church where tools were kept, and returned with the sexton’s pickaxe and shovel, with which they set to work.
‘Are they really buried there?’ said the minister, for the grass was so green and uninjured that it was difficult to believe it had been disturbed. The smugglers were too interested to reply, and presently they saw, to their chagrin, the officers stand several on each side of the tree; and, stooping and applying their hands to the soil, they bodily lifted the tree and the turf around it. The apple-tree now showed itself to be growing in a shallow box, with handles for lifting at each of the four sides. Under the site of the tree a square hole was revealed, and an exciseman went and looked down.
‘It is all up now,’ said Owlett quietly. ‘And now all of ye get down before they notice we are here; and be ready for our next move. I had better bide here till dark, or they may take me on suspicion, as ’tis on my ground. I’ll be with ye as soon as daylight begins to pink in.’
‘And I?’ said Lizzy.
‘You please look to the linch-pins and screws; then go indoors and know nothing at all. The chaps will do the rest.’
The ladder was replaced, and all but Owlett descended, the men passing off one by one at the back of the church, and vanishing on their respective errands.
Lizzy walked boldly along the street, followed closely by the minister.
‘You are going indoors, Mrs. Newberry?’ he said.
She knew from the words ‘Mrs. Newberry’ that the division between them had widened yet another degree.
‘I am not going home,’ she said. ‘I have a little thing to do before I go in. Martha Sarah will get your tea.’
‘O, I don’t mean on that account,’ said Stockdale. ‘What can you have to do further in this unhallowed affair?’
‘Only a little,’ she said.
‘What is that? I’ll go with you.’
‘No, I shall go by myself. Will you please go indoors? I shall be there in less than an hour.’
‘You are not going to run any danger, Lizzy?’ said the young man, his tenderness reasserting itself.
‘None whatever–worth mentioning,’ answered she, and went down towards the Cross.
Stockdale entered the garden gate, and stood behind it looking on. The excisemen were still busy in the orchard, and at last he was tempted to enter, and watch their proceedings. When he came closer he found that the secret cellar, of whose existence he had been totally unaware, was formed by timbers placed across from side to side about a foot under the ground, and grassed over.
The excisemen looked up at Stockdale’s fair and downy countenance, and evidently thinking him above suspicion, went on with their work again. As soon as all the tubs were taken out, they began tearing up the turf; pulling out the timbers, and breaking in the sides, till the cellar was wholly dismantled and shapeless, the apple-tree lying with its roots high to the air. But the hole which had in its time held so much contraband merchandize was never completely filled up, either then or afterwards, a depression in the greensward marking the spot to this day.
CHAPTER VII–THE WALK TO WARM’ELL CROSS AND AFTERWARDS
As the goods had all to be carried to Budmouth that night, the excisemen’s next object was to find horses and carts for the journey, and they went about the village for that purpose. Latimer strode hither and thither with a lump of chalk in his hand, marking broad-arrows so vigorously on every vehicle and set of harness that he came across, that it seemed as if he would chalk broad-arrows on the very hedges and roads. The owner of every conveyance so marked was bound to give it up for Government purposes. Stockdale, who had had enough of the scene, turned indoors thoughtful and depressed. Lizzy was already there, having come in at the back, though she had not yet taken off her bonnet. She looked tired, and her mood was not much brighter than his own. They had but little to say to each other; and the minister went away and attempted to read; but at this he could not succeed, and he shook the little bell for tea.