She was too small for a privateer, too large for a fishing-smack, and
could not be a revenue boat by her low freeboard in the waist; and 'twas
a strange thing for a boat to cast anchor in the midst of Moonfleet Bay
even on a night so fine as this. Then while I watched I saw a blue flare
in the bows, only for a moment, as if a man had lit a squib and flung it
overboard, but I knew from it she was a contrabandier, and signalling
either to the shore or to a mate in the offing. With that, courage came
back, and I resolved to make this flare my signal for getting down into
the hole, screwing my heart up with the thought that if Blackbeard was
really waiting for me there, 'twould be little good to turn tail now, for
he would be after me and could certainly run much faster than I. Then I
took one last look round, and down into the hole forthwith, the same way
as I had got down earlier in the day. So on that February night John
Trenchard found himself standing in the heap of loose fallen mould at the
bottom of the hole, with a mixture of courage and cowardice in his heart,
but overruling all a great desire to get at Blackbeard's diamond.
Out came tinder-box and candle, and I was glad indeed when the light
burned up bright enough to show that no one, at any rate, was standing by
my side. But then there was the passage, and who could say what might be
lurking there? Yet I did not falter, but set out on this adventurous
journey, walking very slowly indeed--but that was from fear of
pitfalls--and nerving myself with the thought of the great diamond which
surely would be found at the end of the passage.
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