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"Hullo! here's some stranger coming up the brae," she said, shading her eyes with her hand. "Who in the world can it be, Halcro? Surely it's not the dominie?" But the dominie it was. He came up to where we were at work, and sat upon a heathery knoll near my mother, with whom he engaged in some ordinary gossip. "But," said he, after a while, "it was Halcro himself that I came up to see." "Me!"
Then, after a pause, she asked: "Have you ever been in that cave, Halcro? Where is it?" "I've not been in it," I said; "but I ken whereabout it is. Come and I will show you." And then I took her out to an abutting point of the headland, and indicated the position of the cavern behind a great rock that hid its entrance, a few feet above the high-tide mark.
When I looked in he raised his eyes and said with surprise: "Ah! Halcro, lad. Travelling on a day like this? Why, ye're as wet as myself. But come in, come in here. It's a poor house; but ye're real welcome. And where's your dog?"
Drever's school had been sound, and she could keep house as well as any fisherman's wife in Orkney, and row a boat as well as any lad. "Was it Halcro ye were seeking, Jessie?" asked old Grace, as though my sister's presence there was a matter of as little concern to her as the presence of the old German clock in the corner of the room. "Yea," said Jessie.
Weel, I hadna thought that. Ye see, it isna worth muckle. No, I think ye needna send it now. But keep it wi' care, dinna lose it, just in case it is wanted. Of course I hae written about it in the book, and it may be claimed; but keep it for the present, Halcro."
"I know what you mean, Halcro," she said, resting her hand upon the rail and turning her eyes full upon me, "I was not offended, or I should not now be here. I did not answer you in writing. I have come to answer you in person." She put her hand in mine, and added the one word: "Yes."
She wanted to dress my ankle again, but Thora had bound it up so skilfully that there was nothing more to be done. "I wonder that the otter should bite you like that, Halcro," Jessie said. "Why, I thought the old viking's stone was to save ye frae the like o' that!" I had myself wondered at the same circumstance.
And now I'm to go up to the schoolhouse and tell him what shall I tell him, Halcro?" "Just tell him this, Davie: that the last time I saw poor Colin Lothian was when we were in Gray's Inn. That I went straight home from the Falcon, and never left the house till the servant woman at Crua Breck knocked me up to seek for Thora.
"Halcro, d'you think we could get down there and see the cave?" she asked. "Where are your climbing ropes?" "We can manage it, I think, if you'll try it with me, Thora," I said. "Ay will I try it. Do you think I'm afraid?" said she.
That it was of great value I soon discovered from what the old Hebrew informed me. He took from his inner pocket a tiny pair of scales, and proceeded to weigh the glittering jewel in the balance. Then he made some calculations on a dirty piece of paper, speaking as he did so in Dutch with Captain Flett. "D'ye want to sell the thing, Halcro?" said the skipper.
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