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"The man has never been thwarted before," said the Lord Proprietor, as they gazed after him together. "That's what comes of living alone in a place like Saaron; and I'll take care his children don't learn the same folly. Feels the curb, as you might say. Have you ever seen a horse broken late in life?" "You take it very quiet, sir, I must say," protested Sam, admiringly.
It would never do to abandon the family grievance merely because it presented a bright side. They felt, as older folks have been known to feel, that a sense of injury carries with it a sense of importance. "I wonder," said Linnet, severely, "that you can have the heart to talk about it, Jan." "Jan has no feelings about leaving Saaron," said Annet, more in sorrow than in anger.
"And I reckon this'll be the last time of askin'," he commented, letting his eyes wander over the field as he seated himself on a shaft of the cart, which had been brought to await the loading. The children knew that they would soon be quitting Saaron, and that the prospect distressed their father and mother.
The Commandant's eyes grew rounder yet with amazement, and Vashti afraid, perhaps, of meeting them flung a glance of mock terror behind her, as though she had caught the footfall of a pursuer. "But but who in the world " stammered Mr. Rogers. "If you please, gentlemen" she turned, with another quick curtsey "my name is Vazzy Cara, and I come from Saaron.
He fell back a step as the door opened. "A person to see you, sir; from Saaron!" announced Archelaus. "Shall I show her in?" Before either could answer, Vashti herself stood on the threshold. Of the two men, the Lieutenant excusably showed the blankest astonishment. But the Commandant had to catch at the rail of a chair.
"Turn me out of Saaron, he would " began Tregarthen, but checked himself at the moment when passion seemed on the point of over-mastering him. "Well, sir, I didn't shoot him, if that's what they are telling," he added, quietly. "I should be sorry, indeed, to suspect any such thing. But let me tell you the rest. Hearing the shot, Leggo made good speed back to Carn Coppa.
"You have been more than good to me," said Vashti, after a pause; "but the fortress is already vacated." She nodded towards a valise which rested under the thwart by the foot of the mast. "Mrs. Treacher packed it for me," she explained, "and her husband carried it down to the boat. If Ruth needs me as she almost certainly does and if her husband will tolerate me, I shall sleep on Saaron to-night."
Only when the pair had reached the dark battery, and were waiting there on the dark platform above the sea, she turned to him and asked "Shall you be busy to-morrow?" "I am never busy." "I have left my cloak and the guitar with Archelaus." "I will bring them to Saaron to-morrow." She turned away and leaned over the low parapet to the left.
The main difficulty would be to give the slip to Jan, who usually pulled across from Saaron in good time to fetch them home, and smoked a pipe by the shore while waiting for school to be dismissed. It would take them a good forty minutes to reach Piper's Hole and return. If they gave Jan the slip and delayed him so long, he would undoubtedly lose his temper, and probably report them.
Indeed, you might say that in one sense the Island was never out of his thoughts. He had been born on it. He could almost remember his father resuming it and repairing the stone hedges which enclosed the old fields. In those days Saaron had supported, or failed to support, five families; but of these all but Tregarthen had lost their clutch on the barren rock and drifted away to other islands.
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