Chapter 26

"THAT WORK SHALL BE WROUGHT."

"What a capital job you've made of the story," quoth Yaspard when Garth had finished. "I feel as if I ought to thank you in the name of my great-grand-uncle."

"Just so! Bad boy! Uncle! uncle! uncle!" said Thor from a hillock close by. He spoke so very distinctly, and as if he understood every word, that even the elderly ladies of the party gazed in a sort of awe at the uncanny bird.

"Come here, Thor!" Mr. Adiesen called out, extending a tempting bit of chicken towards Sir Raven, who immediately obeyed the invitation, and hopped to his master's knee. "Why, you old rascal," the scientist went on, "I believe you are the great-grand-nephew of that raven of Hel-ya Water fame; indeed, if I had not taken you myself from the nest when you were only half-fledged, and I was a boy, I would believe that you were the identical bird of the legend."

"If Thor lives as long as the former Thor did," said Mr. Neeven, "he will be over a century when he dies. You remember that fellow, Brüs?"

Of course Mr. Adieson remembered his grandfather's raven, who had been the spy and plague of the lives of both Gaun and Brüs (when they were children), and whom they believed was possessed of an evil spirit.

The conversation drifted into chat about pet birds, until some of the restless young people proposed a rowing match around the island, and out of that project sprang another.

"I should like," said Fred, "to take the little lady of the isle around it in the _Mermaid_ first. She really ought to be the first to circumnavigate Havnholme. Will you trust her in my boat, Miss Adiesen?"

"I suppose it is quite safe?" Aunt Osla asked by way of reply; and Signy answered, "I shall be as safe in the _Mermaid_ as I was on Arab."

"Perhaps Mr. Adiesen will accompany us, to make safety safer," Fred suggested; and the girl seconded his proposal by a "Yes, please, Uncle Brüs."

The old gentleman agreed, and away they went; and Dr. Holtum said aside to the minister that nothing more satisfactory had he ever witnessed than the sailing round Havnholme of those two men together, with so sweet a bond between them as fair little Signy.

When the long, happy day was nearing its close, and the party was preparing to embark, Isobel Garson said, "I didn't like to spoil Fred's beautiful oration and funereal ceremonies with any small idea of my own, but _now_ perhaps I may be allowed to suggest that we each take a beach stone and cast it on those 'turned' sods, and so erect a cairn in memory of this day."

"A capital suggestion, my dear!" said Mr. Adiesen, who had taken quite a fancy to Isobel, whose bright, high-spirited ways attracted him very much, and he was ready to second any suggestion she might offer.

"Good for you, Isobel!" exclaimed her brother; "but I don't see why we need confine ourselves to one stone each. Let us make the cairn a good big one, boys."

In a short time a considerable heap of round, smooth stones from the shore were piled over the sepulchre of the feud, and Yaspard remarked, "There never was a fend strong enough to escape from under that big rougue."

"Shoo! shoo! shoo! Uncle!" screamed Thor, quite impatient over such (to him) meaningless proceedings. Then, despairing of convincing anybody there that they ought to go home, he spread his great wings and deliberately sailed away through the air to Boden.

"Thor is right for once," said Dr. Holtum, "and it is quite time we were all on the wing for our homes; so, shoo! shoo! shoo!" and he put out his hands, as if he were driving away a flock of birds, with the result that every one "made tracks" for the boats.

There was a good deal of whispering between Yaspard and the Manse boys before they parted; and there was a very significant "Good-bye," from the Yarl of Broch. He had kept our Viking-boy very much with him throughout the day, and had quite enchanted him by suggesting a scheme which contained the germ of much exciting adventure, although there was no enemy to meet or circumvent. And this scheme must have been on Viking lines, if we may judge from old Hoskald Halsen's farewell words to Yaspard.

"Now mind, boy," he shouted, as the _Osprey_ parted company from the other boats, "mind you think it well out, and come to Burra Wick. No Viking should sail from a legitimate voe. Garth and I spell 'wick' with a 'v' and no 'c' in it, remember."

"Oh, brodhor, are you to go a-Vikinging still?" Signy asked in an ecstatic whisper; and our hero, squeezing her close to him, answered, "Yes, Mootie, thanks to that jolly old brick! I don't believe I should ever have thought of _his_ plan. It is even better than mine, for it has got no enemy in it, but the chance of ever so many adventures."

A pleasant breeze had sprung up, so there was no rowing to do on the homeward voyage. Mr. Adiesen was steering, and Aunt Osla was napping, rolled up in shawls. Mr. Neeven had unbent considerably during the day, and was talking to his cousin with an unusual degree of cheerfulness. The Harrison boys were amusing themselves over a wooden puzzle which Harry Mitchell had invented and given them. Thus Yaspard and his sister could talk confidentially together without being overheard. He was as eager to tell her of the new project as she was to listen, and before long they had not only discussed the Yarl's scheme, but had built on it a vast structure of romantic adventure.

"It has been the very happiest of days, this," said Signy when they reached the quay; "but even happiness makes one tired, and so I am glad to be home. I shall be asleep like winkie as soon as I get into bed."

"Not so your roving brother," quoth Yaspard; "I have other things to do than sleep," and he grimaced at Lowrie, who grinned back a perfect understanding of the mysterious allusion; but Signy by that time was too sleepy to pay further attention, so followed Miss Adiesen to Moolapund, and was soon resting in dreamless repose in her own room.

Meanwhile Yaspard and the Harrisons politely offered to row the _Osprey_ to the head of the voe with Mr. Neeven, and he--with less than his usual sharp suspicion--agreed. He even thanked them as he stepped ashore, and he strode up the hill without once looking back. If he had done so he would have seen that the boat did not pass beyond the Hoobes, but stopped near there, where the old water-mill was located by the side of a burn whose spring was far up the hill-side. They fastened the boat, and went into the mill-house, where a quantity of last year's straw and chaff was heaped. On this the three lads flung themselves and were soon fast asleep. And there the Harrisons would have slept on till breakfast time if Yaspard had not roused them shortly after midnight.

"Up, boys, up!" he said, as he shook himself. "It is high time we were off; and I hope fule-Tammy is as sound asleep now as you have been for the last five minutes."

From that mention of Tammy you will guess that another raid on Trullyabister was proposed. The fact was, Yaspard had made one quiet visit to the old ruin by himself, and had found that the things they secreted in the old chimney had disappeared. From a remark of Tammy's, Lowrie had concluded that the "natural" had discovered their hiding-place, and had abstracted the articles in question. It would have been a simple matter to ask the truth and claim the property, but _that_ course was not the one a Viking-boy was at all likely to approve. Hence the present "lark."

The three conspirators were not long in reaching the old Ha'house, and as the back door was never locked, they easily gained admission.

Tammy slept in a small chamber beside the kitchen, and at a distance from the rooms inhabited by his master, therefore the lads were not much afraid of being heard even if the recluse had not gone to sleep.

But Gaun Neeven _was_ asleep, and so was Tammy, "like a top, and snoring too like one," whispered Yaspard as he led the way. Tammy did not even move when they gently and deftly tied his hands together, and put a not uncomfortable gag over his mouth, and he only snored a little louder, but did not wake, when they lifted him up. (Tammy always went to bed with a complete suit of clothes on, which he kept for the purpose, saying he did not see why a "puir body" should not be as decently clothed all night as all day.) They carried him to the ruined apartment with which we are already acquainted. I ought to have mentioned that Yaspard had provided masks for himself and his companions. These were made of brown paper, painted to resemble tatooed savages, and had been put on as they came up from the mill, so that Tammy should not recognise his assailants.

But Tammy was far more cute in many ways than he got credit for being; and though astonished when the cool air and a few gentle shakes woke him up, he was not frightened by the hideous visages; even the feigned voices did not deceive him. But he was wise enough to pretend ignorance of their identity, and stared a well-acted credulity.

"What have you done with what you found in that chimney?" Yaspard demanded in assumed tones, which did not deceive Tammy, however. "We are Vikings, and hid our property in that receptacle. Woe to the person who crosses our path! Moreover, our allies left weapons of war in this apartment, and it is our business to restore them to their owners. Tell now what you have done with these hoards."

How could Tammy tell? He could only shake his head and nod in the direction of the haunted room.

"Is the property there?" Yaspard asked, and Tammy nodded again. "Then you must take us through the house to that room, for I happen to know that the way through the passage is now built up with stones and mortar. I suppose _you_ did that, you duffer!"

Tammy nodded again; and then Gibbie remarked, "He wad be put to the job by Mr. Neeven."

He spoke unwittingly in his natural voice, and was admonished by a vigorous nudge from Lowrie; while Yasgard, still addressing their captive, said, "Lead on, we follow! and for your life make no noise."

Tammy obediently returned to the house, and showed a way from his kitchen to the haunted room.