He climbed on the wall of the churchyard and looked down, standing in the very spot which had been occupied by the Whittles an hour before. He saw the green, where the horse, released from bondage, was grazing quietly. He saw the stony beach. He saw the face of the cliff beyond the cave. He peered over and looked straight down. He turned and looked at the cliff behind the church, a precipice of rugged rock.
"Well, I'm hanged," he said.
"What is the matter?" said Beth.
"I'm hanged if I thought that even the ghost of a smuggler would have done it," he said. "What lawless ruffians those fellows were! But even so I'd have expected them to have some regard for the church."
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Beth.
"Well, you ought to know. And considering it was you who drove me on to do it I don't see how you can possibly not know."
"Drove you on to do what?"
"Find the ghost of the smuggler who's throwing stones. He must have dug a hole somewhere to throw them through, mustn't he? Even a ghost can't throw stones through solid earth. And he must have done it up here, for the place is right over the cave. My idea was that he was operating through a grave, his own very likely, but he isn't. Nothing could be more peacefully undisturbed than all these graves, not a tombstone so much as knocked sideways. Still there the facts are. Somebody is dropping stones from somewhere into the chimney at the end of the cave and if it isn't from a hole in the graveyard it must be from inside the church. The next thing is to go inside and look."
"But Uncle Timothy's there," said Beth, "and if anybody was digging a hole in the church he'd stop them."
"He might not. It all depends on who was digging. Lots of people would hesitate to interfere with the ghost of a smuggler."