"What makes you think so?"
"Never mind," and he looked anxiously toward St. Agnes. "Tell 'ee, Jasper, 't'll be a rough night's work."
I, too, looked toward St. Agnes, but could see nothing.
"Come on, come on!" he cried excitedly; "we've got the dreckshuns; we knaw," and he walked northward as fast as he was able, carrying the spade under his arm. Presently we reached a deep pool not far from Annette Head, and near here we found some huge overhanging rocks. Underneath these we both crept, and here we sat for a considerable time. We had brought food with us, and of this we partook, after which we tried to pass away the time by smoking some prime tobacco which I had bought at Penzance. It was just after six o'clock when we finished our meal, and we sat there in the darkness for two hours. I rejoiced to see the clouds depart and the stars begin to shine, for the genius of loneliness seemed to govern the place. We could see nothing but the sea, which in the night looked as black as ink as it surged among the rocks. Even "Great Smith," a huge black rock which lay about half a mile from us, was almost hidden from view, and no sound of anything living reached us save the weird, unnatural cry of the sea birds which now and then fluttered among the rocks on the coast.
When eight o'clock came Eli crawled out from our hiding-place and crept to the headland. Here he stayed for some minutes.
"We be saafe, I reckon," he grunted when he came back; "ther's nobody here, nobody 'toal. We'll go back to the rock again. We musn't talk, jist go quiet."
I followed him, for somehow I felt that he was more capable of leading than I. He kept perfectly cool, I was excited and irritable. Moreover, a nameless dread had laid hold of me. We kept close by the northeast coast of the island, while at frequent intervals Eli would hide behind a rock or lie flat on the ground, listening intently all the while.
"Are you anxious, Eli?" I asked. "Who could come here without our knowledge? while, as you say, it would mean death for any one to come in the dark."
"Cap'n Jack and Cap'n Billy Coad be'ant like other people," he grunted. "I've bin thinkin', thinkin'."