"You dar'nt tich me!" shrieked Eli—"you dar'nt. I'd maake your flesh shrink up ef you ded. I'd make your eyeballs burn like coals of vire, I wud. Begone from me 'ere now, or I'll summon the devil, I will. He ed'n vur far from 'ere, I tell 'ee." And then he said things which he must have borrowed from his mother, for I know of no other who could think of them.
Anyhow he frightened Cap'n Jack and his gang, for they cried out to their leader to leave Eli and the madman, because they were afraid. This they did with many terrible oaths and threats. All the same they left, although they tried to seem to try and do so in a brave way.
"Iss," I heard Israel Barnicoat say, "Jasper be out of the way now, sure enough. Ef you can rise un from the dead, Eli, tell un what I knaw 'bout the maid that he took to Mullion, but she ed'n there now, she ed'n. She's where he would never git to 'er ef he was livin'." And he laughed brutally, and yet fearfully I thought.
I believe I should have cried out at this had I not heard a moan of agony, such as I trust I may never hear again. It was the stranger, I was sure, whom I had heard.
"Tell me where she is," he cried, and I knew he had followed them. Then I heard the sound of blows followed by groans.
"Lev us do for thicky little imp, too," I heard a voice say, "and then nobody 'll know nothin'."
"No," cried Cap'n Jack, "Betsey 'll vind out ef we do." And then I heard their footsteps going northward.
All this time I had been lying against the rock, and half of my body being under water, I was chilled to the bone. When I tried to move I found that all my limbs were numb, and again I began to fear of escaping from where I was. But this did not remain long. The words Israel Barnicoat had spoken about Naomi made despair impossible, and quickened my mind and body to action.
I waited until I judged Cap'n Jack's gang to be out of hearing, then I gave a low whistle, the nature of which was known only to Eli and myself. In an instant I heard an answering cry, and a few seconds later I heard his hoarse, guttural voice overhead.
"Jasper, Jasper, es et you? Thank the Lord!"