“Even here where you stand you are not safe; but I have warned you once, and I cannot warn you more,” exclaimed the mad woman, as with wild gestures she retreated back to the spot from which she appeared to have come. The young officer watched her till she disappeared. A shade of melancholy came over his countenance.
“I might have asked her about some of the people hereabouts,” he said to himself. “Her warning perhaps is not to be despised; I will sit down here, and wait till the boat returns.”
The officer was approaching the edge of the cliff when Father O’Rourke reached the downs; seeing the stranger, he advanced towards him. The temper of the priest had not calmed down, so it seemed, since his encounter with the poor widow. As he approached the young officer, he looked at him earnestly.
“What brings you here?” he exclaimed. “What business have armed men to come upon our coasts, let me ask you?”
“Really, sir,” said the officer, drawing himself up, “I bear his Majesty’s commission as commander of yonder sloop of war, and in the performance of my duty, I have landed on the shores of this bay; but I do not understand why I should be thus roughly spoken to by one especially, who, judging from his appearance, is a catholic priest.”
“You judge rightly, young man,” answered Father O’Rourke, “but I am not to be deceived by appearances, and though you may call yourself what you will, I suspect you to be either the commander of a privateer, if not rather of a vile buccaneer. We have had visits before now from such gentry, and I should advise you to leave our shores without delay.”
“I cannot understand your meaning,” exclaimed the officer; “I repeat, I came here in the performance of my duty, and I little expected to be treated thus by the first stranger I might meet.”
The priest seemed to think that he had proceeded too far; whatever might have been his motive in thus insulting one whom he must have known was a naval officer, or for some reason, he thought fit suddenly to change his tactics.
“Pardon me, sir,” he said in a soothing voice, which he well knew how to assume, “I see that I was mistaken in my first supposition, and to prove my sincerity, I shall be happy if I can render to you any service in my power.”
“I willingly accept your apologies,” answered the officer, regarding the priest intently, as if to ascertain whether he was to be trusted. “On my way along the shore, I intend visiting some of the little coves I see to the northward of these downs, and now, sir, perhaps you can inform me whether I am likely to find any people residing among them?”