HISTORY of SUSSEX
Blinker Pays his debts: Page 3
On Christmas Eve at the close of the same year which had seen the end
of " Blinker " Eldridge. Johnstone and Hardwick went over to Birling
Gap to fetch certain stores and little luxuries appropriate to the season's
festivities.
It was blowing a gale from the south-west when they left Crow Link in
the afternoon, and the incoming tide was lathering the outer rocks with
angry froth. With such a force at their backs the two men found it easy
going over the intervening ridge's to the Gap, so that in less than half
an hour they were sitting comfortably in the coastguards' dwelling enjoying
the cheery blaze of driftwood in the fireplace and dipping their noses from
time to time in tankards of beer.
Then Hardwick had to call next door with a present from Mary to the little
daughter of the cottage, and there were return gifts to receive and messages to his wife; then
they must have something to eat before they go back and a few words of business
with the Chief Officer in charge, until at last it was dark when they opened
the hospitable door to face the journey home.
The gale had increased in force if anything. and a heavy drizzle now accompanied
it, forcing the coastguards to pull down their sou'westers over their brows
and to bend their heads against the blast. A moon at the full, though quite
invisible, diffused into the driving mist a pallid glow which rendered the
guiding chalk-heaps easy to see. Conversation being impossible - as it often
was with Johnstone at the best of times - the two settled down to fight
against the wind, treading the familiar path in single file.
By the time they had reached halfway to the top of Went Hill - the first
of the Seven Sisters - Johnstone, in front, was sufficiently in advance
to be invisible to Hardwick who more burdened with his pack of Christmas
treasures, found the climb tolerably exhausting.
Then followed the steep descent into Michel Dean; but Hardwick had scarcely
felt the downward trend beneath his feet than something- like a faint cry
reached his ears above the scream of the wind and the steady roar of the
sea below. He stopped and raised his head to listen. In front of him - not
six paces away - there stood a tall figure, wrapped in a tight-fitting coat,
its head crowned with a wide three-cornered hat, and over one eye a large
black patch. Even in the luminous mist the form seemed endowed with a glow
which made it inordinately clear.
Hardwick found himself too petrified to speak or to move; but the apparition
itself relieved the tension. " Not this way" it shouted - and
the voice was the voice of " Blinker " Eldridge. The sound, incredible
as it was in such accents and from such a figure, freed Hardwick's bondage
of astonishment. " Stand out of the way! " he shouted back. The
figure merely smiled. " Not this way! " it repeated. " '
Blinker' Eldridge ," said Hardwick, taking a step nearer, " I
never treated you but fairly; why should you want to turn me from the path
on a night like this? "
The figure answered with the same words; " Not this way " and
pointed with outstretched arm inland.
"If you be Eldridge or not I can't tell", answered Hardwick.
" but, unless you get out of my way before I count three, I'll fire,
" and he drew his pistol as he spoke. The form folded it's spectral
arms while the man counted " One! two! three! " A second's
pause, and the pistol exploded, sounding strangely futile in the storm.
There stood " Blinker " Eldridge, still smiling, though the
weapon had been fired at point-blank range full at his chest.
Then Hardwick, with trembling knees, staggered from the path and made
his way inland, breaking into a run and not daring to look behind him nor
to stop till he felt the ascent of Baily's Hill beneath his feet. Then he
halted and turned to look fearfully behind. There was nothing but the wall
of grey mist. Slowly he groped his way towards the cliff edge, sometimes
on hands and knees lest a false step should send hurtling to the beach.
At last he caught sight of a pale patch before him; he reached out, and
touched it, and found it to be one of the safeguarding chalk-heaps. A quarter
of an hour later he entered the door of his cottage, and never had he felt
more glad at the sight of light and home. Hanging his wet clothes up, he
turned to greet his wife and daughter. "You look tired out John ",
said his wife: " it's no night to be out in." " You're indeed
right," replied he in a voice which shook despite all effort at self-control.
Scarcely had he sat down by the fire, by which McNaish was already ensconced,
with Mary on his knee, when there came a, knock on the door, and Ted's face
looked in. " Where's dad?" he asked. " I heard you come in,
but dad's not come." " Not come in?" queried Hardwick. "
He was in front of me!"
The next moment he was on his feet again and struggling into his rough-weather
coat. "Come on, Mac,' he said. "Get your things on while I get
the lanterns ready." In a few moments the two men and Ted were out
on the wild cliff shouting for Johnstone and straining their eyes into the
wet gloom. Back over Flagstaff Brow they ranged, over Flat Hill and Baily's
Hill, McNaish following the path while the other two, in line with him,
searched inland.
They were growing hoarse and their fears were every minute deepening when
an exclamation from McNaish brought them all to the cliff edge. "Beware!"
shouted McNaish, and, as he held up his lantern, the other two saw with
horror that the chalk-heaps no longer marked the way of safety, for a landslide
had carried away a great portion of the cliff and, with it, the path right
across Michel Dean.
Surmising the worst, they peered over the precipice; but there was naught
to be seen save a vague pallor which indicated the surly edge of the now
withdrawing tide. " To the beach!" shouted McNaish through the
tumult of sky and sea. Hurriedly they retraced their steps to Crow Link
and prepared to descend the steep gully to the shore. " Wait for us
indoors, Ted." Hardwick yelled in the boy's ear. " Tell my wife
I want you to stay there till we come back." " No. I'm coming
too ", answered Ted stolidly.
The man hesitated a moment and then turned to the chalk steps and clambered
down silently, followed by Ted. McNaish was already ahead of them, and they
could see his lantern swinging as he trudged along the wet shingle, only
just abandoned by the sea.
He was still some little way in front when they saw him commence to climb
up the slope of a great freshly-fallen glacis of chalk. Picking their way
precariously over the loose rubble and the huge blocks of debris, the other
two toiled after him, when suddenly Hardwick heard McNaish's voice: "Keep
the boy away man, for God's sake!"
But it was too late; Ted scrambled up past Hardwick with a queer little
sobbing noise and threw himself down on a dark object lying at the Scotsman's
feet. Hardwick followed, and, in the light of the lanterns, he saw the shattered
body of Johnstone, horribly staining the white chalk with red, and the dead
man's son lying across his chest, shaking with a grief that could not utter
itself in any sound. And Hardwick understood that " Blinker "
Eldridge had come back from the dead to avenge an evil turn and to repay
a good one.
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