ching us as
if in wonder.

Cap'n Jack hunted around the cave for a few seconds until he found an
inkhorn and a pen. "I do like to kip things handy," he said; "nobody do
knaw what'll 'appen." Then, turning to Ikey Trethewy, he said, "You do
knaw of a young woman who do live up to Pennington--a young woman jist
come there, called Penryn, I speck, Ikey, my deear?"

Ikey nodded.

"Have 'ee got a bit ov paper, sonny?"

"No, Cap'n."

"Ah, tha's awkard. This 'll do, I 'spect--a bit of the prayer-book. I
allays like to carry a prayer-book weth me, 'tes oncommon lucky. There,
Jasper Pennington, write."

I dipped the pen into the inkhorn, and put the paper which he had torn
from the prayer-book on a flat, smooth piece of slatestone. "What?" I
asked.

"Write what I shall tell 'ee, now then:

"_To Miss Naomi Penryn. If you breathe one word about, or come near
Granfer Fraddam's Cave, I am a dead man!_"

I wrote the words as he spoke them. "Is that all?" I asked.

"Sign yer naame, sonny."

I did as he told me.

He took the paper from me and spelt out the words carefully. "Ah, 'tes a
grand thing to be a schullard," he said, admiringly. Then he turned to
Ikey Trethewy. "This must be put in that young woman's hands at once,
an' nobody must knaw 'bout et. Mind!"

"Iss, Cap'n," responded Ikey.

"Now we'll go," said Cap'n Jack. "Good-night, Ikey. Ah, 'tes a good
thing to be a man of paice, and full of love for one's fella cretters.
Now then, Jasper."

Two men waited for us in the outer cave, and a few seconds later I was
in a boat bound for Kynance Cove.

Morning was breaking as we passed the Lizard, and, strangely
circumstanced as I was, I could not help feeling awed as I looked upon
the great headland. Little wind blew, but the long lines of white
breakers thundered on the hard yellow sands, while the low-lying rocks
churned the sea into foam.

"Purty, ed'n et, Jasper?" remarked Cap'n Jack. "'Ave 'ee ever zeed the
Lizard afore, Jasper?"

"Never, Cap'n Jack."

"Ah, I'll make a man ov 'ee. I've a cutter ov my oan, sonny; not sa big,
but a purty thing. She do want a cap'n, Jasper; one as knaws figgers,
an' can larn navigation. I do want a gen'lman by birth, an' a great
lashin' chap like you, Jasper--wawn as can taake a couple ov andy-sized
men and knock their heads together. Oa, ther's providence in things,
Jasper."

I said nothing, but my heart felt sad. I felt as if I were drifting away
from Naomi, and that i