Mrs. Chalk gazed at it
in stupefaction.
"It can't be ours," she gasped. "They--they'd never dare! They--they--"
She stood for a moment staring at the hats on the sideboard, and then,
followed by the others, ran hastily downstairs. There was a hurried
questioning of the astonished landlady, and then, Mrs. Chalk leading,
they made their way to the stairs at a pace remarkable in a woman of her
age and figure. Mrs. Stobell, assisted by Edward Tredgold, did her best
to keep up with her, but she reached the goal some distance ahead, and,
jumping heavily into a boat, pointed to the fast-receding schooner and
bade the boatman overtake it.
"Can't be done, ma'am," said the man, staring, "not without wings."
"Row hard," said Mrs. Chalk, in a voice of sharp encouragement.
The boatman, a man of few words, jerked his thumb in the direction of the
_Fair Emily,_ which was already responding to the motion of the sea
outside.
"You run up the road on to them cliffs and wave to'em," he said, slowly.
"Wave 'ard."
Mrs. Chalk hesitated, and then, stepping out of the boat, resumed the
pursuit by land. Ten minutes' hurried walking brought them to the
cliffs, and standing boldly on the verge she enacted, to the great
admiration of a small crowd, the part of a human semaphore.
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