It was nearly two hours before Henry made the private signal which had
been agreed upon as that which should proclaim his return; and then he
and his brother, with Charles, who, when he heard of the matter, would,
notwithstanding the persuasions of Flora to the contrary, come, got
quietly over the fence at a part of the garden which was quite hidden
from the house by abundant vegetation, and the whole three of them took
up a position that tolerably well commanded a view of the house, while
they were themselves extremely well hidden behind a dense mass of
evergreens. "Did you see that rascal, Jack Pringle?" said the admiral. "Yes," said Henry; "he is drunk." "Ah, to be sure." "And we had no little difficulty in shaking him off. He suspected where
we were going; but I think, by being peremptory, we got fairly rid of
him." "The vagabond! if he comes here, I'll brain him, I will, the swab. Why,
lately he's done nothing but drink. That's the way with him. He'll go on
sometimes for a year and more, and not take more than enough to do him
good, and then all at once, for about six or eight weeks, he does
nothing but drink." "Well, well, we can do without him," said Henry. "Without him! I should think so. Do you hear those fellows in the Hall
at work? D--n me, if I haven't all of a sudden thought what the reason
of it all is." "What--what?" said the doctor, anxiously. "Why, that rascal Varney, you know, had his house burnt down." "Yes; well?" "Yes, well. I dare say he didn't think it well. But, however, he no
doubt wants another; so, you see, my idea is, that he's stealing the
material from Bannerworth Hall." "Oh, is that your notion?" "Yes, and a very natural one, I think, too, Master Doctor, whatever you
may think of it. Come, now, have you a better?" "Oh, dear, no, certainly not; but I have a notion that something to eat
would comfort the inward man much." "And so would something to drink, blow me if it wouldn't," said Jack
Pringle, suddenly making his appearance. The admiral made a rush upon him; but he was restrained by the others,
and Jack, with a look of triumph, said,--

"Why, what's amiss with you now? I ain't drunk now. Come, come, you have
something dangerous in the wind, I know, so I've made up my mind to be
in it, so don't put yourself out of the way. If you think I don't know
all about it, you are mistaken, for I do. The vampyre is in the house
yonder, and I'm the fellow to tackle him, I believe you, my boys." "Good God!" said the doctor, "what shall we do?" "Nothing," said Jack, as he took a bottle from his pocket and applied
the neck of it to his lips--"nothing--nothing at all." "There's something to begin with," said the admiral, as with his stick
he gave the bottle a sudden blow that broke it and spilt all its
contents, leaving Jack petrified, with the bit of the neck of it still
in his mouth. "My eye, admiral," he said, "was that done like a British seaman? My
eye--was that the trick of a lubber, or of a thorough-going first-rater? first-rater? My eye--"

"Hold your noise, will you; you are not drunk yet, and I was determined
that you should not get so, which you soon would with that rum-bottle,
if I had not come with a broadside across it. Now you may stay; but,
mark me, you are on active service now, and must do nothing without
orders." "Ay, ay, your honour," said Jack, as he dropped the neck of the bottle,
and looked ruefully upon the ground, from whence arose the aroma of
rum--"ay, ay; but it's a hard case, take it how you will, to have your
grog stopped; but, d--n it, I never had it stopped yet when it was in my
mouth." Henry and Charles could not forbear a smile at Jack's discomfiture,
which, however, they were very glad of, for they knew full well his
failing, and that in the course of another half hour he would have been
drunk, and incapable of being controlled, except, as on some former
occasions, by the exercise of brute force. But Jack was evidently displeased, and considered himself to be
grievously insulted, which, after all, was the better, inasmuch as,
while he was brooding over his wrongs, he was quiet; when, otherwise, it
might have been a very difficult matter to make him so. They partook of some refreshments, and, as the day advanced, the
brothers Bannerworth, as well as Charles Holland, began to get very
anxious upon the subject of the proceedings of Sir Francis Varney in the
Hall. They conversed in low tones, exhausting every, as they considered,
possible conjecture to endeavour to account for his mysterious
predilection for that abode, but nothing occurred to them of a
sufficiently probable motive to induce them to adopt it as a conclusion. They more than suspected Dr. Chillingworth, because he was so silent,
and hazarded no conjecture at all of knowing something, or of having
formed to himself some highly probable hypothesis upon the subject; but
they could not get him to agree that such was the case. When they challenged him upon the subject, all he would say was,--

"My good friends, you perceive that, there is a great mystery somewhere,
and I do hope that to-night it will be cleared up satisfactorily." With this they were compelled to be satisfied; and now the soft and
sombre shades of evening began to creep over the scene, enveloping all
objects in the dimness and repose of early night. The noise from the house had ceased, and all was profoundly still. But
more than once Henry fancied he heard footsteps outside the garden. He mentioned his suspicions to Charles Holland, who immediately said,--

"The same thing has come to my ears." "Indeed! Then it must be so; we cannot both of us have merely imagined
such a thing. You may depend that this place is beleaguered in some way,
and that to-night will be productive of events which will throw a great
light upon the affairs connected with this vampyre that have hitherto
baffled conjecture." "Hush!" said Charles; "there, again; I am quite confident I heard a
sound as of a broken twig outside the garden-wall. The doctor and the
admiral are in deep discussion about something,--shall we tell them?" "No; let us listen, as yet." They bent all their attention to listening, inclining their ears towards
the ground, and, after a few moments, they felt confident that more than
one footstep was creeping along, as cautiously as possible, under the
garden wall. After a few moments' consultation, Henry made up his
mind--he being the best acquainted with the localities of the place--to
go and reconnoitre, so he, without saying anything to the doctor or the
admiral, glided from where he was, in the direction of a part of the
fence which he knew he could easily scale. CHAPTER LXXIX. THE VAMPYRE'S DANGER.--THE LAST REFUGE.--THE RUSE OF HENRY BANNERWORTH.