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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cutlass and Cudgel, by George Manville Fenn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Cutlass and Cudgel
+
+Author: George Manville Fenn
+
+Illustrator: J Schonberg
+
+Release Date: May 4, 2007 [EBook #21297]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CUTLASS AND CUDGEL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+
+Cutlass and Cudgel, by George Manville Fenn.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+In some ways this book is reminiscent of "The Lost Middy", by the same
+author, but I suppose that with a similar theme, a nosey midshipman
+taken prisoner by a gang of smugglers, there are bound to be other
+points of similarity.  Anyway, it is a good fast-moving story, with
+lots of well-drawn human interest.
+
+It starts off with a comic scene, where the Excise patrol vessel is
+cruising near an area suspected of being heavily involved with
+smuggling. Suddenly a large object is seen swimming in the water, and it
+turns out to be a cow.  Then there's all the business of milking the cow
+on the deck of a sailing-vessel.  Pretty soon, however it gets serious,
+and we meet various characters living nearby.  Soon the inquisitive
+midshipman is taken prisoner, and it falls to another teenager, the son
+of one of the chief rogues, to bring him food.  Both boys become
+friendly with each other, but the midshipman can only express it by
+appearing to hate the farm-fisher boy, whom he considers to be socially
+far beneath him. The farm-boy tries so hard to be kind to the
+midshipman, who is so rude in return.
+
+Eventually the midshipman escapes, the smugglers are caught, and the
+farm-boy becomes a seaman on the Excise vessel.
+NH
+_______________________________________________________________________
+
+CUTLASS AND CUDGEL, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+"Heigh-Ho-Ha-Hum!  Oh dear me!"
+
+"What's matter, sir?"
+
+"Matter, Dirty Dick?  Nothing; only, heigh-ho-ha!  Oh dear me, how
+sleepy I am!"
+
+"Well, sir, I wouldn't open my mouth like that 'ere, 'fore the sun's
+up."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"No knowing what you might swallow off this here nasty, cold, foggy,
+stony coast."
+
+"There you go again, Dick; not so good as Lincolnshire coast, I
+suppose?"
+
+"As good, sir?  Why, how can it be?" said the broad, sturdy sailor
+addressed.  "Nothin' but great high stony rocks, full o' beds of great
+flat periwinkles and whelks; nowhere to land, nothin' to see.  I am
+surprised at you, sir.  Why, there arn't a morsel o' sand."
+
+"For not praising your nasty old flat sandy shore, with its marsh
+beyond, and its ague and bogs and fens."
+
+"Wish I was 'mong 'em now, sir.  Wild ducks there, as is fit to eat, not
+iley fishy things like these here."
+
+"Oh, bother!  Wish I could have had another hour or two's sleep.  I say,
+Dirty Dick, are you sure the watch wasn't called too soon?"
+
+"Nay, sir, not a bit; and, beggin' your pardon, sir, if you wouldn't
+mind easin' off the Dirty--Dick's much easier to say."
+
+"Oh, very well, Dick.  Don't be so thin-skinned about a nickname."
+
+"That's it, sir.  I arn't a bit thin-skinned.  Why, my skin's as thick
+as one of our beasts.  I can't help it lookin' brown.  Washes myself
+deal more than some o' my mates as calls me dirty.  Strange and curious
+how a name o' that kind sticks."
+
+"Oh, I say, don't talk so," said the lad by the rough sailor's side; and
+after another yawn he began to stride up and down the deck of His
+Majesty's cutter _White Hawk_, lying about a mile from the Freestone
+coast of Wessex.
+
+It was soon after daybreak, the sea was perfectly calm and a thick grey
+mist hung around, making the deck and cordage wet and the air chilly,
+while the coast, with its vast walls of perpendicular rocks, looked
+weird and distant where a peep could be obtained amongst the wreaths of
+vapour.
+
+"Don't know when I felt so hungry," muttered the lad, as he thrust his
+hands into his breeches pockets, and stopped near the sailor, who smiled
+in the lad's frank-looking, handsome face.
+
+"Ah, you always were a one to yeat, sir, ever since you first came
+aboard."
+
+"You're a noodle, Dick.  Who wouldn't be hungry, fetched out of his cot
+at this time of the morning to take the watch.  Hang the watch!  Bother
+the watch!  Go and get me a biscuit, Dick, there's a good fellow."
+
+The sailor showed his white teeth, and took out a brass box.
+
+"Can't get no biscuit yet, sir.  Have a bit o' this.  Keeps off the
+gnawin's wonderful."
+
+"Yah!  Who's going to chew tobacco!" cried the lad with a look of
+disgust, as he buttoned up his uniform jacket.  "Oh, hang it all, I wish
+the sun would come out!"
+
+"Won't be long, sir; and then all this sea-haar will go."
+
+"Why don't you say mist?" cried the lad contemptuously.
+
+"'Acause it's sea-haar, and you can't make nowt else on it, sir!"
+
+"They haven't seen anything of them in the night, I suppose?"
+
+"No, sir; nowt.  It scars me sometimes, the way they dodges us, and gets
+away.  Don't think theer's anything queer about 'em, do you?"
+
+"Queer?  Yes, of course.  They're smugglers, and as artful as can be."
+
+"Nay, sir, bad, I mean--you know, sir."
+
+"No, I don't, Dick," cried the young officer pettishly.  "How can I
+know?  Speak out."
+
+"Nay, I wean't say a word, sir; I don't want to get more scarred than I
+am sometimes now."
+
+"Get out!  What do you mean?  That old Bogey helps them to run their
+cargoes?"
+
+"Nay, sir, I wean't say a word.  It's all werry well for you to laugh,
+now it's daylight, and the sun coming out.  It's when it's all black as
+pitch, as it takes howd on you worst."
+
+"You're a great baby, Dick," cried the midshipman, as he went to the
+side of the cutter and looked over the low bulwark toward the east.
+"Hah!  Here comes the sun."
+
+His eyes brightened as he welcomed the coming of the bright orb,
+invisible yet from where he stood; but the cold grey mist that hung
+around was becoming here and there, in patches, shot with a soft
+delicious rosy hue, which made the grey around turn opalescent rapidly,
+beginning to flash out pale yellow, which, as the middy watched,
+deepened into orange and gold.
+
+"Lovely!" he said aloud, as he forgot in the glory of the scene the
+discomfort he had felt.
+
+"Tidy, sir, pooty tidy," said the sailor, who had come slowly up to
+where he stood.  "And you should see the morning come over our coast,
+sir.  Call this lovely?  Why, if you'd sin the sun rise there, it would
+mak' you stand on your head."
+
+"Rather see this on my feet, Dick," cried the lad.  "Look at that!
+Hurrah!  Up she comes!"
+
+Up "she"--otherwise the sun--did come, rolling slowly above the
+mist-covered sea, red, swollen, huge, and sending blood-tinted rays
+through and through the haze to glorify the hull, sails, and rigging of
+the smart cutter, and make the faces of the man at the helm and the
+other watchers glow as with new health.
+
+The effect was magical.  Just before all was cold and grey, and the
+clinging mist sent a shiver through those on deck; now, their eyes
+brightened with pleasure, as the very sight of the glowing orb seemed to
+have a warming--as it certainly had an enlivening--effect.
+
+The great wreaths of mist yielded rapidly as the sun rose higher, the
+rays shooting through and through, making clear roads which flashed with
+light, and, as the clouds rolled away like the grey smoke of the sun's
+fire, the distant cliffs, which towered up steep and straight, like some
+titanic wall, came peering out now in patches bright with green and
+golden grey.
+
+Archibald Raystoke--midshipman aboard His Majesty the king's cutter,
+stationed off the Freestone coast, to put a stop to the doings of a
+smuggler whose career the Government had thought it high time to
+notice--drew in a long breath, and forgot all about hunger and cold in
+the promise of a glorious day.
+
+It was impossible to think of such trifling things in the full burst of
+so much beauty, for, as the sun rose higher, the sea, which had been
+blood-red and golden, began to turn of a vivid blue deeper than the
+clear sky overhead; the mist wreaths grew thinner and more transparent,
+and the pearly glistening foam, which followed the breaking of each wave
+at the foot of the mighty cliffs, added fresh beauty to the glorious
+scene.
+
+"Look here, Dirty Dick," began the middy, who burst out into a hearty
+fit of laughter as he saw the broad-shouldered sailor give his face a
+rub with the back of his hands, and look at them one after the other.
+
+"Does it come off, Dick?" he said.
+
+"Nay, sir; nothin' comes off," said the man dolefully.  "'Tis my natur
+too, but it seems werry hard to be called dirty, when you arn't."
+
+"There, I beg pardon, Dick, and I will not call you so any more."
+
+"Thankye, sir; I s'pose you mean it, but you'll let it out again soon as
+you forget."
+
+"No, I will not, Dick.  But, I say, look here: you are a cheat, though,
+are you not?"
+
+"Me, sir?  No!" cried the man excitedly.
+
+"I mean about the Lincolnshire coast.  Confess it isn't half so
+beautiful as this."
+
+"Oh, yes it is, sir.  It's so much flatter.  Why, you can't hardly find
+a place to land here, without getting your boat stove in."
+
+"If all's true, the smugglers know how to land things," said Archibald,
+as he gazed thoughtfully at the cliffs.
+
+"Oh, them!  O' course, sir, they can go up the cliffs, and over 'em like
+flies in sugar basins.  They get a spar over the edge, with a reg'lar
+pulley, and lets down over the boats, and then up the kegs and bales
+comes."
+
+"Ah, well, we must catch them at it some day, Dick, and then there'll be
+lots o' prize-money for you all."
+
+"And for you too, sir; officers comes first.  But we arn't got the prize
+yet, and it's my belief as we shan't get it."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because it seems to me as there's something not all right about these
+here craft."
+
+"Of course there is, they are smugglers."
+
+"Yes, sir, and worse too.  If they was all right, we shouldn't ha' been
+cruising 'bout here seven weeks, and never got a sight o' one of 'em,
+when we know they've been here all the time."
+
+"I don't understand you, Dick," said the middy, as he watched the going
+and coming of the rock pigeons which flew straight for the cliff, seemed
+to pass right in, and then dashed out.
+
+"Well, sir, I can't explain it.  Them there's things as you can't
+explain, nor nobody else can't."
+
+He wrinkled up his face and shook his head, as if there were a great
+deal more behind.
+
+"Now, what are you talking about, Dick?" cried the lad.  "You don't mean
+that the smuggler's a sort of ghost, and his lugger's all fancy?"
+
+"Well, not exactly, sir, because if they was, they couldn't carry real
+cargoes, which wouldn't be like the smuggler and his lugger, sir, and,
+of course, then the kegs and lace wouldn't be no good.  But there's a
+bit something wrong about these here people, and all the men thinks so
+too."
+
+"More shame for them!" said the middy quickly.  "Hi!  Look there, Dick;
+what's that?"
+
+He seized the sailor by the shoulder, and pointed where, some five
+hundred yards away, close under the cliff, but on the rise of the line
+of breakers, there was something swimming slowly along.
+
+Dick shaded his eyes, for no reason whatever, the sun being at his back,
+and gazed at the object in the water.
+
+"'Tarnt a porpus," he said thoughtfully.
+
+"As if I didn't know that," cried the lad; and, running aft, he
+descended into the cabin, and returned with a glass, which he focussed
+and gazed through at the object rising steadily and falling with the
+heave of the sea.
+
+"See her, sir?"
+
+"Yes," answered the middy, with his glass at his eye.  "It's a bullock
+or a cow."
+
+"Werry like, sir.  There is sea-cows, I've heared."
+
+"Oh, but this isn't one of them.  I believe it's a real cow, Dick."
+
+"Not she, sir.  Real cows lives in Lincolnshire, and feeds on grass.  I
+never see 'em go in the sea, only halfway up their legs in ponds, and
+stand a-waggin' their tails to keep off the flies.  This here's a
+sea-cow, sir, sartin."
+
+"It's a cow, Dick; and it has tumbled off the cliff, and is swimming for
+its life," said the lad, closing the glass.
+
+The sailor chuckled.
+
+"What are you laughing at?"
+
+"At you, sir, beggin' your pardon.  But you don't think as how a cow
+would be such a fool as to tumble off a cliff.  Humans might, but cows
+is too cunning."
+
+"I don't believe you would be," cried the lad smartly.  "Put you up
+there in such a fog as we've had, and where would you be?"
+
+"Fast asleep in the first snug corner I could find," said the sailor, as
+the midshipman ran aft, and descended into the cabin, to go to the end
+and tap on a door.
+
+There was no answer, and he tapped again.
+
+"Hullo!"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," began the midshipman.
+
+"Granted!  Be off, and don't bother me again."
+
+There was a rustling sound, and a deep-toned breathing, that some rude
+people would have called a snore.  The midshipman looked puzzled,
+hesitated, and then knocked again.
+
+There came a smothered roar, like that of an angry beast.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir."
+
+"Who's that?"
+
+"Raystoke, sir."
+
+"What do you want?  Am I never to have a night's rest again?"
+
+All this in smothered tones, as if the speaker was shut up in a cupboard
+with a blanket over his head.
+
+"Wouldn't have troubled you, sir, but--"
+
+"Smugglers in sight?"
+
+"No, sir; it's a cow."
+
+"A what?"
+
+"Cow, sir, overboard."
+
+"Quite right.  Milk and water," came in muffled tones.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, what shall I do?"
+
+"Go and milk her, and don't bother me."
+
+"But she's swimming under the cliff, sir."
+
+"Go and ask her on board, then.  Be off!"
+
+Archy Raystoke knew his commanding officer's ways, and after waiting a
+few moments, he said softly, after giving a tap or two on the panel--
+
+"Shall I take the boat and get her aboard?"
+
+There was a loud rustle; a bang as if some one had struck the bulkhead
+with his elbow, and then a voice roared--
+
+"Look here, sir, if you don't be off and let me finish my sleep, I'll
+let go at you through the door.  You're in charge of the deck.  Go and
+do what's right, and don't bother me."
+
+_Bang_!
+
+Another blow on the bulkhead, and rustling noise, and, as well as if he
+had seen it all, Archy knew that his officer had snuggled down under the
+clothes, and gone to sleep.
+
+But he had the permission, and calling to a couple of the crew, he soon
+had the small boat in the water, with Dick and another man pulling
+towards where the cow was slowly swimming here and there, with its wet
+nose and two horns a very short distance above the surface.
+
+"Now, then, Dick, is it a sea-cow?" cried Archy, as they drew nearer.
+
+"Well, sir, what else can it be?"
+
+"Ah, you obstinate!" cried the lad.  "Now, then, what are we going to
+do?  We can't land her," he continued, looking up at the towering cliff,
+"and, of course, we can't take her in the boat."
+
+"I'll soon manage that," said Dick, leaving his rowing to take up a coil
+of rope he had thrown into the boat, and make a running noose.
+
+"Yes, but--"
+
+"It's all right, sir.  Get this over her horns, and we can tow her
+alongside, and hyste her on deck in no time."
+
+The cow proved that she was accustomed to man, for, as the boat
+approached, she swam slowly to meet it, raising her nose a little to
+utter a loud bellow, as if glad to welcome the help.  So quiet and
+gentle was the poor creature, that there was no difficulty in passing
+the noose over her horns, making the line fast to a ring-bolt, so as to
+keep her head well above the surface, and then Dick resumed his oar; and
+after a glance round to make sure that there was no place where the poor
+beast could be landed, Archie gave the order for them to row back to
+where the cutter lay in the bright sunshine, five hundred yards from the
+shore.
+
+He looked in vain, for at the lowest part the green edge of the cliff
+was a couple of hundred feet above the level of the sea, and right and
+left of him the mighty walls of rock rose up, four, five, and even six
+hundred feet, and for the most part with a sheer descent to the water
+which washed their feet.
+
+The cow took to her journey very kindly, helping the progress by
+swimming till they were alongside the cutter, where the men on deck were
+looking over the low side, and grinning with amusement.
+
+"Pull her horns off, sir!" said Dick, in answer to a question, as he
+proceeded to pass the rope through a block, "not it."
+
+"But hadn't we better have a line round her?"
+
+"If you want to cut her 'most in two, sir.  We'll soon have her on
+board."
+
+Dick was as good as his word, for the task was easy with a vessel so low
+in the water as the cutter; and in a few minutes the unfortunate cow was
+standing dripping on deck.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+"Can any one of you men milk?" said Lieutenant Brough, a little
+plump-looking man, of about five and thirty, as he stood in naval
+uniform staring at the new addition to His Majesty's cutter _White
+Hawk_, a well-fed dun cow, which stood steadily swinging her long tail
+to and fro, where she was tethered to the bulwarks, after vainly trying
+to make a meal off the well holystoned deck.
+
+There was no reply, the men grinning one at the other, on hearing so
+novel a question.  "Do you men mean to say that not one amongst you can
+milk?" cried the lieutenant.
+
+No one had spoken; but now, in a half-shrinking foolish way, Dick pulled
+his forelock, and made a kick out behind.
+
+"You can?" cried the lieutenant, "that's right; get a bucket and milk
+her.  I'll have some for breakfast."
+
+"Didn't say as I could milk, sir," said Dick.  "Seen 'em milk, though,
+down in Linkyshire, and know how it's done."
+
+"Then, of course, you can do it," said the lieutenant shortly; "look
+sharp!"
+
+The men grinned, and Dirty Dick by no means looked sharp, but
+exceedingly blunt and foolish as he shuffled along the deck, provided
+himself with a bucket, and then approached the cow, which had suddenly
+began chewing the cud.
+
+"Look at her, mate," said one of the sailors.
+
+"What for?" said the man addressed.
+
+"Some one's been giving her a quid o' bacca."
+
+"Go on."
+
+"But some one has.  Look at her chewing."
+
+"Why, so she is!" said the sailor, scratching his head, as he watched
+the regular actions of the cow's jaw, as she stood blinking her eyes,
+and swinging her tail to and fro, apparently quite content; the more so,
+that the sun was shining upon her warmly, and the sea water rapidly
+quitting her skin for the deck, where it made a rivulet into one of the
+scuppers.
+
+Jack the sailor is easily pleased, for the simple reason that anything
+is a relief from the tedium of life on ship-board; consequently the
+coming of the cow was like a half-holiday to them at the wrong end of
+the day, and they stood about nudging each other, as Dirty Dick trotted
+up with his bucket, Archy looking on as much amused as the men.
+
+The cow blinked her eyes, and turned her head to smell at the bucket
+which Dick set down on the deck, and stood scratching his head.
+
+"Well, sir, go on," said the lieutenant--"Seems to me, now, Mr
+Raystoke, that we ought to have cream and fresh butter.  Capital prize
+you've taken.--Do you hear, sir?  Go on."
+
+"Yes, sir.  Beg pardon, sir, but you see I wants something to sit on.
+'Nother bucket."
+
+"You, sir, fetch another bucket," said the lieutenant sharply; and
+another was brought, turned upside down, and, taking the first bucket,
+amidst the titterings of the men, Dick seated himself, leaned his head
+against the cow's side, placed the vessel between his legs, and began to
+operate in true dairyman style upon the cow.
+
+_Whack_!  _Bang_!  _Clatter_!
+
+There was a tremendous roar of laughter from every one on board except
+from Dirty Dick, who was down on his back a couple of yards away,
+staring at the cow as if wondering how she could have gone off as she
+did.  For the quiet-looking, inoffensive beast was standing perfectly
+still again, blinking her eyes and chewing her cud, but writhing and
+twisting her tail about as if it were an eel, after, at Dick's first
+touch, raising one of her hind legs and sending the pail flying across
+the deck and the would-be milker backwards.
+
+"Come, come," said the lieutenant, wiping his eyes and trying to look
+very important and stern, "that's not the right way, my man.  Try
+again."
+
+Dick rose unwillingly, planted the upturned bucket once more in its
+place, and took the milking bucket from one of the men who had picked it
+up.  Then, sitting down again rather nervously, he once more placed the
+vessel between his legs, stuck his head against the cow's side, and
+prepared to milk.
+
+_Whack_!
+
+The bucket flew along the deck again, and Dick bounded away, saving
+himself from falling this time as he was prepared, and made a sudden
+leap backwards to stand wiping the perspiration from his forehead.
+
+There was another roar of laughter, and the lieutenant bade Dick try
+again.
+
+The man gave his officer an appealing look which seemed to say, "Tell me
+to board the enemy, sir, and I'll go, but don't ask me to do this."
+
+"Come; be smart!"
+
+Dick turned, glanced wistfully at Archy, shaking his head at him
+reproachfully, sighed, and, taking the bucket again, he looked into it
+with his rugged brown face full of despair.
+
+"It's quite empty, Dick," said the middy, laughing.
+
+"Yes, sir; there's nowt in it, and," he added to himself, "not like to
+be."
+
+Again he settled himself into his place in as businesslike a way as a
+farm lad would who was accustomed to the cow-shed, but the moment he
+began the cow gave her tail a swing, lifted her leg, and planted it in
+the bucket, holding it down on the deck.
+
+"Pail's full," cried Archy; and the men yelled with delight, their
+officer vainly trying to control his own mirth as Dick began to pat and
+apostrophise the cow.
+
+"Coom, coom!  Coosh, cow, then," he said soothingly.  "Tak' thy leg oot
+o' the boocket, my bairn;" and to the astonishment of all present the
+cow lifted her leg and set it down again on deck.
+
+"Well done, my lad," cried the lieutenant.  "Now, then, look sharp with
+the milk."
+
+Dick sighed, wiped his hands down the sides of his breeches, and began
+once more, but at the first touch of the big strong hands accustomed to
+handle capstan-bars and haul ropes, the cow gave a more vigorous kick
+than ever; away flew the bucket, and over went Dick on his back.
+
+He sprung up angrily now in the midst of the laughter, and touched his
+forehead to his commanding officer.
+
+"It arn't no good, sir; she's a beef cow, and not a milker."
+
+"You don't know your business, my lad," said the lieutenant.
+
+"But she's such a savage one, sir.  Don't go anigh her, sir."
+
+"Nonsense!" said the lieutenant, going up to the cow, patting her and
+handling her ears and horns; to all of which attentions the animal
+submitted calmly enough, blinking her eyes, and gently swinging her
+tail.
+
+"I think I could milk her, sir," said Archy.
+
+"Think so, Raystoke?" said the lieutenant.  "I was just thinking I
+should have liked some new milk."
+
+"So was I, sir.  Shall I try?"
+
+"Yes," said the lieutenant.  "I believe I could do it myself.  It always
+looks so easy.  But no; won't do," he said firmly, as he drew himself up
+and tried to look stern and tall and big, an impossibility with a man of
+five feet two inches in height, and whose physique had always been
+against his advance in the profession.  For as a short energetic little
+man he might have gained promotion; as a little fat rosy fellow the
+Lords of the Admiralty thought not; and so, after endless
+disappointments regarding better things, he had been appointed commander
+of the little _White Hawk_, and sent to cruise off the south coast and
+about the Channel, to catch the smugglers who were always too clever to
+be caught.
+
+"No," he said shortly, as he drew himself up; "won't do, Raystoke,
+though you and I are condemned to live in this miserable little cutter,
+and on a contemptible kind of duty, we must not forget that we are
+officers and gentlemen in His Majesty's service.  Milking cows won't do.
+No; we must draw the line at milking cows.  But I should have liked a
+drop for my breakfast."
+
+"Ahoy!" cried one of the men loudly.
+
+"Ahoy yourself!" cried a voice from off the sea on the shore side, and
+all turned to see a boat approaching rowed by a rough-looking fisherman,
+and with a lad of about sixteen sitting astern, who now rose up to
+answer the man who shouted.
+
+"Where did he come from?" said the lieutenant.  "Anybody see him put
+off?"
+
+"No, sir!  No, sir!" came from all directions; and the lieutenant raised
+his glass to sweep the coast.
+
+"What do you want?" cried the man at the side as the boat came on, and
+the lieutenant bade the man ask.
+
+"Want?" shouted the lad, a sturdy-looking fellow with keen grey eyes and
+fair close curly hair all about his sunburned forehead.  "I've come
+after our cow!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+"How do, Sir Risdon?"
+
+The speaker was a curious-looking man of fifty, rough, sunburned, and
+evidently as keen as a well-worn knife.  He was dressed like a farmer
+who had taken to fishing or like a fisherman who had taken to farming,
+and his nautical appearance seemed strange to a man who was leading a
+very meditative grey horse attached to a heavy cart, made more weighty
+by the greatcoat of caked mud the vehicle wore.
+
+He had been leading the horse along what was called in Freestone a road,
+though its only pretensions to being a road was that it led from
+Shackle's farm to the fields which bordered the cliff, and consisted of
+two deep channels made by the farm tumbril wheels, and a shallow track
+formed by horses' hoofs, the said channels being more often full of
+water than of mud, and boasting the quality of never even in the hottest
+weather being dry.
+
+The person Blenheim Shackle--farmer and fisher, in his canvas sailor's
+breeches, big boots, striped shirt, and red tassel cap--had accosted,
+was a tall, thin, aristocratic-looking gentleman, in a broad-skirted,
+shabby brown velvet coat, who was daintily picking his way, cane in
+hand, over the soft turf of the field, evidently deep in thought, but
+sufficiently awake to what was around to make him stoop from time to
+time to pick up a glistening white-topped mushroom, and transfer it to
+one of his pockets with a satisfied smile.
+
+"Ah, Master Shackle," he said, starting slightly on being addressed.
+"Well, thank you.  A lovely morning, indeed."
+
+"Ay, the morning's right enough, Sir Risdon.  Picking a few mushrooms,
+sir?"
+
+"I--er--yes, Master Shackle.  I have picked a few," said the tall thin
+gentleman, colouring slightly.  "I--beg your pardon, Master Shackle, for
+doing so.  I ought to have asked your leave."
+
+"Bah!  Not a bit," said the fisher-farmer, with a chuckle.  "You're
+welcome, squire."
+
+"I thank you, Master Shackle--I thank you warmly.  You see her ladyship
+is very fond of the taste of a fresh gathered mushroom, and if I see a
+few I like to take them to the Hoze."
+
+"Ay, to be sure," said Shackle, as he thought to himself "And precious
+glad to get them, you two poor half-starved creatures, with your show
+and sham, and titles and keep up appearances."
+
+"I--er--I have not got many, Master Shackle.  Would you like to see?"
+continued the tall thin gentleman, raising the flap of one of his
+salt-box pockets.
+
+"I don't want to see," growled the other, as he stood patting the neck
+of his old grey horse.  "Been to the cliff edge?"
+
+"I--yes, Master Shackle."
+
+"See the cutter?"
+
+"I think I saw a small vessel lying some distance off, with white
+sails."
+
+"That's the _White Hawk_, Luff Brough.  And I wanted to speak to you,
+Sir Risdon."
+
+The gentleman started.
+
+"Not about--about that--" he stammered.
+
+"Tchah!  Yes.  It was about that, man," said the other.  "Don't shy at
+it like a horse at a blue bogey in a windy lane."
+
+"But I told you, man, last time, that I would have no more to do with
+that wretched smuggling."
+
+"Don't call things by ugly names."
+
+"My good man, it is terrible.  It is dishonourable, and the act is a
+breaking of the laws of our country."
+
+"Tchah!  Not it, Sir Risdon," cried the other so sharply, that the grey
+horse started forward, and had to be checked.  "Not the king's laws, but
+the laws of that Dutchman who has come and stuck himself on the throne.
+Why, sir, you ought to take a pleasure in breaking his laws, after the
+way he has robbed you, and turned you from a real gentleman, into a
+poor, hard-pressed country squire, who--"
+
+"Hush!  Hush, Master Shackle!" said the tall gentleman huskily.  "Don't
+rake up my misfortunes."
+
+"Not I, Sir Risdon.  I'm full o' sorrow and respect for a noble
+gentleman, who has suffered for the cause of the real king, who, when he
+comes, will set us all right."
+
+"Ah, Master Shackle, I'm losing heart."
+
+"Nay, don't do that, Sir Risdon; and as to a few mushrooms, why, you're
+welcome enough; and I'd often be sending a chicken or a few eggs, or a
+kit o' butter, or drop o' milk, all to the Hoze, only we're feared her
+ladyship might think it rude."
+
+"It's--it's very good of you, Master Shackle, and I shall never be able
+to repay you."
+
+"Tchah!  Who wants repaying, Sir Risdon?  We have plenty at the farm,
+and it was on'y day 'fore yes'day as I was out in my little lugger, and
+we'd took a lot o' mackrel!  `Ram,' I says to my boy Ramillies, `think
+Sir Risdon would mind if I sent him a few fish up to the Hoze?'
+
+"`Ay, father,' he says, `they don't want us to send them fish.  My
+lady's too proud!'"
+
+Sir Risdon sighed, and the man watched him narrowly.
+
+"It's a pity too," the latter continued, "specially as we often have so
+much fish we puts it on the land."
+
+"Er--if you would be good enough to send a little fish--of course very
+fresh, Master Shackle, and a few eggs, and a little butter to the Hoze,
+and let me have your bill by and by, I should be gratified."
+
+"On'y too glad, Sir Risdon, I will.--Think any one's been telling
+tales?"
+
+"Tales?"
+
+"'Bout us, Sir Risdon."
+
+"About _us_!"
+
+"You see the revenue cutter's hanging about here a deal, and it looks
+bad."
+
+"Surely no one would betray you, Master Shackle?"
+
+"Hope not, Sir Risdon; but it's okkard.  There's a three-masted lugger
+coming over from Ushant, and she may be in to-night.  There's some nice
+thick fogs about now, and it's a quiet sea.  Your cellars are quite
+empty, I s'pose?"
+
+The last remark came so quickly, that the hearer started, and made no
+reply.
+
+"You see, Sir Risdon, we might run the cargo, and stow it all up at my
+place, for we've plenty o' room; but if they got an idea of it aboard
+the cutter, she'd land some men somehow, and come and search me, but
+they wouldn't dare to come and search you.  I've got a bad character,
+but you haven't."
+
+"No, no, Master Shackle; I cannot; I will not."
+
+"The lads could run it up the valley, and down into your cellar, Sir
+Risdon," whispered the man, as if afraid that the old grey horse would
+hear; "nobody would be a bit the wiser, and you'd be doing a neighbour a
+good turn."
+
+"I--I cannot, Master Shackle; it is against the law."
+
+"Dutchman's law, not the laws of Bonnie Prince Charlie.  You will, Sir
+Risdon?"
+
+"No--no, I dare not."
+
+"And it gives a neighbour a chance to beg your acceptance of a little
+drop o' real cognac, Sir Risdon--so good in case o' sickness.  And a bit
+of prime tay, such as would please her ladyship.  Then think how
+pleasant a pipe is, Sir Risdon; I've got a bit o' lovely tobacco at my
+place, and a length or two of French silk."
+
+"Master Shackle!  Master Shackle!" cried the tall thin baronet
+piteously, "how can you tempt a poor suffering gentleman like this?"
+
+"Because I want to do you a bit of good, Sir Risdon, and myself too.  I
+tell you it's safe enough.  You've only to leave your side door open,
+and go to bed; that's all."
+
+"But I shall be as guilty as you."
+
+"Guilty?" the man laughed.  "I never could see a bit o' harm in doing
+what I do.  Never feel shamed to look my boy Ramillies in the face.  If
+a bit o' smuggling was wrong, Sir Risdon, think I'd do it?  No, sir; I
+think o' them as was before me.  My father was in Marlborough's wars,
+and he called me Blenheim, in honour of the battle he was in; and I
+called my boy Ramillies, and if ever he gets married, and has a son,
+he's to be Malplackey.  I arn't ashamed to look him in the face."
+
+"But I shall be afraid to look in the face of my dear child."
+
+"Mistress Denise, Sir Risdon?  Tchah!  Bless her!  I don' believe she'd
+like her father to miss getting a lot of things that would be good for
+him, and your madam.  There, Sir Risdon; don't say another word about
+it.  Leave the door open, and go to bed.  You shan't hear anybody come
+or go away, and you're not obliged to look in the cellars for a few
+days."
+
+"But, my child--the old servant--suppose they hear?"
+
+"What?  The rats?  Tell 'em to take no notice, Sir Risdon.  Good day,
+Sir Risdon.  That's settled, then?"
+
+"Ye-es--I suppose so.  This once only, Master Shackle."
+
+"Thank ye, Sir Risdon," said the man.  "Jee, Dutchman!"
+
+The horse tugged at the tumbril, and Sir Risdon went thoughtfully along
+the field, toward a clump of trees lying in a hollow, while Master
+Shackle went on chuckling to himself.
+
+"Couldn't say me nay, poor fellow.  Half-starved they are sometimes.
+Wonder he don't give up the old place, and go away.  Hope he won't.
+Them cellars are too vallyble.  Hallo!  What now?"
+
+This to the fair curly-headed lad, who came trotting up across the short
+turf.
+
+"Been looking at the cutter, father?"
+
+"Oh, she don't want no looking at.  Who brought those cows down here?"
+
+"Jemmy Dadd."
+
+"He's a fool.  We shall be having some of 'em going over the cliff.  Go
+home and tell mother to put a clean napkin in a basket, and take two
+rolls of butter, a bit of honey, and a couple of chickens up to the
+Hoze."
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"And see if there's any eggs to take too."
+
+"Yes, father.  But--"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Think the lugger will come to-night?"
+
+"No, I don't think anything, and don't you.  Will you keep that rattle
+tongue of yours quiet?  Never know me go chattering about luggers, do
+you?"
+
+"No, father."
+
+"Then set your teeth hard, or you'll never be a man worth your salt.
+Want to grow into a Jemmy Dadd?"
+
+"No, father."
+
+"Then be off."
+
+The boy went off at a run, and the fisher-farmer led his horse along the
+two rutted tracks till he came down into the valley, and then went on
+and on, towards where a couple of men were at work in a field, doing
+nothing with all their might.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+Ramillies--commonly known by his father's men as Ram--Shackle trotted up
+over the hill, stopping once to flop down on the grass to gaze at the
+cutter, lying a mile out now from the shore, and thinking how different
+she was with her trim rigging and white sails to the rough lugger of his
+father, and the dirty three-masted vessels that ran to and fro across
+the Channel, and upon which he had more than once taken a trip.
+
+He rose with a sigh, and continued his journey down into the hollow, and
+along a regular trough among the hills, to the low, white-washed stone
+building, roofed with thin pieces of the same material, and gaily dotted
+and splashed with lichen and moss.
+
+He was met by a comfortable-looking, ruddy-faced woman, who
+shouted,--"What is it, Ram?" when he was fifty yards away.
+
+The boy stated his errand.
+
+"Father says you were to take all that?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then there's a cargo coming ashore to-night, Ram."
+
+"Yes, mother, and the cutter's lying a mile out."
+
+"Oh, dear, dear, dear!" cried the woman; "I hope there won't be no
+trouble, boy."
+
+She stood wiping her dry hands upon her apron, and gazed thoughtfully
+with wrinkled brow straight before her for a minute, as if conjuring up
+old scenes; then, taking down a basket as she moved inside, she began to
+pack up the various things in the dairy, while Ram looked on.
+
+"Father didn't say anything about a bottle of cream, mother," said the
+boy, grinning.
+
+"Then hear, see, and say nothing, my lad," cried his mother.
+
+"And I don't think he said you was to send that piece of pickled pork,
+mother."
+
+"He said chickens, didn't he?"
+
+"Said a chickun."
+
+"Chicken means chickens," cried Mrs Shackle, "and you can't eat chicken
+without pork or bacon.  'Tisn't natural."
+
+"Father said two rolls of butter."
+
+"Yes, and I've put three.  There, these are all the eggs I've got, and
+you mind you don't break 'em!"
+
+"Oh, I say, mother," cried Ram, "aren't it heavy!"
+
+"Nonsense!  I could carry it on my finger; there, run along like a good
+boy, and you must ask for her ladyship, and be very respectful, and say,
+Mother's humble duty to you, my lady, and hopes you won't mind her
+sending a bit o' farm fare."
+
+"But she ought to be thankful to us, mother?"
+
+"And so she will be, Ram?"
+
+"But you make me speak as though we were to be much obliged to her for
+taking all these good things."
+
+"You take the basket, and hold your tongue.  Father's right, you chatter
+a deal too much."
+
+Ram took the basket, grunted because it was so heavy, and then set off
+up the hill-slope towards where the patch of thick woodland capped one
+side of the deep valley, and at last came in sight of a grim-looking
+stone house, with its windows for the most part covered by their
+drawn-down blinds.  Under other circumstances, with fairly kept gardens
+and trim borders, the old-fashioned building, dating from the days of
+Henry the Seventh, would have been attractive enough, with its
+background of trees, and fine view along the valley out to the
+far-stretching blue sea; but poverty seemed to have set its mark upon
+the place, and the boy was so impressed by the gloomy aspect of the
+house, that he ceased whistling as he went across the front, outside the
+low wall, and round to the back, where his progress was stopped by the
+scampering of feet, and a dog came up, barking loudly.
+
+"Get out, or I'll jump on you--d'ye hear?" said Ram fiercely.
+
+"Down, Grip, down!" cried a pleasant voice, and a girl of fifteen came
+running out, looking bright and animated with her flushed cheeks and
+long hair.
+
+"Don't be afraid of him, Ram; he will not bite."
+
+"I'm not afraid of him, Miss Celia; if he'd tried to bite me, I'd have
+kicked him into the back-garden."
+
+"You would not dare to," cried the girl indignantly.
+
+"Oh yes, I would," said Ram, showing his white teeth.  "Wouldn't do for
+me to be 'fraid of no dogs."
+
+The girl half turned away, but her eye caught the basket.
+
+"What's that you came to sell?" she said.
+
+"Sell?  I don't come to sell.  Father and mother sent this here.  It's
+butter, and chickuns, and pork, and cream, and eggs."
+
+"Oh!" cried the girl joyously, "my mother will be so--"
+
+She stopped short, remembering sundry lessons she had received, and the
+tears came up into her eyes as she felt that she must be proud and not
+show her delight at the receipt of homely delicacies to which they were
+strangers.
+
+"Take your basket to the side door, and deliver your message to Keziah,"
+she said distantly.
+
+"Yes, miss," said Ram, beginning to whistle, as he strode along with his
+basket, but he turned back directly and followed the girl.
+
+"I say, Miss Celia," he cried.
+
+"Yes, Ram."
+
+"You like Grip, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"Then I won't never kick him, miss.  Only I arn't fond on him.  Here,
+mate," he continued, dropping on one knee, "give us your paw."
+
+The dog, a sturdy-looking deerhound, growled, and closed up to his
+mistress.
+
+"D'ye hear?  Give's your paw.  What yer growling about?"
+
+The dog didn't say, but growled more fiercely.
+
+"Grip, down!  Give him your paw," cried the girl.
+
+The dog turned his muzzle up to his mistress, and uttered a low whine.
+
+"Says he don't like to shake hands with a lad like me," said Ram,
+laughing.
+
+"But I say he is to, sir," cried the girl haughtily.  "Give him your
+paw, Grip."
+
+She took the dog by the ear and led him unwillingly toward the boy,
+whose eyes sparkled with delight while the hound whimpered and whined
+and protested, as if he had an unconquerable dislike to the act he was
+called upon to perform.
+
+"Now," cried the girl, "directly, sir.  Give him your paw."
+
+What followed seemed ludicrous in the extreme to the boy, for, in
+obedience to his mistress's orders, the dog lifted his left paw and
+turned his head away to gaze up at his mistress.
+
+"The wrong paw, sir," she cried.  "Now, again."
+
+"_Pow how_!" howled the dog, raising his paw now to have it seized by
+the boy, squeezed and then loosened, a termination which seemed to give
+the animal the most profound satisfaction.  For now it was over, he
+barked madly and rushed round and round the boy in the most friendly
+way.
+
+"There, miss," said Ram with a grin; "we shall be friends now.  Nex'
+rats we ketch down home, I'll bring up here for him to kill.  Hey, Grip!
+Rats!  Rats!"
+
+The dog bounded up to the boy, rose on his hind legs and placed his
+forepaws on the lad's chest, barking loudly.
+
+"Good dog, then.  Good-bye, miss; I must get back."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"You call, miss?" cried the boy, turning as he went whistling away.
+
+"Yes, yes, Ram," said the girl hesitatingly, and glancing behind her,
+then up at the house where all was perfectly still.  "Do you remember
+coming up and bringing a basket about a month ago?"
+
+"Yes, miss, I r'member.  That all, miss?"
+
+"No," said the girl, still hesitating.  "Ram, are the men coming up to
+the house in the middle of the night?"
+
+"Dunno what you mean, miss."
+
+"You do, sir, for you were with them.  I saw you and ever so many more
+come up with little barrels slung over their shoulders."
+
+Ram's face was a study in the comic line as he shook his head.
+
+"Yes you were, sir, and it was wicked smuggling.  I order you to tell me
+directly.  Are they coming up to-night?"
+
+"Mustn't tell," said the boy slowly.
+
+"Then they are," cried the girl, with her handsome young face puckering
+up with the trouble which oppressed her, and after standing looking
+thoughtful and anxious for a few moments, she went away toward the front
+of the house, while Ram went round to the side and delivered his basket.
+
+"Course we are," he said to himself, as he went down the hill again.
+"But I warn't going to blab.  What a fuss people do make about a bit o'
+smuggling!  How pretty she looks!" and he stopped short to admire her--
+the _she_ being the _White Hawk_, which lay motionless on the calm sea.
+"Wish I could sail aboard a boat like that, and be dressed like that
+young chap with his sword.  I would like to wear a sword.  I told father
+so, and he said I was a fool."
+
+He threw himself down on the short turf, which was dotted with black and
+grey, as the rooks, jackdaws, and gulls marched about feeding together
+in the most friendly way, where the tiny striped snails hung upon the
+strands of grass by millions.
+
+"It'll be a fog again to-night," he said thoughtfully, "and she's sure
+to come.  Ha, ha, ha!" he laughed, as he made a derisive gesture towards
+the cutter; "watch away.  You may wear your gold lace and cocked hats
+and swords, but you won't catch us, my lads; we're too sharp for that."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+Shackle was quite right; the fog did begin to gather over the sea soon
+after sundown, and the depressing weather seemed to have a curious
+effect on Farmer Shackle, who kept getting up from his supper to go and
+look out through the open door, and come back smiling and rubbing his
+hands.
+
+Mrs Shackle was very quiet and grave-looking and silent for a time, but
+at last she ventured a question.
+
+"Did you see her at sundown?"
+
+"Ay, my lass.  'Bout eight mile out."
+
+"But the cutter?"
+
+"Well, what about the cutter?"
+
+"Will it be safe?"
+
+"Safe?  Tchah!  I know what I'm 'bout."
+
+That being so, Mrs Shackle made no remark, but went on cutting chunks
+of bread and butter for her son, to which the boy added pieces of cold
+salt pork, and then turned himself into a mill which went on slowly
+grinding up material for the making of a man, this raw material being
+duly manipulated by nature, and apportioned by her for the future making
+of the human mill.
+
+"Now, Ram," said his father, "ready?"
+
+"Yes, father," said the boy, after getting his mouth into talking trim.
+
+"Lanthorns!  Off with you."
+
+"Lanthorns won't be no good in the fog."
+
+"Don't you be so mighty clever," growled Shackle.  "How do you know that
+the fog reaches up far?"
+
+"Did you signal s'afternoon, father?"
+
+"Lanthorns!  And look sharp, sir."
+
+The boy went into the back kitchen, took down from a shelf three
+horn-lanthorns, which had the peculiarity of being painted black save in
+one narrow part.  Into these he glanced to see that they were all fitted
+with thick candles before passing a piece of rope through the rings at
+the top.
+
+This done he took down a much smaller lanthorn, painted black all round,
+lit the candle within, and, taking this one in his hand, he hung the
+others over his shoulder, and prepared to start.
+
+"Mind and don't you slip over the cliff, Ram," said his mother.
+
+"Tchah!  Don't scare the boy with that nonsense," said the farmer
+angrily; "why should he want to slip over the cliff?  Put 'em well back,
+boy.  Stop 'bout half an hour, and then come down."
+
+Ram nodded and went off whistling down along the hollow for some hundred
+yards toward the sea, and then, turning short off to the right, he began
+to climb a zigzag path which led higher and higher and more and more
+away to his left till it skirted the cliff, and he was climbing slowly
+up through the fog.
+
+The lad's task was robbed of the appearance of peril by the darkness;
+but the danger never occurred to Ram, who had been up these cliff-paths
+too often for his pleasure to heed the breakneck nature of the rough
+sheep-track up and up the face of the cliff, leading to where it became
+a steep slope, which ran in and on some four hundred feet, forming one
+of the highest points in the neighbourhood.
+
+"It's plaguey dark," said Ram to himself.  "Wonder what they're going to
+bring to-night?"
+
+He whistled softly as he climbed slowly on.
+
+"Fog's thicker than it was last night.  They won't see no lanthorns, I
+know."
+
+"Dunno, though," he muttered a little higher up.  "Not quite so thick up
+here.  How old Grip growled!  But he had to do it.  Aren't afraid of a
+dog like him.  Look at that!"
+
+He had climbed up the zigzag track another fifty feet, and stopped short
+to gaze away at the bright stars of the clear night with the great layer
+of fog all below him now.
+
+"Father was right, but I dunno whether they'll be able to see from the
+lugger.  Don't matter.  They know the way, and they'd see the signal
+s'afternoon."
+
+He whistled softly as he went on higher, laughing all at once at an idea
+which struck him.
+
+"Suppose they were to row right on to the cutter!  Wouldn't it 'stonish
+them all?  I know what I should do.  Shove off directly into the fog.
+They wouldn't be able to see, and I wouldn't use the sweeps till I was
+out of hearing, and then--oh, here we are up atop!"
+
+For the sheep-track had come to an end upon what was really the
+dangerous part of the journey.  The zigzag and the cliff-path had been
+bad, but a fall there would not have been hopeless, for the unfortunate
+who lost his footing would go down to the next path, or the next, a
+dozen places perhaps offering the means of checking the downward course,
+but up where the boy now stood was a slope of short turf with long dry
+strands which made the grass terribly slippery, and once any one had
+fallen here, and was in motion, the slope was at so dangerous an
+elevation that he would rapidly gather impetus, and shoot right off into
+space to fall six hundred feet below on to the shore.
+
+This danger did not check Ram's cheery whistle, and he climbed on,
+sticking his toes well into the short grass, and rising higher and
+higher till he reached some ragged shale with the grass, now very thin,
+and about a hundred feet back from the sea, in a spot which he felt
+would be well out of the sight of the cutter if those on board could see
+above the fog.  He set down his lanthorns, two about five feet apart,
+lit them all, and held the third on the top of his head as he stood
+between the others, so that from seaward the lights would have appeared
+like a triangle.
+
+It seemed all done in such a matter of course way that it was evident
+that Ram was accustomed to the task, and supporting the lanthorn on his
+head, first with one and then with the other hand, he went on whistling
+softly an old west country air, thinking the while about Sir Risdon and
+Lady Graeme, and about how poor they were, and how much better it was to
+live at a farmhouse where there was always plenty to eat, and where his
+father could go fishing in the lugger when he liked, and how he could
+farm and smuggle, and generally enjoy life.
+
+"That's good half an hour," said Ram, lowering his lanthorn, opening the
+door, and puffing out the candle, afterwards serving the others the
+same.
+
+_Whew_--_whew_--_whew_--_whew_!
+
+A peculiar whishing of wings from far overhead, as a flock of birds flew
+on through the darkness of the night, following the wonderful instinct
+which made them take flight to other lands.
+
+"Wasn't geese; and I don't think it was ducks," said the lad to himself,
+as he slung his darkened lanthorns together, and began to descend as
+coolly as if he had been provided by nature with wings to guard him
+against a fall down the cliff.
+
+"Wonder whether they saw the lights," he said to himself.  "Not much
+good showing them, if they were in the fog."
+
+He went on, gradually approaching the mist which lay below him, and at
+last was descending the zigzag path with the stars blotted out, and the
+tiny drops of moisture gathering on his eyelashes, finding his way more
+by instinct than sight.
+
+"Come in with the tide 'bout 'leven," said Ram, as he still descended
+the face of the cliff, then the path, and at last was well down in the
+little valley, whose mouth seemed to have been filled up in some
+convulsion of nature by a huge wall of cliff, under which the streamlet
+which ran from the hills had mined its way.
+
+As soon as he was down on level ground, the boy started for home at a
+trot, gave the lanthorns into his mother's hands, and, after a brief
+inquiry as to his father's whereabouts, he started off once more.
+
+The part of the cliff for which he made was exactly opposite Sir
+Risdon's old house, and to a stranger about the last place where it
+would be deemed possible for a smuggler to land his cargo.
+
+Hence the successful landing of many a boat-load, which had been
+scattered the country through.
+
+For there, at the foot of the cliff, lay a natural platform or pier,
+almost as level as if it had been formed for a landing stage.  The deep
+water came right up to its edge, and here, at a chosen time of tide, a
+lugger could lie close in, and her busy crew and their helpmates land
+keg and bale upon the huge ledge,--a floor of intensely hard stone, full
+of great ammonites, many a couple of feet across, monsters of
+shell-fish, which had gradually settled down and died, when the stone in
+which they lay had been soft mud.
+
+Revenue boats had of course, from time to time, as they explored the
+coast, noted this natural landing-place, but as there was only a broad
+step twenty feet above this to form another platform, and then the
+cliffs ran straight up two hundred feet slightly inclined over toward
+the sea, and the existence of even a moderate surf would have meant
+wreck, it was never even deemed likely that there was danger here, and
+consequently it was left unwatched.
+
+The smugglers had a different opinion of the place, and on Ram reaching
+the spot he was in nowise surprised to find a group of about thirty men
+on the cliff, clustered about the end of a spar, whose butt was run down
+into a hole in the rock, which lay a foot beneath the turf, and at whose
+end, as it rose at an angle, was a pulley block and rope run through
+ready for use should the lugger come.
+
+"Where's father?" whispered Ram to one of the men, who looked curiously
+indistinct amid the fog.
+
+"Here, boy," was whispered close to his ear.  "Going down to help?"
+
+"May I, father?"
+
+Shackle grunted; and, after speaking to one of the men, Ram took hold of
+the loop at the end of the rope, thrust a leg through, held on tightly,
+and, after the word was given, swung himself off into the fog.
+
+The well-oiled wheel ran fast, and it was a strange experience that of
+gliding rapidly down and steadily turning round and round with the thick
+darkness all around, and nothing to show that he who descended was not
+stationary.  The peril of such a run down would have appeared the
+greater, could he who descended have seen how the rope was allowed to
+run.  For no careful hands held it to allow it to glide through fingers,
+which could at any moment clutch the line tightly and act as a check.
+The rope lay simply on the turf, and the man who watched over the
+descent, merely placed his boot over it, the hollow between sole and
+heel affording room for the rope to run, and a little extra pressure
+stopping its way.
+
+Thus it was that Ram was allowed to glide rapidly down, till by
+experience the man knew that he was nearly at the bottom when the rope
+began to run more slowly, and then was checked exactly as the boy's feet
+touched the stone shelf, and he stepped from the loop on to the
+ammonite-studded rock.
+
+Dimly seen about him was a group of a dozen men, whose faces looked
+mysterious and strange, and this was added to by the silence, for only
+one spoke, and he when he was addressed, for the first few minutes after
+Ram's arrival among them, every one there being listening attentively
+for the distant beat of oars.
+
+"Think she'll come to-night, young Ram?" said the man close by him.
+
+"Dunno."
+
+"Been to show the lights?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was there any fog up there?"
+
+"No; clear as could be."
+
+"Then she may come.  Pst!"
+
+Hardly a breath could be heard then as ears were strained, and after a
+good deal of doubt had been felt, a kind of thrill ran through the men
+who had taken hold of a line fastened to a stanchion and lowered
+themselves down to the broad ledge.
+
+The low, regular, slow beat of great sweeps became now audible, but
+though Ram strained his eyes seaward, nothing was visible for quite
+another ten minutes, when, as the boy stood at the brink of the upper
+ledge he dimly saw something darker than the mist coming into view.
+Soon there came a faint crunching noise as of a fender being crushed
+against the rock, followed by the sound of ropes drawn over the bulwark,
+and Ram hesitated no longer, but ran to the loop, placed his leg through
+it, gave the signal by shaking the rope, and in an instant he was
+snatched from his feet, run up, the rope drawn in, and he was landed on
+the turf.
+
+A small bag of stones was then attached to the loop, the wheel spun
+round, and the bag went whizzing down, while the group of men stood
+waiting and waiting, for they could see nothing below, hardly see each
+other, so dense was the mist now.
+
+Sundry familiar sounds arose from time to time, and more than once the
+farmer uttered an ejaculation full of impatience at the length of time
+taken up in bringing the vessel below and taking precautions to keep her
+from grinding and bumping against the edge of the shelf, for though the
+sea was calm, there was the swell to contend with.
+
+At last.
+
+There was a murmur from below which those two hundred feet above knew
+well, and as two stood ready, another man by them took hold of the rope,
+and suddenly started off at a run, disappearing at once in the fog,
+while a peculiar whizzing sound was heard, as the little wheel in the
+block now ran round till all at once a couple of kegs and the bag of
+stones appeared level with the top of the cliff.  These were seized,
+unhitched, and as the bag ran down, a man knelt, fitted a short rope
+about the kegs and hoisted them on his shoulder, just as the man who
+held the rope trotted up out of the fog into which the other with the
+kegs disappeared.
+
+There was a faint hiss, and away ran the man again bringing the next two
+kegs up rapidly, to be set at liberty, slung, and hoisted on another
+man's back as the hauler came back out of the fog.
+
+And so the unloading went on with marvellous rapidity, the hauler
+rushing off into the fog, a couple of kegs coming up into sight, being
+taken out of the loops, slung and hoisted just as the hauler came back
+and the bearer disappeared, till quite a line of men were trudging
+slowly up the hill, down into the valley, and up again toward Sir Risdon
+Graeme's old house, the Hoze, till all the bearers were gone, and the
+kegs still kept coming up out of the fog.
+
+The silence was astonishing, considering the amount of work being done
+and the rapidity with which all went on.  Away to left and right
+sentries were placed, from among the haulers who, as they grew tired by
+their exertions in running up the kegs, were placed there to rest and
+listen for danger from seaward; but hour after hour went on, the
+carriers, augmented by a dozen more, came and went in two bands now, so
+that part were returning as the others were going.
+
+But still they were not in sufficient force, for the Hoze was some
+distance away, and the number of kegs kept increasing on the turf at the
+top of the cliff.
+
+About half the cargo was landed when Shackle whispered an order to Ram,
+who at once stooped to pick up a keg.
+
+"No, no; run without, and see that they store them all up well."
+
+Ram was used to the business, and he went off at a trot, breasted the
+hill, dived down into the hollow, and then passing men going and coming,
+made for the Hoze, entered by the side door, made his way along a stone
+passage, and then down into a huge vault with groined roof lit by a
+couple of lanthorns hanging from hooks.
+
+Here for the next three hours he worked hard, helping to stack the
+little brandy kegs at first, and afterwards the small tightly packed
+bales and chests which were brought more quickly now--a dozen of
+swarthy, dirty-looking men, with earrings and short loose canvass
+trousers which looked like petticoats, helping to bring up the cargo,
+and showed by their presence that all had been landed from the lugger--
+that which was now being brought up consisting of the accumulation on
+the ledges and at the top of the cliff.
+
+"Much more?"  Ram kept asking as he toiled away, wet now with
+perspiration.
+
+"Ay, ay, lad, it's a long cargo," he kept hearing; and the lanthorns had
+to be shifted twice as the stacks of kegs and bales increased, till just
+as the boy began to think the loads would never end, he realised that
+the French sailors had not been up lately, and one of their own men
+suddenly said--
+
+"Last!"
+
+Ram drew a breath full of relief as the men came out silently, and he
+stopped behind with one lanthorn only alight to lock the door of the
+great vault, and then stood in the stone passage, thinking how quiet and
+still the house seemed.
+
+He went out, closing the door after him, and stood in the garden.
+
+"Wonder whether Miss Celia heard us," he said; "never thought of it
+before; they must have tied up old Grip."
+
+He glanced up at the windows as he went out, then they seemed to
+disappear in the mist as he made for the track and went downwards, to
+hear low voices, and directly after he encountered his father.
+
+"Got 'em all right, boy?"
+
+"Yes, father," said Ram, handing the key.  "Lugger gone?"
+
+"Hour and a half ago, lad; just got her empty as the tide turned.  Best
+run we've had."
+
+He burst into a low fit of chuckling.
+
+"What are you laughing at, father?"
+
+"I was thinking how artful revenue cutters are, boy.  I don't believe
+that _White Hawk's_ more than half a mile away."
+
+"But then see what a fog it was, father?"
+
+"Tchah!  To me it's just the same as a moonshiny night, boy.  There,
+come on home and get to bed.  Must be up early; lots to do to-day."
+
+Seeing that it could not be long before morning, Ram asked himself what
+was the use of his going to bed; but he said nothing, only hurried to
+keep pace with his father; and soon after, feeling fagged out, he was
+fast asleep, and dreaming that whenever he piled the kegs up they kept
+on rolling down about him, and that the midshipman from the _White Hawk_
+stood looking on, and laughing at him for being clumsy, and then he
+awoke fancying he was called.
+
+It was quite right, for Farmer Shackle was shouting--
+
+"Now you, Ramillies, are you going to sleep there all day?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+Ram had thrown himself down, dressed as he was, so that an interview
+with a bucket of water at the back door, and a good rub with the jack
+towel, were sufficient to brighten him up for the breakfast waiting, and
+the boy was not long before he was partaking heartily of the bowl of
+bread and milk his mother placed before him, his father muttering and
+grumbling the while to himself.
+
+"I'm sure you needn't be so cross this morning, master," said Mrs
+Shackle reproachfully.
+
+"If you had as much to fret you as I do, wife, you'd be cross."
+
+"Why, you told me this morning that you carried your crop of sea hay
+without a drop of water on it."
+
+Farmer Shackle shut one eye, tightened up his mouth, and looked with his
+other eye at his wife, which was his idea of laughing.
+
+"Well, then," she said, "what makes you so cross?"
+
+"Cross!  Enough to make any man cross.  I shall be ruined--such a set of
+careless people about me.  Those cows left out on the cliff field all
+last night, and Tally must have gone over, for I can't see her
+anywhere."
+
+"Oh, poor Tally!  My kindest cow," cried Mrs Shackle.
+
+"Yes, I shall set that down to you Ramillies.  That's a flogging for you
+if she isn't found."
+
+"No, no, master; don't be so hard.  The poor boy was out all night
+looking after signals and--"
+
+Bang!  Down came the farmer's fist on the table making the plates and
+basins jump.
+
+"Hay, woman, hay!" he roared.  "Mind what you're talking about!"
+
+"Don't do that, Blenheim!" cried Mrs Shackle.  "You quite frightened
+me."
+
+"Yes, I'll frighten the whole lot of you.  Ten golden pounds gone over
+the cliff through that boy's neglect."
+
+"Well, never mind, dear.  You made ever so much more than that last
+night, I'll be bound!"
+
+"Will you hold your tongue?" roared the farmer.  "There, make haste and
+finish that food, boy.  Take Jemmy Dadd and the boat and find her.
+Skin's worth a few shillings.  I must have that."
+
+"Did you look over the cliff, father?" asked Ram.
+
+"I looked over?  Of course, but how could I see in that fog?"
+
+Ram was soon out and away, to hunt up Jemmy Dadd, whom he found at last
+with his eyes half-closed, yawning prodigiously.  They went down to the
+boat, launched her, and rowed out along under the tremendous cliffs, and
+were about to give up in despair, convinced that the unfortunate cow had
+been swept right out to sea, when Ram exclaimed--
+
+"Look yonder, Jem?"
+
+"What for?" grumbled the man; "I'm half asleep, now."
+
+"Never mind that!  Look at the cutter."
+
+"Shan't!  I've seen un times enough."
+
+"Yes, yes; but look on her deck."
+
+"What for?" said Jemmy, who was steadily pulling homeward.
+
+"Oh, what an obstinate chap you are, Jemmy!  Look there; Tally's on
+deck."
+
+"Ck!" ejaculated the man, this being meant for a derisive laugh.  "Why
+don't you say she's having a ride in the Saxham coach."
+
+"I tell you she is.  They've got her there, and the sailors are trying
+to milk her."
+
+"Then I wish 'em luck," said Jemmy.  "There's only one man as can milk
+Tally, and that's me."
+
+"Turn the boat's head, and let's go for her."
+
+"Ck!" ejaculated Jemmy again.  "What a one you are to joke, Ram Shackle;
+but it won't do this mornin'.  I'm burst up with sleep."
+
+"Open your stupid eyes, and look for once.  I tell you they've got Tally
+on the deck of the cutter."
+
+"And I tell you, you young Ram Shackle, I'm too sleepy to see fun
+anywhere.  Won't do, my lad--won't do."
+
+Ram jumped up, stepped over the thwart, seized the man's head, and
+screwed it round toward the cutter, where the scene previously described
+was plain in the sunshine.
+
+"Well!" ejaculated Jemmy, "so she be."
+
+"Why couldn't you believe me before, when I told you?"
+
+"Thought you was gammoning me, my lad!"
+
+"There, row away!" cried Ram; and as soon as they were well within
+hearing he answered the hail, and next shouted--
+
+"I've come after our cow."
+
+"Very undignified proceeding, Mr Raystoke," said the lieutenant, busily
+walking up and down as the boat with Ram in it was being rowed
+alongside.  "It all comes of being appointed to a wretched, little
+cobble boat like this, and sent on smuggling duty.  If I--if we had been
+aboard a frigate, or even a sloop-of-war, we shouldn't have had such an
+affair as this.  Why, confound that boy's impudence, he has jumped on
+board.  Go and speak to him; order him off; pitch him overboard;
+anything.  How dare he!"
+
+Archy drew himself up, laid one hand upon his dirk, and strutted up to
+Ram, looking "as big as a small ossifer," as Dirty Dick said afterwards;
+and gave him a smart slap on the shoulder as he was going after the cow.
+
+"Here, you sir!" cried Archy, as the boy faced round.  "What do you mean
+by coming aboard one of His Majesty's ships like that?"
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"Touch your hat, sir, when an officer speaks to you."
+
+"Touch my hat to you like I do to Sir Risdon?"
+
+"Like you do to any gentleman, sir."
+
+"Oh, very well," said Ram giving one of his fair brown curls a tug, and
+showing his teeth.
+
+"That's better.  Now then, what do you want?"
+
+"Our Tally."
+
+"Your what?"
+
+"Our cow, Tally."
+
+"How do I know it's yours?"
+
+"Why, it is.  She must have walked over the cliff in the fog.  Was your
+cutter close under so as she fell on deck?"
+
+"Of course not, bumpkin," said Archy impatiently, as the men burst into
+a guffaw, and then looked horribly serious as if they had not smiled.
+"We saw her swimming and fetched her on board."
+
+"Thank ye," said Ram.  "I say, how am I to get her home?  Can you lend
+us a rope?"
+
+"Who are you, boy?" said the lieutenant, marching up.
+
+Ram faced round, stared at the officer's rather shabby uniform, and gave
+his curl another tug before pulling his red cap over his brow.
+
+"Ram Shackle, sir."
+
+"Is--is that your name, sir," said the lieutenant pompously, "or are you
+trying to get a laugh at my expense?"
+
+Ram stared.
+
+"Do you hear what I say, sir?"
+
+"Yes, but I dunno what you mean."
+
+"Here, my man, what's that boy's name?" cried the lieutenant to Jemmy
+Dadd in the boat.
+
+"Ram Shackle," said Jemmy gruffly.  "Christen Rammylees!"
+
+"And is this your cow?"
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"Then, you young rascal, how dare you come and claim it," cried the
+lieutenant wrathfully.
+
+"Because it's ours.  My father's; I didn't mean it was my own."
+
+"Can you give me some proof that it is yours?" said the lieutenant.
+
+"Eh!" exclaimed Ram, staring.
+
+"I say, show me that the cow is yours, and you shall have her."
+
+"Oh," cried Ram, and he ran to the side, unfastened the rope used as a
+halter for the patient beast, ran right forward, and began to call,
+"Tally, Tally!  Coosh-cow, coosh-cow!"
+
+The effect was magical, the cow turned sharply round, stretched out her
+nose so as to make her windpipe straight, and uttered a low soft lowing,
+as she walked straight forward to where Ram stood, thrust her nose under
+his arm, and stood swinging her tail to and fro.
+
+"Mr Raystoke!"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" said Archy, going aft and saluting.
+
+"It seems to be their cow; let them take it ashore."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!"
+
+"Stop.  Bring the boy here," said the lieutenant.
+
+Archy marched forward.
+
+"Come here, boy," he said importantly; and Ram followed him to where the
+little fat officer stood near the helm, frowning.
+
+"Now, sir," said the lieutenant, "I want you to answer me a few
+questions.  What is your name--no, no, stop, you told me before.  Where
+do you live?"
+
+"Yonder, at the farm."
+
+"Oh!  At the farm.  Look here, boy, did you ever hear of smugglers?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Did you ever hear of smugglers?"
+
+"Yes, lots o' times," said Ram glibly.  "They're chaps that goes across
+to France and foreign countries, and brings shipfuls o' things over
+here."
+
+"Yes, that's right.  Ever seen any about here?"
+
+"Well," said Ram, taking off his red cap, and scratching his curly head,
+"I dessay I have.  Father says you never know who may be a smuggler:
+they're all like any one else."
+
+"Humph!  Know where they land their cargoes?"
+
+"Oh, yes; I've heard tell as they land 'em all along the cliff here."
+
+"Bah!  Impossible," shouted the lieutenant.
+
+"Is it, sir?" said Ram vacantly.  "My father said it was true."
+
+"Seen any smugglers' craft about during the last few days?"
+
+"No, sir; not one," cried the boy with perfect truth.
+
+"That will do, boy.  Mr Raystoke let him take his cow and go."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!"
+
+"Then get the gig alongside, and we'll explore round more of the coast
+close in."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!  Now, boy, this way."
+
+Ram looked vacantly about him, but there was a very keen twinkle about
+his eyes, as he followed Archy forward to where the cow stood blinking
+her eyes, and swinging her tail amongst the men.
+
+"I say," he said.
+
+"Did you speak to me, sir?" cried Archy, facing round, and frowning.
+
+"Yes.  Is that little sword sharp?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Pull it out, and let's have a look."
+
+Archy frowned.
+
+"Take your cow and go," he said.  "She is a miserable thing without a
+drop of milk in her."
+
+"What?" cried Ram, with his face becoming animated.  Then he shouted to
+the man in the boat, "Hi!  Jemmy, he says Tally's got no milk in her."
+
+"How do he know?" cried Jem scornfully.
+
+"Why, I tried ever so long," said Dick, who could not refrain from
+joining in.
+
+"Ck!" laughed Jemmy.
+
+"Why, she's our best cow," cried Ram.  "I say skipper."
+
+"Here, you mustn't speak to an officer like that," whispered Archy.
+
+"What does the boy want?" said the plump little lieutenant, marching
+forward.
+
+"On'y want our cow."
+
+"Then take her, sir, and go!"
+
+"Have a drop of milk?"
+
+"No," said the lieutenant, turning his back.  "Perhaps Mr Raystoke here
+might like a little.  Can you milk?"
+
+"I can't," said Ram, shaking his head.  "He can.  Here, Jemmy, take hold
+of the painter and come aboard."
+
+"Stop!" cried the lieutenant, "you must not speak like that.  You must
+ask leave, sir."
+
+"Ask who?" said Ram, vacantly.
+
+"Touch your cap, and ask the lieutenant to let you."
+
+"Why, I have touched it twice.  Want me to pull my hair off?  I say,
+skipper, if you'll let him come aboard--oh!  He is aboard now,"--for
+Jemmy was already making the boat fast--"Here, give me a clean pail."
+
+The little commander of the cutter tried to look important, and Archy
+more so, but they forgot everything disciplinarian the next moment, in
+the interest of the proceedings, as Jemmy Dadd took the bucket handed to
+him, turned another up beside the side of the cow, and as he was sitting
+down, Dirty Dick dug his elbows into his messmates' ribs right and left,
+whispered "Look out!  And over he goes."  Then he drew in a long breath,
+ready for a roar of laughter when the bucket went flying, and stood
+staring waiting to explode.
+
+But, to Dick's great disappointment, Tally uttered a soft low, and began
+to swing her tail gently round, so as to give Jemmy a pat on the back.
+At regular intervals there was a whishing noise, then another whishing
+noise half a tone lower, then _whish_--_whosh_--_whish_--_whosh_, two
+streams of rich new milk began to pour into the bucket, whose bottom was
+soon covered, and a white froth began to appear on the top.
+
+"I say!" cried Dick eagerly, "shall I lash her legs?"
+
+"What for?" growled Jemmy.
+
+"'Cause she'll kick it over directly."
+
+"Not she.  You wouldn't kick it over, would you, Tally, old cow?"
+
+The cow waved her tail and whisked it about the man's neck as the
+milking went on, to the delight of the men, who began to see biscuit and
+milk in prospect, while the two officers, who were none the less eager
+for a draught as a change from their miserable ordinary fare, veiled
+their expectations under a severe aspect of importance.
+
+"Here you are," said Jemmy, drawing back at last--while Dick seemed to
+be watching, in a state of agony, lest a kick should upset the soft
+white contents of the bucket--"More'n a gallon this time.  How much are
+we to leave aboard?"
+
+"All of it," said Ram generously; "they deserve it for saving the cow.
+I say, you," he continued, turning to Archy, "what do you say to her
+now?"
+
+"Thank you," replied Archy.  "Here, Dick, take that bucket aft, and you,
+my lads, open the side there, and help them to get the cow overboard."
+
+"Thank ye, sir," said Ram, smiling.  "I say, Jemmy, she'd stand in the
+boat, wouldn't she?  Or would she put her feet through?"
+
+"Let's try," was the laconic reply, and taking hold of the rope that had
+been used as a halter, the man stepped down into the boat, the cow,
+after a little coaxing, following, without putting her feet through, and
+showing great activity for so clumsy-looking a beast.  Ram followed, and
+took one of the oars, settled down behind Jemmy, and the next minute,
+with the whole crew of the cutter standing grinning at the side, they
+began to row shoreward.
+
+"How about the tide, Jemmy?" said Ram, when they had been rowing a few
+minutes, with the cow standing placidly in the boat.
+
+"Too high, can't do it," said the man.
+
+"Let's row to the ledge then, and land there till the tide goes down."
+
+"Right," said Jemmy, and they bore off a little to the east, made
+straight for the shelf of rock, which was just awash; and as they rowed,
+they saw the lieutenant and the midshipman enter the light gig, four men
+dropped their oars in the water, and with the drops flashing from the
+blades, the gig came swiftly after them.
+
+"Why, they're coming here too, Jemmy," said Ram, as they reached the
+ledge, and leaped on to the ammonite-studded stone, over which the water
+glided and then ran back.
+
+"Well, let 'em," said Jemmy, following suit with the painter, the cow
+standing contentedly with her eyes half-closed.  "Don't matter to us,
+lad, so long as they didn't come last night."
+
+They made fast the hawser to an iron stanchion, one of several dotted
+about and pretty well hidden by the water, climbed up on the rock, and
+sat down in the warm sunshine to wait for the turn of the tide, while
+after a pull in one direction, the gig's course was altered, and they
+saw its course changed again.
+
+"I liked that chap," said Ram, as he gazed across a few hundred yards of
+smooth water, at where Archy sat in his uniform, steering.
+
+"What are they up to?" said Jemmy, shading his eyes.  Then quite
+excitedly, "Say, lad, lookye yonder," he whispered.
+
+"I was looking," cried Ram excitedly; "they've picked up a brandy keg."
+
+There was no denying the fact; and as the dripping little barrel was
+placed by one of the men in the fore part of the gig, the others gave
+way, and the light vessel came rapidly now toward the ledge.
+
+Archy was shading his eyes just then, and pointing out something to the
+lieutenant a little to the left of where Ram and his companion were
+seated, and the boy's eyes, trained by his nefarious habits, gazed
+sharply in search of danger or criminating evidence, in the direction
+the midshipman pointed.
+
+A chill of horror ran through him, for there, with the wash of the tide
+half covering and then leaving them bare, were two more brandy kegs,
+which had been missed the previous night during the fog.
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated Ram, as in imagination he saw the well-filled vault,
+and the crew of the cutter being marched up to make a seizure, and
+arrest his father perhaps.
+
+If he could but get away and give the alarm!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+"Get away, and give the alarm?"
+
+How could we?
+
+There was no rope and pulley up on the cliff now, and the boat was
+occupied by the cow; while, even if it had been empty, it would have
+meant a six mile row to reach a landing-place at that time of the tide,
+and an eight miles' walk back.
+
+And here was the cutter's gig close to them, and the lieutenant ready to
+ask him the meaning of the smuggled spirits being there.
+
+For there was no mistaking the fact that the kegs were full of smuggled
+spirit.  The one the king's men had dragged dripping from the sea, bore
+certain unmistakable markings, and it was evidently brother to those on
+the rock.
+
+Ram and Jemmy had no time for thinking; the gig was run quickly up
+alongside of the ledge, and Dick tossed in his oar, sprang out, sending
+the clear water splashing with his bare feet, as he crossed up to the
+kegs, and, taking one under each arm, went more slowly and cautiously
+back to the boat, where his messmates took them carefully, with many a
+chuckle and grin, to deposit them beside the others.
+
+"Now, my lad, run her alongside of the cow--I mean of the other boat,"
+cried the lieutenant.
+
+This was quickly done, and the little officer turned sharply to where
+Ram and Jemmy Dadd were seated on the rock, looking on as stolidly as if
+nothing whatever was coming.
+
+"Hi!  You, sir; come here!" cried the lieutenant.
+
+"Me, or him?" replied Ram coolly.
+
+"You, sir."
+
+Ram got up, whistled softly, and went down to the boat.
+
+"Want some more milk?" he said, with a grin.
+
+"Silence, sir!  Do you see those?"
+
+"What, them tubs?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Not till you got 'em.  Wish I had!"
+
+"I dare say you do, sir.  Now, then: how did they come there?"
+
+"Why, your chaps put 'em there.  I see 'em just now."
+
+"No, no; I mean in the sea and on that rock."
+
+"Come there?" said Ram, with a vacant look.
+
+"Yes, sir!  How did they come there?  Now, no trifling; out with it at
+once."
+
+"Been a wreck, p'r'aps, and they're washed up."
+
+"Bah!" cried the lieutenant.
+
+"Ah, you may say `Bah!' but they might.  Why, there was a big ship's
+boat and a jib-boom washed up here one day; warn't there, Jem?"
+
+"Yes," growled the rough-looking fellow, half-fisherman half
+farm-labourer.  "And don't you 'member the big tub o' sugar, as was all
+soaked with water, till she was like treacle?"
+
+"Ay, and the--"
+
+"That will do--that will do!" cried the lieutenant.
+
+"Washed up, eh?  What's in those kegs?"
+
+"I know," cried Ram, showing his teeth, and looking at Archy.  "Full o'
+hoysters!  Give us one!"
+
+"Come, sir; this won't do for me.  You know as well as I do what's in
+those kegs.  Where are the rest?"
+
+"Rest?" said Ram, looking round.  "Are there any more of 'em?"
+
+"Yes, I'll be bound there are.  Now, then, out with it, if you want to
+save your skin."
+
+"Skin?  That's what father said this morning about the cow; but she
+wasn't drowned."
+
+"Look here, boy.  All this sham innocency won't do for me.  Now, then,
+if you will tell me where the other kegs are, you shall have a reward;
+if you don't, you'll go to prison as sure as you're there.  Jump ashore,
+two of you, and arrest them before they run."
+
+Ram turned, and stared at Jemmy Dadd with an ill-used countenance.
+
+"What does he mean, Jemmy?"
+
+The man shook his head.
+
+"Do you know where the other little barrels are?"
+
+"Wish I did," grumbled Jemmy.  "Say, master, what would you give a man
+if he showed you where they were?"
+
+"Ten guineas; perhaps twenty," said the lieutenant eagerly.
+
+"Ten guineas!  Twenty pounds!" said Jemmy, taking off his red worsted
+cap, and rubbing his head.  "My!  Was they your'n?  Did you lose 'em?"
+
+"No," roared the lieutenant; "it's plain enough, and you know.  A cargo
+has been run here on this ledge.  Now, then; it's no use to try and hide
+it.  You know where it is; so will you gain a reward by giving evidence,
+or will you go to prison?"
+
+Jemmy shook his head, and gave Ram a puzzled look.
+
+"We came after our cow, sir, please," said the latter, looking up at the
+sailor, who stood with a hand upon his arm, while Jemmy did the same.
+
+"Here, boy!" cried the lieutenant.  "You know what a lot of money ten
+guineas would be?"
+
+"Yes," said Ram grinning.
+
+"Why, you could buy yourself a watch and chain, and be doing your duty
+to the king as well.  Come, did you see a French boat down here last
+night?"
+
+"No," said Ram.  "It was so foggy."
+
+"You are playing with me, sir.  Now then, will you answer?"
+
+"I did answer," said Ram meekly.  "Didn't I, Jemmy?"
+
+"Jump ashore, you two," said the lieutenant, "and have a good search all
+among those rocks.  The cargo's there for certain.  You two others," he
+continued, "draw cutlasses, and keep guard over the prisoners."
+
+His orders were obeyed, and the two men stood by guarding Ram, Jemmy,
+and the cow, who blinked her eyes and smelt at the sea water from time
+to time, raised her head and uttered a soft low, which was answered from
+the green top of the cliff two hundred feet above them, where another
+cow stood gazing down.
+
+The lieutenant and Archy stood up in the boat watching and directing as
+Dick and his companion searched about in all directions along the lower
+ledge, and then managed to climb up to the one twenty feet above, where
+the next minute Dick gave a shout.
+
+"Hah!" cried the lieutenant joyfully.  "He has found them."
+
+Ram shut one of his eyes at Jemmy, who made a rumbling noise, but his
+face did not change.
+
+"What is it, my lad?"
+
+"Cave," cried Dick.
+
+"What's in it?"
+
+"Lobster-pots and old sail.  All wore out."
+
+"Nothing else?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"You go and look."
+
+The second man disappeared, but returned directly.
+
+"It's on'y a bit of a hole, sir, and there's nothin' else."
+
+The search was continued and ended, for the ledge was shut in by the
+mighty wall of rock towering above their heads, and the lieutenant was
+soon convinced that it was impossible for any one to climb that without
+tackle from above.
+
+"Come back aboard," he said.  "You two stop and guard those prisoners."
+
+The sailors stepped back into the boat and resumed their oars, to row
+steadily east for about half a mile, past several shallow caves, but
+they could not see one likely to become a hiding-place for smuggled
+goods, and the rock rose higher and higher above their heads, precluding
+all ascent.
+
+The boat was rowed quickly back past where the prisoners sat contentedly
+enough; save the cow, which kept making the great rock wall echo with
+her lowings, while three more of her kind now stood on high, gazing down
+at her plight.
+
+The lieutenant now had himself rowed west for about the same distance,
+but in this direction they did not pass a crack in the great rock wall,
+let alone a cave, and once more the gig was rowed back.
+
+"Get back into your boat," said the little officer sharply.
+
+"Thank ye, sir," cried Ram.  "Come along, Jemmy.  Find your little
+barrels?"
+
+"Come aboard, my lads," continued the lieutenant, without replying to
+the question.  "Make fast her painter to the ring-bolt here."
+
+This was done, a fresh order given, and, with the rough boat and cow in
+tow, the gig began to make slowly for the cutter.
+
+Ram bent his head down in the boat.
+
+"Hist, Jemmy!" he whispered.
+
+"Hallo!"
+
+"Shall we jump over and swim ashore?"
+
+"Nay; what's the good?--they'd come arter us, and there's no getting
+away."
+
+"I say," shouted Ram, "what are you going to do?"
+
+Archy turned to the lieutenant.
+
+"Take no notice.  A day or two aboard will make him speak."
+
+"The cow wants turning out to grass," shouted Ram; but no heed being
+paid to his words, "Oh, very well," he said, "I don't care.  She'll die,
+and you'll have to pay for her.  I wish my father knew."
+
+He need not have troubled himself to wish, for Farmer Shackle was lying
+down, hidden behind some stones on the top of the cliff, watching what
+was going on, with his brow rugged.  He had heard enough of the
+conversation, after being attracted to the place by the action of his
+cows, to know that the kegs had been discovered, and he smiled as he
+made out that his boy and man were quite staunch, and would not say a
+word.
+
+"Won't get anything out o' them," he muttered, as he watched the
+returning boats.  "Shall I tell old Graeme?  No; that would only scare
+him.  They'll land a party, and come and search; but they won't dare to
+go to the Hoze, so I'll leave the stuff there and chance it."
+
+Having made up his mind to this, he lay behind the stones watching till
+he had seen Ram, Jemmy, and the cow on board the cutter and the boats
+made fast; after which, as he could see that the lieutenant was busy
+with his glass, he waited his opportunity, got a cow between him and the
+sea, and then with raised stick began to drive the cattle from the
+neighbourhood of the precipice, his action seeming perfectly natural,
+and raising no suspicion in the officer's breast.
+
+Farmer Shackle was quite right, for it was not long before a boat,
+well-filled with men, under the command of the midshipman and the
+master, put off from the cutter, and began to row west to the little
+cove, through whose narrow entrance a boat could pass to lie on the
+surface of a cup-shaped depression, at whose head a limpid stream of
+water gurgled over the cleanly-washed shingle below the great chalk
+cliffs.
+
+Shackle saw them go, and, guessing their destination, chuckled; for in
+their ignorance the search party were going to make a journey of twelve
+or fourteen miles round each way, when any one accustomed to the place
+would have made the trip in less than two.
+
+"Well, let 'em go," said Shackle; "but if they do find out, I'd better
+have my two boats out at sea," and he thought of his luggers lying in
+the little cup-like cove.  "Nay there's no hurry; people won't be too
+eager to tell 'em whose boats they are, and I might want to get away."
+
+He remained thinking about his son for a few minutes and then his
+countenance lightened.
+
+"Tchah!" he said; "they won't eat him, and they can't do anything but
+keep him.  They've found three kegs--that's all.  Wish I'd been behind
+the man who forgot 'em!  He wouldn't forget that in a hurry."
+
+Farmer Shackle went home, and was saluted by the question--
+
+"Found my Tally?"
+
+"Yes, wife."
+
+"Drowned?"
+
+"No; all right."
+
+That was sufficient for Mrs Shackle, who had some butter to make.
+
+Meanwhile the boat containing Archy Raystoke and Gurr the master, with
+her crew, was rowed steadily along under the cliffs, the deep water
+being close up.  It was a hot day and hard work, but the men pulled away
+cheerfully, for a run ashore was a change.
+
+The opening into the cove was reached, and the boat run ashore, and one
+man being left as keeper, the little well-armed party of a dozen men
+were marched off along the narrow road toward the Hoze.
+
+Archy was in the highest of spirits, and meant to search everywhere in
+the neighbourhood of the ledge, so as to cover himself with glory in the
+eyes of his superior officer.  Old Gurr the master, who had been turned
+over to the cutter for two reasons, that he was a good officer and a man
+with a bad temper, found no pleasure in the walk whatever.
+
+Now he grumbled about his corns, and said he never saw such a road;
+worse than an old sea beach.  Then he limped with the pain of an old
+wound; and lastly, he forgot all about his troubles in the solace he
+found in a huge quid of tobacco, with whose juice he plentifully
+besprinkled the leaves of the brambles that were spread on either side.
+
+The men tramped on, exciting the interest of the people of the little
+villages that were passed--clusters of white rough stone houses by the
+roadside, whose occupants looked innocence itself, but there was hardly
+one among them who could not have told tales about busy work on dark
+nights, carrying kegs and bales, or packages of tobacco from the cliff,
+to some hiding-place in barn or cave.
+
+Old Gurr knew that, and he winked solemnly at the young midshipman.
+
+"Nice chickens, Mr Raystoke," he said.
+
+"Where, Gurr?" cried Archy, who was growing fast, and wanted material to
+help nature.  "Let's get some eggs to take back."
+
+"Eggs!" grumbled the weather-beaten officer; "I didn't mean fowls, I
+meant people."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Eggs, indeed!  Their eggs is kegs o' brandy.  Right Nantes; Hollands
+gin.  I know them.  They're all in the game.  Keep on, my lads.  Step
+together like the sogers do.  This here road's not the cutter's deck."
+
+The last order was not needed, for the men marched on cheerfully and
+well, till they had passed on the inner side of the high cliff where Ram
+had displayed his lanthorns, and following the rough road, came at last
+to the scattered cottages occupied by Shackle's men, and those who had
+once been servants at the Hoze, before it had sunk down in the world,
+consequent upon its master's having espoused the wrong side, and its
+servants were reduced to one old woman.
+
+As they reached the tiny hamlet, a short conference was held between
+Archy and the master, the latter, in a surly way, giving the lad a few
+hints as to his proceedings, every suggestion, though, being full of
+common sense.
+
+"We've no right to go searching their places, Mr Raystoke, but I shall
+make a mistake.  They won't complain.  They daren't."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Hands are too dirty; if not with this job, with some other."
+
+So they halted the men, posted one at each end of the little place, so
+as to command a good view of any one attempting to carry off contraband
+goods, and went from house to house, the people readily submitting to
+the intrusion and search, which in each case was without result.
+
+Every one of the cottages being tried, the men were marched down hill
+after Archy, and stood for a few moments gazing out over the cliff, to
+where the cutter lay at anchor, with the farmer's boat trailing out
+astern, and the air so clear that he could even see the cow tethered to
+a belaying pin, just in front of the mast.
+
+Five minutes after they came upon Fisherman-farmer Shackle himself,
+leaning over his gate and smoking a pipe, as he apparently contemplated
+a pig, and wondered whether he ought to make it fatter than it was.
+
+"Mornin', gentlemen," he said, as Archy and the master came up, and
+halted their men.
+
+"Good morning," said Archy shortly.  "Stand aside, please; we must
+search all your places."
+
+"Search my places, squire--capt'n, I mean?  He aren't here."
+
+"Who is not here?  Are not you the master?"
+
+"Ay, my lad, but I mean him you're searching for.  Hi!  Missus!"
+
+"Yes," came from within, and Mrs Shackle appeared wiping her hands.
+
+"Ain't seen a deserter, missus, have you?  Capt'n here has lost one of
+his men."
+
+"If you'll let me speak, I'll explain," said Archy sharply.  "A cargo of
+contraband goods was landed on the rocks below the cliff last night,
+and--"
+
+"You don't say so, master!" said Shackle earnestly.
+
+"I do say so," cried Archy; "and you are suspected of having them
+concealed here."
+
+"Me!" cried Shackle, bursting into a roar of laughter.  "Me, Mr
+Orficer?  Do you know what I am?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Why, I'm a farmer.  Hi, missus, hear him!  Young gent here thinks I'm a
+smuggler.  That is a good un, and no mistake."
+
+Archy was taken aback for the moment, but he caught the eye of the
+master, who was too old over the business to be easily hoodwinked.
+
+"The young gentleman's made quite a mistake," said Mrs Shackle
+demurely.  "P'r'aps he'd like a mug of our mead before he goes, and his
+men a drop of home-brewed."
+
+"Ay, to be sure," cried Shackle.  "Put out the bread and cheese, missus,
+and I'll go and draw a drink or two.  You'll take something too, won't
+you, master?"
+
+"Yes; don't mind," said Gurr, "but I'd rather take a tot o' right Nantes
+or Hollands."
+
+"Ay, so would I," said Shackle, with a laugh, as his wife began to
+bustle about and get knives and plates; "but you've come to the wrong
+place, master.  I have heared o' people getting a drop from 'em, after
+they've used their horses and carts, but that's never been my luck; has
+it, missus?"
+
+"No, never," said Mrs Shackle; and to herself,--"That's quite true."
+
+"You are very hospitable," said Archy shortly; "but I've got my duty to
+do, sir.  It's an unpleasant one, that we must search your place for
+contraband goods."
+
+"Sarch?  Oh, I give you my word, squire, there's nothing here."
+
+"We must see about that."
+
+"Well, this here arn't werry pleasant, Mr Orficer, seeing as I'm a
+reg'lar loyal servant of the king.  But theer, I don't mind if my missus
+don't object.  You won't mind, old gal, so long as they don't rip open
+the beds and chuck the furniture all over the place?"
+
+"I should like to see any of them doing it, that's all," cried Mrs
+Shackle, ruffling up like a great Dorking hen who saw a hawk.
+
+"Nothing about the place shall be injured, madam," said Archy politely;
+"but we must search."
+
+"Oh, very well then," said Mrs Shackle; "but I must say it's very
+rude."
+
+"Pray, forgive us," said Archy, raising his hat; "we are His Majesty's
+servants, and we do it in the king's name."
+
+Mrs Shackle responded with her best curtsey, and a smile came back in
+her face as the farmer said,--
+
+"It's all right, missus; they're obliged to do it.  Where will you begin
+first--what are you sarching for?"
+
+"Brandy," said Archy.
+
+"Oh, then, down in the cellar's the place," said Shackle, laughing, and
+taking three mugs from where his wife had placed them.  "If it had been
+for silks and laces, I should have said go upstairs."
+
+He led the way to a door at the top of some stone steps.
+
+"One moment," said Archy, and, giving orders to the men to separate,
+surround the premises, and search the outbuildings, then stationing two
+more at the doors, and taking one, Gurr, to search upstairs, he followed
+the farmer into a fairly spacious stone cellar, where there was a cider
+barrel in company with two of ale, and little kegs of elder wine and
+mead.
+
+"Sarch away, squire," said Shackle bluffly, as he placed the mugs on the
+floor and turned the wooden spigots.
+
+"That's elder wine in the little barrel.  Say, you haven't seen anything
+of a boy of mine in your travels?  My lad and one of the men have gone
+after a stray cow.  I'm fear'd she's gone over the cliff."
+
+"They're all on board the cutter."
+
+"What?  Well, that is good news.  Full up here.  Done sarching, sir?"
+
+"Yes," replied Archy, who began to feel more and more ashamed of being
+suspicious of so frank and bluffly hospitable a man.
+
+"Come along then.  Your lads will be as pleased as can be with a mug of
+my home-brewed."
+
+As he led the way to the door the midshipman gave another glance round,
+seeing nothing in the slightest degree suspicious, and, a few minutes
+after, the whole party was being refreshed, both officers quite
+convinced that there was nothing contraband on the premises.
+
+"What other houses are there near here?" asked Gurr at last.
+
+"Only one.  The Hoze."
+
+"The Hoze?"
+
+"Yes; Sir Risdon Graeme's.  Yonder among the trees.  Going up there?"
+
+"Yes, of course," said Archy shortly.
+
+"Yes, of course," said the farmer, in assent.  "But I'd be a bit easy
+with him, sir.  Don't hurt his feelings.  Gentleman, you see."
+
+"Don't be alarmed," said the midshipman quietly.  "I hope we shall not
+be rude to any one."
+
+He moved towards the door, after saluting Mrs Shackle, the farmer
+leading the way, and pointing out the nearest path up the steep slope.
+
+"'Bout my cow," he said.
+
+"I have no doubt that as soon as the lieutenant in command is satisfied
+that you had nothing to do with the smuggling, your people will be set
+at liberty."
+
+"And the cow?"
+
+"And the cow of course."
+
+"Thank ye, sir; that's good news.  I'll go and tell the missus.
+Straight on, sir; you can't miss it."
+
+"Ah, my fine fellow," he continued, as he walked back, "if it hadn't
+been for your gang with you, how easily I could have turned the key and
+kept you down in that cellar, where I wish I had your skipper too."
+
+"Oh, Blenheim!" said his wife, in an excited whisper, "how could you
+help them to go up to the Hoze?  They'll find out everything now."
+
+"P'r'aps not, missus.  I sent 'em, because if I hadn't they'd have found
+the way.  We may get off yet, and if we do--well, it won't be the first
+time; so, here's to luck."
+
+As he spoke he opened a corner cupboard, took out a bottle of spirits
+which had never paid duty, poured out and drank a glass.
+
+"Thank you," said a gruff voice.  "I think, if you don't mind, farmer,
+I'll have a little taste of that.  I came back to tell you that your
+cider is rather harsh and hard, not to say sour, and I'm a man
+accustomed to rum."
+
+As he spoke, Gurr the master stepped into the room, took the bottle from
+the farmer's hand, helped himself to a glass, and poured out and smelt
+the spirit.
+
+"I say, farmer," he said, as he tasted, "this is the right sort or the
+wrong sort, according to which side you are."
+
+"Only a little drop given me by a friend."
+
+"French friend, for any money," said the master, drinking the glass.
+"Yes, that's right Nantes.  I thought so from the first, farmer, and I
+know now I was right."
+
+He went off again, and Shackle stood shaking his fist after him.
+
+"And we'd got off so well," he muttered.  "I knew that rascal suspected
+us."
+
+"Say me, Blenheim," retorted Mrs Shackle.  "I've begged you hundreds of
+times not to meddle with the business, but you would, and I'm your wife
+and obliged to obey.  Isn't Ram a long time bringing home that cow?"
+
+"Yes," said Shackle drily.  "Very."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+Archy was some little distance ahead of his men, and he had just stepped
+into the patch of woodland which surrounded the Hoze, when he heard a
+pleasant little voice singing a snatch of a Jacobite song.
+
+He stopped short to listen, it sounded so bird-like and sweet, and
+half-laughingly he sang the last line over aloud, thinking the while how
+disloyal he was.
+
+Hardly had he finished, when there was a burst of barking, a rush, and a
+dog came hurrying toward him, followed by a voice crying--
+
+"Grip, Grip, come here!"
+
+The dog seemed to pay no heed to the call, and at a turn of the track,
+Archy saw him coming open-mouthed.
+
+It was not a pleasant sight, and the youth felt disposed to take to his
+heels, and run for protection to his men.
+
+But there were drawbacks to such a proceeding.
+
+If he ran it would look cowardly, and he knew for certain that the dog
+would come after him, and take him at a disadvantage; so, making a
+virtue of necessity, he whipped out his dirk and ran hard at the dog,
+who checked his pace, hesitated, stopped, barked more furiously than
+ever, and then turned round, and was chased by the midshipman, who drew
+up on finding himself face to face with Sir Risdon's daughter, out for
+her daily walk.
+
+The girl turned white, and was in the act of turning to run away, when
+Archy's words arrested her.
+
+"No, no," he cried, "don't run away."
+
+She stopped, and looked from his face to his dirk, and back.
+
+"Oh, I see," he said, "that alarmed you.  There," he continued,
+sheathing the little weapon, "I only drew it because your dog looked so
+fierce.  Does he bite?"
+
+"Sometimes, I'm afraid.  But were you coming to see my father?  Who are
+you?" she added uneasily, as she glanced at the lad's uniform.
+
+"I am Archibald Raystoke, of His Majesty's cutter _White Hawk_."
+
+"And you want to see my father?" cried the girl, beginning to tremble.
+
+"Well, yes, I ought to see him.  The fact is, we have landed to search
+for a quantity of smuggled things, and to make a capture of the
+smugglers if we can."
+
+Celia looked at him wildly, and her face grew more and more white.
+
+"Will you show me the way to the house?  The Hoze you call it, do you
+not?"
+
+Celia gave a quick, almost imperceptible nod, as she recalled how she
+had lain in her clothes, and listened to the busy coming and going of
+footsteps, for the greater part of the night.
+
+As all this came to her mind, she felt at first as if she must run to
+warn her father.  Then a giddy feeling of dread came over her, and she
+stood staring blankly at the frank-looking boy before her.
+
+"I know the great vault is full of smuggled things," she said to
+herself, "and that they will think my father put them there.  What shall
+I do?"
+
+"Poor little lassie!" said Archy to himself, as he smiled complacently;
+"she has never seen an officer in uniform before, and I frightened her
+with my drawn sword."
+
+At that moment, Gurr came up with the men, and Celia seemed as if turned
+to stone.
+
+"This young lady lives at the house, Mr Gurr," said Archy aloud, "and
+she will show us the way."
+
+Poor Celia felt as if she could neither move nor speak.  It seemed
+horrible to her that she should have the task of guiding the king's men,
+perhaps to arrest her father.  But just then she was brought to herself
+by the behaviour of the dog, who, on seeing his mistress talking in a
+friendly way to the stranger who had chased him, had condescended to be
+quiet, but now that a fresh party of the enemy was approaching, set up
+his bristles, and began to bark and growl furiously.
+
+"Down, Grip!  Quiet!" she cried, and feeling bound to act, she went on,
+with the midshipman keeping close up, and putting in an apologetic word
+about giving her so much trouble.
+
+Celia could hardly keep down a hysterical cry, as she caught sight of
+her father and mother, the latter with her hand upon the former's arm.
+They had been taking their customary walk in the neglected garden, and
+Sir Risdon was about to lead his pale, careworn lady up the steps, when
+the snarling and subdued barking of Grip made him turn his head, and he
+stopped short with his lips almost white.
+
+"What is it?" whispered Lady Graeme, as she saw the uniforms and weapons
+of the men.
+
+"The end!" said the unhappy man, as he looked wildly at his wife.  "The
+result of my weakness.  They are on the scent of the smuggled goods, and
+I am to be called to account for their possession.  Better that we had
+starved!"
+
+Lady Graeme caught his hand, and pressed it hard.
+
+"Be firm," she whispered; "you will betray yourself."
+
+"Well," he replied bitterly, "why not?  Better so than being the slave
+of that wretched man.  I feel that I am worse than he.  I do know
+better, he does not."
+
+Recalling that he was in the presence of a gentleman, Archy raised his
+hat, advanced and said, apologetically, who and what they were.  That
+his was a very unpleasant duty, but that as a gentleman, Sir Risdon
+would see that the king's officers had no alternative but to carry out
+their duty.
+
+"Of course not, sir," said Sir Risdon.  "I understand, sir, you wish to
+search.  Very well, I shall raise no objection.  Proceed."
+
+"Shall we close the men all round the house?" said the master, coming up
+after halting the men.
+
+"Wait a minute," replied Archy.  "Really, I hardly think it is necessary
+for us to commit so serious an act of rudeness towards a gentleman.
+Perhaps Sir Risdon Graeme will be good enough to assure me."
+
+"No, sir," said the baronet sternly; "I shall make no obstacle.  You
+have your duty to do; pray proceed."
+
+The midshipman hesitated, and looked from one to the other, seeing Lady
+Graeme standing pale, handsome, and statuesque by her husband's side,
+while on the other side was Celia, holding her father's hand, and
+resting her forehead against his arm.
+
+"I won't do it, I can't," thought Archy.  "Why didn't he say out at once
+he had no knowledge of the affair, and send us about our business?"
+
+At that moment, he felt his sleeve plucked, and turning angrily round,
+he saw the elderly master, who had been standing hat in hand, greatly
+impressed by Lady Graeme's dignity.
+
+"We're on the wrong tack, Mr Raystoke, sir," he whispered.
+
+"Think so, Gurr?" said Archy joyfully.
+
+"Oh, yes!  These are not the sort o' folk to do that kind o' thing.
+Apologise, and I'll give the order to march.  It goes through me like a
+knife."
+
+Archy drew a long breath, and was about to retire his men, when he heard
+something which made him bound forward, for Celia, unable to bear the
+horror and alarm any longer had suddenly swooned away.
+
+The midshipman was too late, for Sir Risdon had bent down, raised his
+child, and was about to carry her into the house.
+
+He turned fiercely on the young officer.
+
+"Well, sir," he said sternly, "you have your duty to do; pray go on, and
+then relieve my wife and child of the presence of your men."
+
+"I beg your pardon, Sir Risdon," said Archy quickly.  "No one could
+regret this more than I do.  You see I am only a young officer, quite a
+boy, and was sent on this unpleasant duty."
+
+"Go on, sir, go on!"
+
+"Oh, no!" cried the lad; "I am unwilling to search the place.  I'm sure
+if our lieutenant knew he would not wish it for a moment."
+
+The baronet gazed at the boy wildly, as he clasped his child to his
+breast.
+
+"You--you are not going to search?" he said hesitatingly.
+
+"No, of course not.  Pray forgive me.  I'll lead my men back to the boat
+at once."
+
+He raised his hat to Lady Graeme, an example followed by the master
+clumsily, as he backed away to the men, whom he faced round, the order
+was given, and they began to march back.
+
+As they disappeared among the trees, Sir Risdon stooped down and kissed
+his child's forehead passionately.
+
+"Wife," he said, in a deep, husky voice, "I never felt the misery and
+degradation of my position so cruelly before.  Take her up to her room."
+
+"What are you going to do, Risdon?" exclaimed the lady.
+
+"Follow that poor lad, and let him know the truth.  I will not let him
+fail in his duty, to rescue that old scoundrel down below."
+
+"No, no!  You must not.  It would be too cruel," whispered Lady Graeme
+wildly.  "Think of the consequences."
+
+"I do," said Sir Risdon sternly.  "I should have behaved like what I
+have a right to be called--a gentleman."
+
+"And make our fortunes ten times worse.  You would be torn from us.
+What are poverty and disgrace to that?"
+
+"You are cruel," said Sir Risdon bitterly.  "I must, woman; I tell you I
+must.  If this poor child should ever know into what a pit I have
+allowed myself to be led, how can I ever look her in the face again?"
+
+"It would kill her for you to be taken away, to be punished, perhaps,
+for that which you could hardly help."
+
+"No, she would soon forget."
+
+"And I should soon forget?" said Lady Graeme reproachfully.
+
+Sir Risdon turned to her wildly, as she laid her head upon his breast.
+
+"If you were taken from us, it would kill me too," she said tenderly;
+and then in silence, they bore their insensible child into the
+forbidding-looking house.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+"Think we've done right, my lad?" said Gurr, after they had half way
+descended the slope.
+
+"Yes, of course.  How could we search the house of a gentleman like
+that?"
+
+"Oh, easy enough."
+
+"It was impossible."
+
+"But suppose, after all, he has got all the stuff hid away.  Some men's
+very artful, as you'll find out some day.  Oughtn't we to go back?"
+
+He paused as he said these words, and then laid his hand firmly on
+Archy's shoulder.
+
+"I didn't tell you," he said, "what I saw when I went back to the farm."
+
+"No!  What?" cried the midshipman eagerly.
+
+"That old chap having a glass of real smuggled spirits."
+
+"How do you know it was?"
+
+"Because I tasted it.  No mistake about that, I can tell you.  Then he
+was very eager to get me to go up yonder, and that looks bad.  He knows
+all about it."
+
+"Nonsense!  If he knew that the smuggled goods were up there he wouldn't
+send us to find them."
+
+"How do you know?  That may have been his artfulness, to keep us from
+searching.  If he'd as good as said don't go up there, and tried to stop
+us, we should have gone at once."
+
+"But we can't go back and search, Gurr.  Suppose we did go and ransacked
+the place, and hurt everybody's feelings, and then found nothing, what
+should we look like then?"
+
+"Silly," said the master laconically, and for a time he was silent,
+marching on behind the men.  "All comes of being sent on such dooty," he
+burst out with.  "It isn't right to send gentlemen and officers to do
+such dirty work.  I've been ashamed of myself ever since I've been on
+the cutter.  Hallo!  Here's the farmer again."
+
+For they had suddenly come upon Shackle driving an old grey horse before
+him as if going on some farming business, and he started apparently from
+a fit of musing as he came abreast.
+
+"Ah, gentlemen," he said; "going back?"
+
+"Yes," said Gurr smartly.
+
+"Found the stuff?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I say."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Are you sure there was anything landed there last night?"
+
+"Of course we are."
+
+"Oh, I didn't know.  Good day, gentlemen, good day."
+
+He went on after his horse chuckling to himself, while the search party
+made for the track to get back to the cove and row back.
+
+But before they were half way there, Archy who had been thinking deeply,
+suddenly said to Gurr--
+
+"I say, though, isn't he right?"
+
+"What about, my lad?"
+
+"Are we sure that a cargo was landed last night?"
+
+"Didn't you and the skipper find three kegs?"
+
+"Yes, but they might have been there a month ago."
+
+"Why, of course, my lad.  Here, let's go and tell the skipper so.  How I
+do hate being sent upon a wild-goose chase like this!"
+
+The rest of the journey to the cove was performed almost in silence;
+they then embarked, heartily tired with their walk, and ready enough to
+take the rest of the burden of their journey on their hands and arms by
+rowing steadily and well, the tide being in their favour.
+
+"Yes, I do hate these jobs," said the master after a long silence.  "See
+that the people was nodding and winking to one another as we went by
+their cottages?"
+
+"Yes, I did see something of the kind once or twice," replied Archy.
+
+"Laughing at us, and knowing we should find out nothing, while they knew
+all the time."
+
+The first thing plainly visible as the boat approached the cutter was
+the head of Tally gazing contemplatively at them over the side, as if
+anxious to know what news there was from home, and directly after Ram
+and Jemmy looked over in a quiet stolid way, as if not troubled in the
+least by the fact that they were prisoners.
+
+"Well, Mr Raystoke," cried the lieutenant, as the young midshipman
+sprang over the side; "found the cargo and left two men in charge, eh?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Tut--tut--tut!  What is the use of having you for my first officer.
+You ought to have searched everywhere, and found it."
+
+"We did search everywhere, sir, nearly, but didn't find it."
+
+"Oh!  What's that?  Nearly?  Then where didn't you search?"
+
+Archy told him and his reasons.
+
+"Humph!  Ha!  Well, I don't know: Government has no bowels of
+compassion, Mr Raystoke.  I'm afraid you ought to have searched the
+Gloves."
+
+"Hoze, sir, Hoze."
+
+"Oh well, gloves, hose, gloves, all the same; only one's for downstairs,
+the other up.  Stupid name for a place."
+
+"You think, then, I haven't done my duty, sir."
+
+"Yes, Mr Raystoke, as an officer I do; but as a gentleman I'm afraid I
+think I should have done just the same."
+
+"I'm very sorry, sir.  I wanted to do what is right."
+
+"And you let your amiability step in the way, sir.  That cargo must be
+run to earth."
+
+"But is it quite certain, sir, that there was a cargo run?"
+
+"My good fellow," cried the little lieutenant impatiently, "if you found
+a skin lying on the beach, wouldn't you feel sure that it had once had a
+sheep in it?"
+
+"Yes, sir, if it was a sheepskin."
+
+"Bah!  Don't try to chop logic here; go below and get something to eat,
+while I make up my mind what I shall do."
+
+Archy went into the cabin, not at all satisfied with the result of his
+run ashore, and he did not feel much better after his meal, when he went
+on deck just in time to find the lieutenant laying down the law to Ram
+and Jemmy Dadd.
+
+"There," he was saying, "take your cow and go ashore.  I'm not going to
+keep you prisoners, but the eye of the law is upon you, and this
+smuggling will be brought home to you both.  Be off!"
+
+"Shan't Jemmy milk the cow again before we go?" said Ram, with a grin,
+that might have been friendly or mocking.
+
+"No!" thundered the lieutenant.  "Here, Mr Gurr, see these smuggling
+scoundrels off the deck."
+
+This was soon done, the cow being easily got into the boat, and just as
+it was growing dark Ram stood up to push from the side.
+
+"I say," he cried again, addressing Archy, "is that thing sharp?"
+
+The midshipman did not condescend to answer, but stood gazing
+thoughtfully over the side, till the boat gradually seemed to die away
+in the faint mist of the coming night.
+
+"Well, Raystoke, what are you thinking?" said a voice behind him, and he
+started round.
+
+"I was just thinking of coming to you, sir."
+
+"Eh, what for?"
+
+"It seems to me, sir, that if that cargo was run, and is hidden anywhere
+near, they'll be moving it to-night."
+
+"Of course.  Raystoke, you'll be a great man some day.  I shouldn't have
+thought of that.  Well, what do you propose?"
+
+"To go ashore, and watch."
+
+"Of course.  My dear boy, if you can help me to capture a few of these
+wretched people, I shall get promoted to a better ship, and you shall
+come with me.  I won't rest till I am post-captain, and as soon as you
+can pass, you shall be my lieutenant.  There, select your crew and be
+off at once."
+
+"No, sir; that will not do.  They'll be on the watch, and if they see a
+boat's crew land, they'll do nothing to-night."
+
+"Then what do you propose?"
+
+"Don't laugh at me, sir, and call me stupid; but I've been thinking that
+if I could be set ashore, dressed as one of the boys, I might go about
+unnoticed.  And if they were moving the cargo, I could see where they
+took it, and then you could land the men."
+
+"Oh, you'll be an admiral before I shall, boy.  That's it; but will you
+do it?"
+
+"If you'll let me, sir."
+
+"Let you?  Here, Mr Gurr, help Mr Raystoke, and--stop though; I don't
+think I can let you go alone, my lad."
+
+"If I don't go alone, sir, it's of no use."
+
+"You are right.  Then we'll risk it; but if the smugglers kill you,
+don't come and blame me.  Have the boat ready, Mr Gurr.  Here,
+Raystoke, come down into the cabin at once."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+Half an hour after, a dirty-looking sailor lad slipped down into the
+boat, with his worsted cap pulled well down over his eyes, and an
+uncomfortable feeling about his chest, as he sat back in the
+stern-sheets by Gurr the master.
+
+"Lay your backs well into it, my lads," said the lieutenant, "and try
+and land him without being seen."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" came from the men, the boat began to surge through the
+still water, and the boy tried to shift the lion's head which formed the
+top of his dirk handle.
+
+This he had placed inside the breast of his woollen shirt, ready for use
+if wanted, but it promised to hurt him more than any enemy, and he
+wished he had left it on board.
+
+"No talking, lads," said the master, "and don't splash."
+
+The oars had been muffled, and they glided along through the faint mist,
+in a ghostly way, well in the shadow of the cliffs, Gurr keeping up a
+whispered conversation with the lad by his side.
+
+"It's no use to ask you 'bout where you are going first, sir," whispered
+the master, "because I suppose it will all be chance.  But you'll go up
+to the farm, eh?"
+
+"Yes, I shall go there."
+
+"And up to that big house?"
+
+Archy was silent.
+
+"Ah, well; it's your plan, and you must do what you think's best, only
+take care of yourself, and if they're after you, don't make for the sea,
+that's where they'll think you would go.  Make inland for the woods, and
+hide there."
+
+Archy nodded, and no more was said during the dark journey.  They were
+so close to the huge wall of rocks that it seemed as if they were alive
+with strange marine creatures, which kept on writhing and whispering
+together, and making gasping and sucking noises, as the tide heaved and
+sank among the loose rocks and seaweed, while Archy could not divest
+himself of the idea that they were watched by people keeping pace with
+them higher up on the top of the cliff.
+
+"Wonder whether those two have landed the cow by this time?" whispered
+Gurr, breaking in upon one of Archy's reveries, in which he saw himself
+following a band of smugglers laden with contraband goods.
+
+"I don't know," he replied.  "We must take care they do not see us."
+
+"Not likely on a dark night like this.  Won't be so foggy, though, as
+'twas last."
+
+Nothing was seen or heard of the late prisoners' boat, and for very good
+reasons; and at last they found themselves abreast of the opening into
+the cove, where they lay upon their oars for a time listening.
+
+All was still.  Not a sound to be heard on either of the luggers lying
+at their buoys, and no light was visible at the cottages at the head of
+the little bay.
+
+"I might venture now," whispered Archy.  "Have me rowed close in to the
+shingle beach on the right, not close ashore, but so that I can wade in.
+I shall drop over the side where it's about two feet deep.  Let them
+back in and we can try the depth with the boat-hook."
+
+The order was whispered, the boat glided in through the broad opening,
+was turned quickly, and then the men backed water till told to stop,
+Archy, who had the boat-hook over the side, suddenly finding it touch
+the shingly bottom at the depth of about a foot.
+
+"Good-bye," he whispered, and, gliding over the side, he softly waded
+ashore and stood on the beach.
+
+It looked light in front, where the limestone rocks had given place to
+chalk, but to right, left, and seaward, all was black as night, and
+stepping cautiously along, the lad approached the cottages, listening
+attentively, but not hearing a sound save the gurgling of water as it
+trickled under the stones on its way to the sea.
+
+As he reached the track leading past the cottages he had a narrow escape
+from falling over a boat that was drawn up on the stones, but he saved
+himself with a jerk; and, feeling hot with the sudden start, he turned
+and crouched down, but there was not a sound to indicate that he had
+been heard, and drawing a long breath he stepped on to reach the hard
+earth where his feet were not among the water-worn pebbles, and in a few
+minutes he was on the road he had traversed twice that day, and walking
+fast toward the farm.
+
+Once or twice he hesitated, for the way lay so low down in the valley,
+with the hills towering up to such a height on either side, that the
+night seemed as dark as during the fog of the previous night; but he got
+along over the ground pretty well in spite of its seeming more hilly and
+rough, till at the end of about an hour and a half he felt that he must
+be approaching the farm, and he advanced more cautiously, listening for
+footsteps and voices from time to time.
+
+There was a good broad green marge to the lane about here, and he
+stepped on to it, the turf deadening his footsteps.
+
+"But I don't recollect seeing this grass in the morning," he thought;
+and then he stopped short, for it suddenly occurred to him that he had
+not come upon the cluster of houses where the people smiled and nodded
+at one another as they passed.
+
+"I can't have trailed off into another road, can I?" he said to himself,
+as he felt quite startled and turned hot.
+
+He looked round, but it was too dark to make out anything, and he was
+about to start on again, comforting himself with the idea that he must
+be right, when he heard at a distance the _pat-pat_ of feet on hard
+ground, and drew back close up to the side to stoop down among some
+brambles, which told him at once after their fashion what they were.
+
+"If I only dared ask whoever this is," thought Archy, "I should do."
+
+His thoughts took another direction directly, for, apparently about
+twenty yards away, he heard some one sneeze, and then mutter
+impatiently, followed by another sneeze.
+
+And all the while the regular _pat-pat_ of footsteps came from his
+right, but not as he had come, for the sound was as if some one was
+approaching by a road which came at right angles to the one he was in.
+
+Archy crouched there, breathless and listening, wondering who the man
+could be who was perfectly silent now, but he had not moved away unless
+the turf had silenced his footprints.
+
+"How lucky it was I stopped!" thought the midshipman.  "I should have
+walked right on to him and been caught."
+
+The steps came nearer, and at last it seemed as if they were going to
+pass on, when a gruff voice from close by said,--
+
+"Well, lad?"
+
+There was a sudden stoppage, and an exclamation, and--
+
+"Made me jump, master."
+
+"Don't talk foolery," said the first voice in impatient tones, and to
+Archy it was unmistakable.  He had heard both voices before.  "What have
+you made out?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"No boat landed?"
+
+"Nor no sign o' one, master.  Both lads swear as no one has passed along
+the lane."
+
+"Wouldn't take the upper lane, would they?"
+
+"Not likely."
+
+"Upper lane!" thought Archy.  Had he taken the upper lane in the
+darkness, and so missed the men on the watch?
+
+"Didn't hear the sailors say nothing on the cutter, did you?"
+
+"Not a word."
+
+The middy's heart seemed to give a throb.  He did know that voice then.
+It was that of the man who had been detained with the boy, and this
+other, he was sure, was the voice of the farmer.
+
+"Going to keep on watching?"
+
+"Of course.  They'll be up to some game to trap us safe.  Ought to get
+that stuff away."
+
+"No, I wouldn't, master; it's safe enough now."
+
+"You're a fool," came back in a savage growl.  "Anybody but you and that
+mole-eyed boy would have seen the kegs before them sailors."
+
+"Did see 'em--when it was too late," grumbled the other.
+
+"Well, go back; and take off them boots, and hang 'em round your neck.
+I could hear you a mile away."
+
+"Right."
+
+"Go and tell 'em to keep a sharp look-out in the cove, and then to run
+the moment a boat comes in sight."
+
+"No boat won't come in sight to-night.  Dark."
+
+"Then the moment you hear one."
+
+"They won't come to-night, master."
+
+"Go and do as I tell you," said the other savagely.
+
+"It's the farmer and his man," thought the listener; "and there is
+something wrong."
+
+He wondered what he had better do.  Should he give notice to them on the
+cutter?
+
+The answer came at once.  How could he?  He had made no plans for that.
+
+"Off you go," was said roughly, and the rustling sound seemed to
+indicate that the man had gone back toward the cove.
+
+Archy listened patiently for the next movement of the farmer, but he
+could detect nothing, and he was feeling sure that the man was still
+watching and listening, when he heard a sneeze at a distance followed by
+a muttering sound, and knew that he must have moved off.
+
+Without a moment's hesitation the lad followed, keeping along the grassy
+marge of the road, and listening intently to make out at last the dull
+sound of steps, which told that the man who made them was walking
+barefoot.
+
+As far as he could judge now, Archy was in the proper road, and as he
+walked along he tried to understand what was going on, coming at last to
+the conclusion at which he had at first jumped, that something would be
+done that night if the farmer and his people were certain that they
+would not be disturbed.
+
+As he thought he walked cautiously on, wondering what he had better do,
+and seeing at last a bright light in front high up a slope, and another
+away to his right much higher.
+
+A little consideration told him that the first was at the farm; the
+other high up, facing toward the sea, must be up at the Hoze.
+
+Trusting more to chance than plan, the midshipman went on and on,
+following Farmer Shackle; the task becoming easy now, for as he neared
+the lights the man grew more careless, so that it was easy to trace his
+movements, which were evidently homeward, till a few minutes later Archy
+saw him pass the glowing window, swing open a door from which came a
+burst of light, pass in, and the door was closed.
+
+Archy stood outside with a vague belief that before long the man would
+come out, and perhaps go to the spot where the cargo was hidden.
+
+As he waited he could not help turning his eyes in the direction of the
+long, solitary house in the patch of woodland, and found himself
+wondering whether he should ever go up there again.
+
+After waiting about a quarter of an hour outside the farm, with his back
+against one of the roughly piled-up stone walls of the district, Archy
+began to think it was very dull, and his expectations of a discovery or
+an adventure grew less and less.  All was very quiet at the farm, so
+quiet that he determined at last to go and peer in at the window to see
+if the farmer was likely to come out again, because if this were not so
+he was wasting his time.
+
+"But they are not likely to do anything without him," he thought.
+
+Advancing cautiously, he entered the garden, and was just going up to
+the window, when the door was thrown open, and he dropped down behind a
+bush as the farmer strode out.
+
+"He must see me," thought Archy.  "What a position for an officer to be
+in!"
+
+"Eh?" exclaimed Shackle, turning sharply round, as if to answer his
+wife.  "Oh yes.  Ought to have been here by now."
+
+This gave the midshipman a moment's breathing time; and he had drawn
+himself up behind the bush by the time the farmer had closed the door,
+the sudden change from darkness to light preventing Shackle from seeing
+the spy upon his proceedings.
+
+Just as he was passing he stopped short, uttering an ejaculation; and
+feeling that he was seen, the midshipman was about to leap up, jump over
+the low wall, and run, when he heard steps.
+
+He lay still, hoping that this might have drawn forth the exclamation,
+but for the next few moments he was in agony.
+
+Then came relief.
+
+"That you, Ramillies?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I think it's all right.  Carts are coming, and all the lads are down
+the roads."
+
+"All?"
+
+"No.  Two of 'em's down by the cove, but they won't send anybody from
+the cutter to-night."
+
+"Not so sure of it, my boy,--not so sure.  Can't be too careful.
+'Tain't as if we were obliged to move 'em to-night.  Landing a cargo's
+one thing; getting it away another.  Well, we'll try.  You're sure
+they're keeping good watch at the cove?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"What sort of an officer did he seem on the cutter?"
+
+"Little, fat, sleepy chap."
+
+"And the others?"
+
+"Don't seem to be no others, only that cocky-hoopy middy, who came
+ashore with the men.  I should like to ketch him ashore some day."
+
+One of Archy's legs gave a twitch at the first remark about him, and the
+twitch occurred in his right arm at the second.
+
+"Don't chatter.  Not very sharp sort of officer, eh?"
+
+"No, father.  Sort of chap who'd go to sleep all night."
+
+Archy began wondering.  He had thought the boy a dull, stupid-looking
+bumpkin, and he was finding out how observing he had been.
+
+"Well, we'll risk it, boy.  Come along."
+
+Archy's heart gave a bound.
+
+Here was news!  He had been growing dull and disheartened, thinking that
+his expedition was foolish and impossible, and here at once he had
+learned what he wanted.  He knew that now all he had to do was to take
+advantage of every wall and tree, even to creep along the ground if
+necessary, and he would be able to follow the smugglers to the place
+where they had hidden the run cargo, watch them bring it out, and then
+track them to the fresh hiding-place.
+
+He would thus learn everything, and be able at daybreak to make his way
+to the cliff, signal for a boat, and a grand capture would be made.
+
+His heart beat high as he thought of the lieutenant's delight, and of
+the joy there would be amongst the men, for this would mean prize-money,
+and perhaps the means of deluding the vessel that had brought the cargo
+into a trap, so that it could be captured, and more prize-money as well
+as honour be the result.
+
+It did not take him long to think all this; and then he rose cautiously
+and dropped down again, for the door was re-opened, and the light beamed
+out so that the watcher felt that he must be seen.
+
+"That my Rammy?" cried Mrs Shackle.
+
+"Yes," growled the farmer; "keep that door shut and your mouth too."
+
+"But do be careful, master.  I don't want him took prisoner again."
+
+"It's all right, mother."
+
+"Come along, boy."
+
+Archy heard the departing steps, and began to suffer a fresh agony of
+suspense.  He could not stir, for the farmer's wife stood at the open
+door, and the slightest movement would have caused a discovery; and all
+the time he could hear the footsteps growing more and more faint.
+
+"Oh!" he said to himself; "and it's so dark I shan't be able to tell
+which way they have gone."
+
+What should he do?  Start up and run?
+
+If he did the woman was certain to raise an alarm; and, knowing that, he
+could do nothing but wait till she went in, when he might chance to pick
+up the clue again.
+
+His heart beat so loudly that he felt as if it must be heard, but Mrs
+Shackle was too intent upon listening to the departing footsteps, which
+grew more faint till they died out entirely, and as they passed away the
+midshipman's heart sank.
+
+"Had all my trouble for nothing," he thought.  "So near success, and yet
+to fail!"
+
+"Ah, deary deary me!" said a voice from close at hand, "I'm very sick
+and tired of it all.  I wish he'd be content with his cows and sheep."
+
+Mrs Shackle drew back as she said this, the door closed, and Archy
+sprang up, darted out of the gateway, and hurried along the path as fast
+as the darkness would allow, stopping from time to time to listen.
+
+For a long time he could hear nothing.  He was descending the slope
+toward the road leading to the cove, as far as he could tell, for it
+seemed to him likely that the farmer and his son had gone in that
+direction; but as he went on and on, and was unable to detect a sound,
+he felt that he must be wrong, and stopped short, listening intently.
+
+"Bother the woman!" he thought; "it's all through her.  They'll go and
+get all the cargo from the hiding-place, and take it somewhere, and I
+shall know nothing."
+
+He bit his lip with disappointment, and gave an angry stamp on the
+grass.
+
+"I'll go back, and try some other way."
+
+Easy to determine, but hard to carry out in the darkness, and in a place
+which seemed quite changed at night.  There should be a lane or track
+leading down to the cliff he knew, but where it was he could not say; in
+fact, at that moment, in his confusion, he could hardly tell for certain
+that he was on the road leading right away to the cove.
+
+"I may just as well be moving," he said at last despondently.  "Oh, if I
+could only have followed them up!"
+
+His heart gave a bound just then, for plainly on the night air came a
+dull sound, as of footsteps on grass.  Then there was a whisper, and
+directly after he knew that a number of people were coming quickly
+toward him.
+
+A moment or two later he heard a rattling noise, which he recognised as
+that made by a horse shaking his harness, and once more Archy's heart
+beat high.
+
+There had not been time for them--if those people coming were the
+smugglers--to fetch the cargo, and they must be coming in his direction.
+
+"What shall I do?" thought the watcher; "lie down and let them pass, or
+go on?"
+
+He decided on the latter course, and finding that he was in a lane
+bounded by stone walls, he went on, pausing from time to time to make
+sure that he was being followed.
+
+This proved to be the case, the people getting nearer and nearer, and it
+was a curious experience to hear the whispering of voices and trampling
+of feet coming out of the darkness.
+
+"Walking on the side turf," said Archy to himself, as he kept on, to
+find after a few minutes that the stone wall on his left had ceased, but
+he could feel that the road went on, and heard the people coming.
+
+A minute or two later he realised that he was going up hill; then the
+slope grew steeper, and he paused again to listen.
+
+He was quite right.  They were coming on steadily, and he knew that
+there must be twenty or thirty people; but he could hear no horses now.
+
+"They've stopped at the foot of this steep place," he thought, as he
+went on and on, the people still advancing fast, and all at once, as he
+went on, a sudden thought ran through him like a stab.  For he had
+guessed at least the direction in which he was going in the black
+darkness; he was once more ascending the slope toward the patch of
+woodland high up the hill, and the place of deposit of the smuggled
+goods must be the Hoze.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+A feeling of misery that he could not have explained came over Archy
+Raystoke as he grasped the position, and he wished that he had never
+undertaken the task he had in hand.
+
+For it seemed so shocking that the noble-looking lady and gentleman he
+had seen that day should be in league with a gang of smugglers, and have
+lent their out-of-the-way house to be a depository for the contraband
+goods.
+
+"Oh, it's impossible," he said to himself.  "They could not.  The
+scoundrels have hidden the things somewhere up in the wood by the house,
+thinking that nobody would come in there to search."
+
+"The artful rascal!" said Archy to himself, feeling better now that he
+had put this interpretation upon the proceedings; and, knowing his way
+better now, and thinking of the dog the while, he hurried on, and had
+nearly reached the house, meaning to hide somewhere among the abundant
+shrubs which surrounded it till the smugglers had passed, when all doubt
+as to the party being those he was tracking was chased away by his
+hearing a voice just before him say,--
+
+"All right, father.  Here they come."
+
+Archy stopped short, as he felt his position.  The farmer and his son
+had come up here, and were waiting for the men to act as carriers.
+
+"What shall I do?" he asked himself, for he was between two parties, and
+a step might mean discovery.  In fact, if the last speaker had taken a
+step forward, he must have detected the spy's presence.
+
+There was no time for thought Archy stood for a moment or two as if
+paralysed; then, as he heard the farmer's gruff voice, he dropped down,
+and began to crawl among the bushes.
+
+"Been a long time coming; here, go in and get the lanthorns now."
+
+At that moment Archy was brought up by a wall, over which he passed his
+hands, to find that he was directly after touching iron bars close to
+the ground.
+
+It was some building, and then, as he crouched there, he was conscious
+of a peculiar odour, which told him not only that this was a cellar, but
+one in which brandy was stored.
+
+Again he felt a strange sensation of misery.  He had accidentally hit
+upon the place where the cargo had been hidden, and it must be in the
+cellar of the Hoze, and not in the wood.
+
+He wished he had not made the discovery now, and felt ready to retreat,
+for it would be horrible to have to tell the lieutenant, giving him such
+information as would lead to the arrest of the tall, careworn man who
+had impressed him so strangely that day.
+
+All at once he was conscious of a gleam of light, following a faint
+noise, and right before him he saw the fluttering blue flame of a
+brimstone match, which blue began to turn yellow and illumine the face
+of the boy who had been a prisoner, and two great stacks of kegs and
+bales, reaching nearly from floor to ceiling of a low vault.
+
+The light shone out through the grated window, by which he was on hands
+and knees, and feeling that he would be at once recognised if his face
+was seen, he crept on under the wall a few yards, and lay flat
+listening, as he wished that there was time for him to get down to the
+cliff, and signal for help, to capture the smugglers and their store.
+
+An impossibility, he knew, for the cargo might be all gone long before
+he could reach the cutter, even if a boat were waiting; beside which, he
+felt that he did not want to tell all he had seen, for if he did, what
+would follow with respect to those he had spoken with that day?
+
+"Now, my lads, in with you," cried a familiar voice.  "Load up carefully
+when you get down to the carts, and we shall get all snug before
+daylight."
+
+A murmur of acquiescence followed, and they began to tramp very close to
+where the midshipman lay, expecting every moment to be seen.
+
+He crouched down as low as he could, not daring to raise even his head,
+and wondering whether the bright hilt of his dirk would show, and he
+thrust it farther into his breast.  Then he wondered whether he could
+back softly away; but that was impossible, for the light came from
+behind him, through the grated window, while escape forward was
+impossible, as he was close to a door through which shadowy forms were
+passing in.
+
+There was nothing for it but to lie still, and trust to his not being
+seen, when the next minutes were made agreeable by a host of
+recollections regarding the treatment received by those who betrayed
+smugglers, of the desperate fights there had been, how many had been
+killed, and a shudder ran through the lad as he recalled the story of a
+man who had played the spy, somewhere about the south coast, being
+thrown from a cliff, and literally smashed.
+
+"They'll see me, I know they'll see me," thought Archy; "but I'm a
+king's officer, young as I am, and I'll show them that I can fight for
+my life like a man."
+
+As this thought struck him, his hand went involuntarily to his side to
+get a good grip of and draw his dirk.
+
+The movement betrayed him, for, before he could quite realise that his
+dirk was hidden in his breast, he was seized by two great muscular
+hands, dragged into a standing position, and he could dimly see a face
+peering into his, as a voice, which he recognised as the farmer's,
+growled savagely--
+
+"Who's this?"
+
+Before he could struggle or answer, the man went on fiercely--
+
+"Why, you lazy, shuffling, young villain!  Sit there and skulk, while
+the others do the work, would you?  Come on!"
+
+Before the midshipman could recover from his surprise, he felt himself
+run forward by the two hands which had been dropped on his shoulders,
+thrust through the door, the farmer whispering savagely, "Work, or I'll
+break your neck;" and giving him a fierce push and a kick, which drove
+him along a passage, where on his left was the open doorway into the
+dimly lit cellar.
+
+So great was the impetus given, that but for a desperate effort to keep
+his feet, and a bound or two, the lad would have gone down upon his
+face.
+
+As it was, the actual first leap took him level with the door of the
+cellar, the second right on to a flight of steps beyond in the darkness,
+and as he stood panting there, he realised the meaning of the old
+smuggler's mistake; for he had forgotten that he was roughly dressed as
+a sailor boy, and had a red worsted tasselled cap, well drawn-down over
+his besmirched face.
+
+As Archy stood there in the darkness, at the foot of the stair which he
+knew must lead up into the house, he looked back to see a man come out
+of the cellar, his figure just dimly seen by the light from within and
+below, and over the man's shoulders were swung a couple of kegs.
+
+Archy held his breath, and felt that in all probability the farmer had
+contented himself with driving him in to work, for he made no further
+movement, and the coming out of this man, and another who followed
+directly, completely reassured him.  It was evident, too, that they did
+not know of his presence, and with his heart beating with hopes of
+escape, as he more and more understood that he had been taken for one of
+the boys of the gang, he backed softly up the steps, more and more into
+the darkness, till further progress was stayed by a door.
+
+Here he stopped, panting, and holding his hand upon his throbbing heart.
+Then feeling that he would be seen directly if a lanthorn were brought
+into the passage, he pressed the lock, it yielded, and he stepped softly
+up on to a stone floor.
+
+Here all was blacker than before, but it was a haven of refuge, and he
+passed in and softly closed the door behind him, to stand listening.
+
+All was still as death, and he began to ask himself what he should do
+next.  He dared not stay where he was, for if the smugglers were so much
+at home at the Hoze that they could come like this by night, the farmer
+or some one else might at any moment come up those steps with a light,
+and then discovery was certain.
+
+But what to do?  A closet--a room--a staircase--an open window leading
+in another direction to that where the men were busy!  If he could find
+any of these he might be safe, and he was about to try and search for
+some means of concealment or escape when a cold shudder of superstitious
+dread ran through him, and he began to recall all he had read of haunted
+houses, for from somewhere in the darkness in front of him, he heard a
+low, piteous cry.
+
+Archy was as courageous as most boys of his age, as he was proving by
+his adventurous acts; but this sound, heard by a lad living in a
+generation wanting in our modern enlightenment, paralysed him.  His
+blood seemed to run cold, his lips parted, his throat felt dry, and a
+peculiar shiver ran over his skin, accompanied by a sensation as if tiny
+fingers, cold as ice, were parting and turning his hair.
+
+Again the sigh came, to be followed by a cold current of air, which
+swept across the boy's face, and then there was a low rustling sound,
+which hovered in front of him, and went up and up and up, and then
+slowly died away.
+
+Archy's first impulse, as he recovered himself a little in the silence
+which followed, was to turn, open the door, and flee.  But he hesitated.
+It would be right into the hands of the enemy.  Besides, the terribly
+chilling sounds he had heard had ceased, and he felt less cowardly.
+
+"Perhaps," he said to himself, "it was fancy, or nothing to be afraid
+of."
+
+A heavy step on the other side of the door alarmed him more, and
+stretching out his hands, he stepped forward, went cautiously on and on,
+and at the end of a few yards touched what felt like panelling.  The
+next moment he realised that he had reached a door, which was yielding,
+and he passed into a room, to scent the cool night air, and hear subdued
+sounds without and below.
+
+He was in a room over the cellar, he was sure, and the window was wide
+open.  He crept to it, guided by the cold air which came in, and had
+just reached it when he heard rapid footsteps, and some one panted,--
+
+"Where's the skipper?"
+
+"Here.  What is it?" whispered Shackle, who seemed close to where the
+midshipman stood.
+
+"Jemmy Dadd--came from the cove.  Boat's crew landed."
+
+"Run down and tell them all to come back," said Shackle hoarsely.
+
+"I did, and they're coming.  I met first man."
+
+"Right!  Get all back in quick!"
+
+As he finished speaking, Archy could hear the dull, soft steps of laden
+men returning, and more and more kept coming, and it was soon evident
+that they were quickly and silently replacing the kegs they had been
+carrying down hill to where tumbrils were waiting for a load.
+
+The midshipman stood a little way back from the window, seeing nothing,
+but drinking all this in, and in imagination grasping the whole scene
+which went on for the next quarter of an hour or so, by which time the
+last load seemed to have been brought back.
+
+As he listened, he wondered what boat's crew it could be that had
+landed, as no arrangement had been made for any help to be sent till he
+either signalled from the cliff or went down to the cove at twelve the
+next day, where a boat would be about half a mile out, with two men in
+her fishing.
+
+He could not understand it; all he could tell for certain was that the
+smugglers had been alarmed, and that they would not remove the cargo
+that night, for all at once he heard the sharp snap of a great lock
+beneath his feet; this was followed by the closing of a door, and
+directly after there was the shuffling of feet, and Shackle's voice was
+heard in a hoarse whisper,--
+
+"Got the lanthorn, boy?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"Off you go then--all.  Scatter!"
+
+"You won't try again to-night?"
+
+"Try?  No," said the farmer savagely.  "Wish I had some of them here!"
+
+There were retiring steps then, and Archy leaned forward towards the
+window, to utter a faint cry of pain, for his head had come in contact
+with something, and as he put up his hand he found that the window was
+protected by thick iron bars.
+
+He stood listening till not a sound could be heard, and then he drew
+back from the window, thinking about his next course, gazing out into
+the darkness the while, and wishing he could have stepped out, leaped
+down, and fled at once.
+
+"Made our plans badly," he thought to himself.  "I can't signal even if
+I could find my way to the cliff, and I ought to be able to get back
+here at once to seize all this store, and--"
+
+More unpleasant thoughts came back now about how hard it seemed to have
+to betray these people.
+
+"Can't help it," he said to himself.  "I am a king's officer, and I've
+got to do my duty."
+
+Then to keep these thoughts from troubling him, he began to think again
+about the cutter.
+
+They never expected that he would get valuable information so soon.  He
+had been wonderfully fortunate, but what was to be his next course?
+Certainly to get back to the ship as soon as possible, but that was not
+possible till morning, and he was miles away from the cove.
+
+What should he do?  Two hours would be plenty for the work, and as he
+guessed it was not much past twelve now.  How was he to pass all those
+weary hours?  If he could find some barn or even a haystack he would not
+have cared, but it seemed to him that he would have to pass the
+remainder of the night in walking, and watching so that he did not
+encounter any of the smuggler gang on his way back and so raise their
+suspicions.
+
+Better be off at once.  Perhaps, after all, he thought as by an
+inspiration, the lieutenant had altered his plans, and was sending men
+to look after and protect him.
+
+"Let's see," said Archy to himself.  "I must go out of this door, and
+keep turning a little to the right till I feel the door at the top of
+the stairs."
+
+Suppose any one should hear him, take him for a thief, and fire at him?
+
+Suppose that door at the end of the passage had been locked by the
+smugglers?
+
+It seemed so probable, that a nervous feeling attacked the lad.  He
+would be a prisoner, and discovered by the inmates in the morning.
+
+He would soon put that to the proof, he told himself; and he was about
+to step cautiously back toward the door when another thought sent a
+shudder through him.
+
+Suppose as soon as he got into the hall, or whatever place it was, he
+should hear that sigh again and the rustling sound?
+
+He shrank back as he recalled how it had affected him.
+
+"Oh, what a coward I am!" he said softly; and he took a step forward,
+where very faintly, as if far distant, he heard the rustling sound
+again.  It came nearer and nearer, then there was a low sigh, the door
+was pushed open, for the rustling came quite plainly now, accompanied by
+a faint breathing.
+
+The door closed with a soft dull sound as Archy stood as if turned into
+stone, his hair again feeling as if moved by hands, and he would have
+spoken, but no words would come.
+
+At last, as he stood there in front of the window, terrified too much to
+stir, he suddenly heard a faint sound as of catching breath, and a voice
+said in a hurried, frightened whisper,--
+
+"Who's there?  Is that you, Ram?"
+
+Archy tried to speak but could not.  Before he could draw a breath of
+relief, feeling as he did that this was nothing of which he need feel
+such fear, the voice said again,--
+
+"You are trying to frighten me.  I can see you plainly there by the
+window.  How dare you come in here like this, sir?  Go back home with
+your horrid men."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+"You are making a mistake," said Archy softly.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+There was a cry and a quick rustling toward the door.
+
+"Don't--don't cry out; I did not come to frighten you."
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"I am from the cutter lying off the coast.  You saw me and spoke to me
+to-day when the dog came at me."
+
+There was a low wailing sound which troubled the midshipman, and he said
+quickly,--
+
+"Can you not believe me?  I did not come to frighten you; you frightened
+me."
+
+"Then, why are you here?  How dare you break into our house.  Oh, I
+know!  I know!"
+
+"Don't cry," he said.  "I was obliged to come.  It was by accident I
+came into this room.  I was trying to find out about the smugglers."
+
+"And--and--you have not found out anything?" came in quick, frightened
+tones.
+
+Archy was silent.
+
+"Why don't you speak, sir?"
+
+"What am I to say?  I am on duty.  Yes, I have found out all I wanted to
+know."
+
+"Ah!" came again out of the darkness, in a low wailing tone.
+
+"I wish you would believe me, that I am in as great trouble about it as
+you are."
+
+"But your men.  They are close here, then, and they frightened these
+people away."
+
+"I suppose so.  I don't know," said Archy.
+
+"Don't they know that you are here?"
+
+"No."
+
+"But you will go and tell all you have found out?"
+
+"Yes," said Archy, slowly as he strained his eyes to try and make out
+the speaker.
+
+"That my father, Sir Risdon Graeme, has smuggled goods here?"
+
+"What else can I do?" replied Archy sadly.
+
+There was a sound of breath being drawn sharply through the teeth, and
+then the voice seemed changed as the next words came,--
+
+"Do you know what this means?"
+
+Archy was silent.
+
+"They will put him in prison, and--and--"
+
+There was a low burst of sobbing, and the young midshipman felt his own
+breast swell.
+
+Suddenly the sobbing ceased, and the girl said slowly,--
+
+"You shall not tell.  It is not my father's doing.  He could not help
+it.  He hates the smugglers.  You shall not tell.  Pray, pray, say you
+will not!"
+
+Archy was silent.
+
+"Do you not hear me?" came in imperious tones.
+
+"Yes, I hear you," he replied; "but it is my duty, and--"
+
+"Yes--yes--speak!"
+
+"I must."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+The interjection came as if it were the outcome of sudden passion.
+There was a quick, rustling sound, and before the boy could realise what
+was to come, the door was closed, the lock shot into its socket, and he
+heard the grinding sound of bolts, top and bottom.
+
+Then, as Archy stood in the dark, literally aghast with astonishment, he
+heard the faint rustling once more, and again all was silent.
+
+"Well!" he exclaimed; "and I felt sorry for her as one might for one's
+sister at home, and hung back from getting her people into trouble.  Of
+all the fierce little tartars!  Oh, it's beyond anything!  Why, she has
+locked me up!"
+
+He laughed, but it was a curious kind of laugh, full of vexation,
+injured _amour propre_, as the French call our love of our own dignity,
+of which Archibald Raystoke, in the full flush of his young belief in
+his importance as a British officer, had a pretty good stock.
+
+"I never did!" he exclaimed, after standing listening for a few minutes
+to see if the girl would repent and return.  "It all comes of dressing
+up in this stupid way, like a rough fisher-lad.  If I had been in
+uniform, she would not have dared."
+
+Cold water came on this idea directly, as he recalled the fact that the
+darkness was intense, and Celia could not have seen him.
+
+"And I meant to save them from trouble if I could, out of respect for
+them all, and did not believe that such people could stoop to be mixed
+up with rogues and smugglers.  But, all right!  I've got my duty to do,
+and I'll do it.  I'll soon show them that I am not going to be played
+with.  Looked such a nice, lady-like girl, and all the time she's a
+female smuggler, and must have been sitting up to let them in, and lock
+up after the rascals had done."
+
+Rather hard measure, by the way, to deal out to the anxious girl, who
+could not rest while Shackle's gang were busy about the place, and had
+come stealthily down to open the little corner room window, and watch
+from time to time until they had gone.
+
+"Well," said Archy, as there was no further sound heard, "I'm not going
+to put up with this.  I'll soon rattle some one up;" and he went sharply
+to the door, felt for the handle, tried it, and was about to shake it
+and bang at the panels, when discretion got the better of valour.
+
+For it suddenly occurred to him that he was not only a prisoner, but a
+prisoner in the power of a very reckless set of people, who would stop
+at nothing.  They had a valuable cargo hidden in the cellar beneath
+where he stood, and themselves to save, and naturally they would not
+hesitate to deal hardly with him, when quite a young, apparently gentle
+girl treated him as she had done.
+
+"No," he thought to himself, "I don't believe they would kill me, but
+they would knock me about."
+
+On the whole, he decided that it would not be pleasant to be knocked
+about.  The kick he had received was a foretaste of what he might
+expect, and after a little consideration he came to the conclusion that
+his duty was to escape, and get back to the cutter as quickly as he
+could.
+
+To do this he must scheme, lie hid till morning, then make for the
+nearest point, and signal for help, unless a boat's crew were already
+searching for him.
+
+How to escape?
+
+The door was, he well knew, fast.  The window was barred, but he went to
+it, and tried the bars one by one, to find them all solidly fitted into
+the stone sill.
+
+Perhaps there was another way out, and to prove that he went softly
+round to feel the oak panelling which covered the walls, to come upon a
+door directly.  His hopes began to rise, but they fell directly, for he
+found it was a closet.
+
+Next moment, as he felt his way about, his hand touched an old-fashioned
+marble mantelpiece.
+
+Fireplace--chimney!  Yes, if other ways failed, he could escape up the
+chimney.
+
+No, that was too bad.  He could not do that.  And if he did, it would
+only be to reach the roof of the house, and perhaps find no way down.
+
+He went on, and found a closet to match the first on the other side of
+the fireplace.  Then all round the room.  Panels everywhere, but no
+means of escape, and he went again to stand at the window, to bemoan his
+stupidity for allowing a weak girl to make a prisoner of him in so
+absurd a way.
+
+Sympathy and pity for the dwellers in the Hoze were completely gone now,
+and he set his teeth fast, and mentally called himself a weak idiot for
+ever thinking about such people.  For the first few minutes he had felt
+something uncommonly like alarm, and had dwelt upon the consequences to
+himself if the smugglers found the spy upon their proceedings; but that
+dread had passed away in the idea that he had to do his duty, and before
+he could do that he must escape.
+
+A chair or two.  Then an easy-chair.  A narrow table against the wall in
+two places.  An awkwardly-shaped high-backed chair with elbows and
+cushions.  A thick carpet in the centre.  Nothing else in the room, as
+far as he could make out in the darkness, and if those wretched bars had
+only been away, how soon he could have escaped!
+
+He went and tried to force his head through, recalling as he did that
+where a person's head would go the rest of the body would pass.  But
+there was no chance for his body there, the head would not go first.
+
+He returned, after listening intently, unable to hear a sound, and put
+his ear to the key-hole of the door to listen there; but all was still,
+and the faint hope that the girl might be near and open to an appeal for
+his liberty died away.
+
+Again he felt all about the room, to satisfy himself afresh that there
+was no way out, and he paused by the chimney, half disposed to essay
+that means of escape, but he shook his head.
+
+"A fellow who was shut up in prison for life might do it," he said, "but
+not in a case like this."
+
+Then, utterly wearied out, with his long and arduous twenty-four hours'
+task, beginning with his watch on the cutter's deck, he felt his way to
+the big chair opposite to the window to rest his legs, and try and think
+out some plan.
+
+"Nobody can think well when he's tired," he said; and he began to run
+over in his mind the whole of the incidents since he landed a few hours
+earlier.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+"Sure you've looked round everywhere, boy?"
+
+"Yes, father, quite."
+
+"Nothing left nowhere?  Sure none of the lads chucked anything aside the
+path when they ran up?"
+
+"Yes, father.  I looked well both sides."
+
+"Humph!  Worse lads than you if you knew where to find 'em."
+
+"Thank ye, father."
+
+"I'm going home to breakfast."
+
+"Shall I come too, father?"
+
+"No.  Stop here till Sir Risdon comes down, and tell him I'm very sorry;
+that we should have cleared out last night, only a born fool saw Jerry
+Nandy's lobster-boat coming into the cove, and came running to say it
+was a party from the cutter."
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"Tell him not to be uneasy; 'tis all right, and I'll have everything
+clear away to-night."
+
+The dull sound of departing steps, and a low whistling sound coming down
+through the skylight window into the cabin where Archy Raystoke lay with
+his heavy eyelids pressed down by sleep.
+
+"What a queer dream!" he thought to himself.  "No; it couldn't be a
+dream.  He must be awake.  But how queer for Mr Gurr to be talking like
+that to Andrew Teal, the boy who helped the cook!  And why did Andy call
+Mr Gurr father?"
+
+There was an interval of thinking over this knotty question, during
+which the low whistling went on.
+
+"If Mr Brough goes on deck and catches that boy whistling, there'll be
+someone to pay and no pitch hot," thought Archy nautically.  "But what
+did Mr Gurr mean about going home to breakfast?  And I'm hungry too.
+Time I was up, I suppose."
+
+He gave himself a twist, and was about to turn out of his sleeping
+place, and then opened his eyes widely, and stared about him, too much
+overcome still by his heavy sleep to quite comprehend why it was that he
+was in a gloomy, oak-panelled, poorly furnished room, staring at an
+iron-barred open window.
+
+No: he was not dreaming, for he was looking out on the sea, over which a
+faint mist hung like wreaths of smoke.  It was just before sunrise too,
+for there were flecks of orange high up in the sky.
+
+What did it mean?
+
+The answer came like a flash.  He recollected it all now, even to his
+sitting down in the chair, wearied out.
+
+He had been fast asleep, and those words had awakened him.
+
+What did they say?--false alarm--tell Sir Risdon they would clear all
+away to-night--see if anything had been left about--lobster-boat!
+
+Then no boat had come from the cutter last night, and the lieutenant
+would wait for him to signal, and here he was a prisoner, with the
+information--locked up--the very news the lieutenant would give anything
+to know.
+
+He jumped up from the chair feeling horribly stiff, and looked steadily
+round for a way to escape before it was too late.  Once out of that room
+he could ran, and by daylight the smugglers dare not hunt him down.
+
+"Oh, those bars!" he mentally exclaimed, and he was advancing toward
+them, when just as he drew near, there was a rustling noise under the
+window, a couple of hands seized the bars, there was a scratching of
+boot-toes against stone work, and Ram's face appeared to gaze into the
+room by intention, but into the astonished countenance of the young
+midshipman instead.
+
+Ram was the first to recover from his surprise.
+
+"Hullo!" he said, "who are you?  I was wondering why that window was
+open."
+
+"Here, quick!  Go round and open the door.  I was shut in last night by
+mistake."
+
+"Oh!" said Ram looking puzzled.  "I saw you last night, and wondered
+whose boy you was.  It was you father kicked for shirking, and--My!--
+well: I hardly knowed you."
+
+"Nonsense!  Come round and open the door.  I've been shut in all night."
+
+"Won't do," said Ram grinning.  "Think I don't know you, Mr Orficer?
+Where's your fine clothes and your sword?  Here, what made you dress up
+like that?"
+
+"You're mistaken," said Archy gruffly, as he made a feeble struggle to
+keep up the character he had assumed.
+
+"Won't do," said Ram quickly.  "I know you.  Been playing the spy,
+that's what you've been doing.  Who locked you in?"
+
+"Will you come round and open the door?" said Archy in an angry whisper.
+
+"Oh, of course," replied the boy grinning; and he dropped down, rushed
+through the bushes, and disappeared from view.
+
+Archy stepped back to the door listening, but there was not a sound.
+
+"He has gone to give the alarm," thought the prisoner, and he looked
+excitedly round for a way of escape.
+
+Nothing but the chimney presented itself.  The door was too strong to
+attack, and he remembered the three fastenings.
+
+Should he try the chimney?
+
+And be stuck there, and dragged out like a rabbit by the hind legs from
+his hole!
+
+"No; I've degraded myself enough," he said angrily, "and there are sure
+to be bars across.  Hah!"
+
+A happy inspiration had come, and placing one hand upon his breast, he
+thrust in the other, gave a tug, and drew out his little curved dirk,
+glanced at the edge, ran to the window and began to cut at one of the
+bars.
+
+Labour in vain.  He divided the paint, and produced a few squeaks and
+grating sounds, as he realised that the attempt was madness.
+
+Turning sharply, he looked about the room; then, after glancing ruefully
+at the bright little weapon, halfway up the blade of a rich deep blue,
+in which was figured a pattern in gold, he yielded to necessity, and
+began to chop at the top bar of the grate, so as to nick the edges of
+his weapon and make it saw-like.
+
+The result was not very satisfactory, but sufficiently so to make him
+essay the bar of the window once more, producing a grating,
+ear-assailing sound, as he found that now he did make a little
+impression,--so little though, that the probability was, if he kept on
+working well for twenty-four hours, he would not get through.
+
+But at the end of five minutes he stopped, and thrust back the dirk into
+its sheath.
+
+He fancied he had heard steps outside the room door, and he ran to it
+and listened, in the faint hope that the boy might have come to open it
+and set him free.
+
+It was a very faint hope, and one he felt not likely to be realised, and
+he returned once more to the window, with the intention of resuming his
+task, when he heard the bushes pressed aside by some one coming, and
+directly after the bars were seized as before.  Ram sprang up, found a
+resting-place for his toes, and looked in, grinning at him.
+
+"Hullo!" he cried, in a whisper, as if he did not wish to be heard;
+"here you are still."
+
+"Yes.  Come round and open the door."
+
+"What'll yer give me?"
+
+"Anything I can," cried Archy eagerly.
+
+"Well, you give me that little sword o' your'n."
+
+"No; I can't part with that."
+
+"Ha!  Ha!  Ha!" laughed the boy jeeringly.
+
+"But I'll--yes, I'll give you a guinea, if you will let me out."
+
+"Guinea?" said the boy.  "Think I'd do it for a guinea?"
+
+"Well, then, two.  Be quick, there's a good fellow.  I want to get away
+at once."
+
+"Not you," said the boy jeeringly.  "It would be a pity.  I say, do you
+know what you look like?"
+
+"A fisher-boy."
+
+"Not you.  Only a sham.  Why, your clothes don't fit you, and your cap's
+put on all skew-rew.  Don't look a bit like a fisher-lad, and never
+will."
+
+"Never mind about that; let me out of this place."
+
+"What for?" cried Ram.
+
+"Because I want my liberty."
+
+"Not you.  Looks comf'table enough as you are.  I say, do you know what
+you are like now?"
+
+"I told you, a fisher-boy!" cried Archy impatiently, but trying not to
+offend his visitor, who possessed the power of conferring freedom, by
+speaking sharply.
+
+"Not you.  Look like a wild beast in a cage.  Like a monkey."
+
+"You insolent--"
+
+Archy checked himself, and the boy laughed.
+
+"It was your turn yesterday, it's mine to-day.  What a game!  You
+laughed and fleered at me when I was on the cutter's deck.  I can laugh
+and fleer at you now.  I say, you do look a rum 'un.  Just like a big
+monkey in a show."
+
+"Look here, sir!" said Archy, losing his temper.  "Gentlemen don't fight
+with low, common fellows like you, but if you do not come round and let
+me out, next time we meet I'll have a bit of rope's-end ready for you."
+
+Ram showed his white teeth, as he burst out with a long, low fit of
+laughter.
+
+"You rope's-end me!" he said.  "Why, I could tie you up in a knot, and
+heave you off the cliff any day.  What a game!  Bit of a middy, fed on
+salt tack and weevilly biscuit, talk of giving me rope's-end!  Dressed
+up with a dirty face and a bit o' canvas!  Go back aboard, and put on
+your uniform.  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!"
+
+"Once more; will you come and let me out?"
+
+"No.  I'm going to keep you here till the gentlefolks get up, and then
+I'll bring 'em round to see the monkey in his cage, just like they do in
+the shows, when you pay a penny.  See you for nothing, middy.  I say,
+where's your sword?  Why don't you draw it, and come out and fight?
+I'll fight you with a stick."
+
+"You insolent young scoundrel!" cried Archy, darting his hand through
+between the bars, overcome now by his rage, and catching Ram by the
+collar.
+
+To his astonishment the boy did not flinch, but thrust his own arms
+through, placing them about the middy's waist, clenching his hands
+behind, and uttering a sharp whistle.
+
+It was a trap, and the midshipman understood it now.  The boy had been
+baiting him to rouse him to attack, and he was doubly a prisoner now,
+held fast against the bars, so that he could not even wrench round his
+head as he heard the door behind him opened, while as he opened his
+mouth to cry for help, a great rough hand was placed over his eyes,
+pressing his head back, a handkerchief was jammed between his teeth, and
+as he heard a deep growling voice say, "Hold him tight!" a rope was
+drawn about his chest, pinioning his arms to his sides, and another
+secured his ankles.
+
+"Now a handkerchief," said the gruff voice.  "Fold it wide.  Be ready!"
+
+The midshipman gave his head a jerk, but the effort was vain, for the
+hand over his eyes gave place to a broad handkerchief, which was tightly
+tied behind, and then a fierce voice whispered in his ear,--
+
+"Keep still, or you'll get your weasand slit.  D'ye hear?"
+
+But in spite of the threat the lad, frenzied now by rage and excitement,
+struggled so hard that a fresh rope was wound round him, and he was
+lifted up by two men, and carried away.
+
+By this time there was a strange singing in his ears, a feeling as if
+the blood was flooding his eyes, a peculiar, hot, suffocating feeling in
+his breast, and then he seemed to go off into a painful, feverish sleep,
+for he knew no more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+Angry, but trembling with dread, Celia had hurried up to her own room,
+to try and think what was best to be done.  She had secured the door of
+the room below to gain time, feeling as she did that, as the young
+midshipman knew of the storing of the smuggled goods, he would, the
+moment he was free, go back to the cutter, bring help, there would
+perhaps be a desperate fight, with men killed, and her father would be
+dragged away to prison.
+
+Her first thought was to go to her father, but she shrank from doing
+this as her mother would probably be asleep, and in her delicate state
+the alarm might seriously affect her.
+
+Having grown learned in the ways of the smugglers, from their having on
+several occasions made use of the great vault without asking
+permission--at times when Sir Risdon was away from home--Celia had sat
+up to watch that night to see if the men would fetch away the kegs and
+bales; hence her presence during the scene, and when she had awakened to
+the fact that the midshipman had played spy and was ready to denounce
+her father, she felt that all was over.
+
+Three times over, after listening at the head of the stairs for sounds
+from below where her prisoner was confined, Celia had crept on tiptoe to
+her father's door, only to shrink away again not daring to speak.
+
+For what would he say to her?  She thought.  She had no right to be
+downstairs watching the acts of the smugglers, and she dreaded to make a
+confession of her knowledge of these nocturnal proceedings.
+
+At last, bewildered, anxious, and worn-out, she knelt down by her bed,
+to consider with her head in her hands, ready for kindly nature to bring
+her comfort, for when she started up again the sun was streaming
+brightly in at her window.
+
+She pressed her hands to her temples, and tried to think about the
+business of the past night, and by degrees she collected her thoughts,
+and recalled that the smugglers had come to take up their kegs and bales
+from the temporary store to carry them further inland, that she had
+discovered the young midshipman watching, and to save her father she had
+shut their enemy in the lower corner room.
+
+Celia stood with her cheeks burning, trembling and anxious, and after
+bathing her face and arranging her hair, she went out into the broad
+passage and listened at her father's door.
+
+It was too soon for him to be stirring yet, and determining at last to
+go and declare his innocency, and make an appeal to the frank-looking
+lad, she crept timidly down the grand old flight of stairs, trying to
+think out what she would say.
+
+There were two flights to descend, and the first took a long time; but
+she worked out a nice little speech, in which she would tell the
+cutter's officer that her father had once been rich, but he had espoused
+the young Pretender's cause, and the result had been that he had become
+so impoverished that there had been a time when they had had hardly
+enough to keep them and the old maid-servant who still clung to their
+fallen fortunes.
+
+By the time she was at the bottom of the second flight she was ready and
+quite hopeful, and, with the tears standing in her eyes, she felt sure
+that the frank, gentlemanly lad would be merciful, forgive her, and save
+her father from a terrible disgrace.
+
+She had, then, her speech all ready, but when she spoke everything was
+condensed in the one exclamation--
+
+"Oh!"
+
+For as she reached the hall where her coming and going had so startled
+the midshipman in the darkness, she found that the door was wide open
+and the window shut.
+
+She looked about bewildered, but there was no sign of the room having
+been occupied.
+
+"Did I dream it all?" she said in an awe-stricken whisper.  "No: the men
+came to take away the brandy and silk, and I saw them here."
+
+She pressed her hands to her temples, for the surprise had confused her,
+and in addition her head ached and throbbed.
+
+"Could I have dreamed it?" she asked herself again.  "No, I remember the
+men coming to fetch away the things and then I found him watching."
+
+She stood gazing before her, with her puzzled feeling increasing, till a
+thought struck her.
+
+She saw the men come to fetch the kegs.  If she really did see that, the
+kegs would be gone.
+
+The proof was easy.  If the brandy and silk were gone, the door of the
+vault would be open.  If the things were not fetched away, it would be
+locked up; and if she tapped on the door with her knuckles, there would
+be a dull sound instead of a hollow, echoing noise.
+
+She ran quickly down, and the door was locked.
+
+She tapped with her knuckles, and the sound indicated that the place was
+full, for all was dull and heavy and no reverberation in the place.
+
+"I must have dreamed it all," she cried joyously.  "I have thought so
+much about it that I have fancied all this, and made myself ill.  Why,
+of course he could not have got in there to watch or the men would have
+seen him come."
+
+It is very easy to place faith in that which you wish to believe.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+Lieutenant brough was out for a long walk.  That is to say, he had his
+glass tucked under his arm, and was trotting up and down his cleanly
+holystoned deck, pausing from time to time to raise his glass to his
+eye, and watch the top of the cliff, ending by gazing in the direction
+of the cove.
+
+The men said he had been putting them through their facings that
+morning, and he had been finding more fault in two hours than in the
+previous week, for he was getting fidgety.  He had not enjoyed his
+breakfast, and it was getting on toward the time for his mid-day meal.
+
+Suddenly he stopped short by the master, who had also been using a
+glass, and was evidently waiting to be spoken to.
+
+"Seemed in good spirits last night, Mr Gurr, eh?"
+
+"Mr Raystoke, sir?  Oh yes."
+
+"I mean liked his job?"
+
+"Yes, sir; determined on it."
+
+"Humph!  Time we had some news of him, eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir; but he may turn up on the cliff at any moment."
+
+"Yes.  Men quite ready?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"That's right.  Of course, well-armed?"
+
+"Yes, sir; you did tell me.  Soon as the signal comes, we shall push
+off.  Awkward bit o' country, sir; six miles' row before you can find a
+place to land."
+
+"Very awkward, but they have to find a place to land their spirits, Mr
+Gurr, and if we don't soon have something to show we shall be called to
+account."
+
+"Very unlucky, sir.  Seems to me like going eel-fishing with your bare
+hand."
+
+"Worse.  You might catch one by accident."
+
+"So shall we yet, sir.  These fellows are very cunning, but we shall be
+too many for them one of these days."
+
+"Dear me!  Dear me!" said the little lieutenant after a few more turns
+up and down.  "I don't like this at all I don't think I ought to have
+let a boy like that go alone.  You don't think, Mr Gurr, that they
+would dare to injure him if he was so unlucky as to be caught?"
+
+"Well, sir," said the master, hesitating, "smugglers are smugglers."
+
+"Mr Gurr," said the little lieutenant, raising himself up on his toes,
+so as to be as high as possible, "will you have the goodness to talk
+sense?"
+
+"Certainly, sir."
+
+"Smugglers are smugglers, indeed.  What did you suppose I thought they
+were?  Oysters?"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; didn't mean any harm."
+
+"Getting very late!" said the little officer after another sweep of the
+top of the cliff, especially above where the French lugger landed the
+goods.  "I shall be obliged to send you on shore, Mr Gurr.  You must go
+and find him.  I'm getting very anxious about Mr Raystoke."
+
+"Start at once, sir?"
+
+"No, wait another half-hour.  Very ill-advised thing to do.  I cannot
+think what you were doing, Mr Gurr, to advise me to do such a thing."
+
+"Me, sir?" said the master, looking astonished.
+
+"Yes.  A great pity.  I ought not to have listened to you; but in my
+anxiety to leave no stone unturned to capture some of these scoundrels,
+I was ready to do anything."
+
+"Very true, sir."
+
+"Now, my good fellow, what do you mean by that?"
+
+"It was only an observation, sir."
+
+"Then I must request that you will not make it again.  `Very true?'  Of
+course, what I say is very true.  Do you think I should say a thing that
+was false?"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir.  'Fraid I picked up some awk'ard expressions aboard
+the old frigate."
+
+"Awk-ward, Mr Gurr, awkward."
+
+"Yes, sir; of course."
+
+"You do not understand the drift of my remarks."
+
+"'Fraid not, sir," said the master, smiling; "understand drift of the
+tide much better."
+
+"Mr Gurr!"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I was trying to teach you to pronounce the king's English correctly,
+and you turn it off with a ribald remark."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir.  'Nother o' my frigate bad habits."
+
+"It is a great privilege, Mr Gurr, to be one of those who speak the
+English tongue, so do not abuse it.  Say awk-ward in future, not
+awk'ard."
+
+"Certainly, sir, I'll try," said the master; and then to himself,
+"Starboard, larboard, for'ard, back'ard, awk'ard.  Why, what does he
+mean?"
+
+By this time the little lieutenant was scanning the cliffs again, and
+the master took off his hat and wiped his forehead.
+
+"Talk about thistles and stinging nettles," he muttered, "why there's no
+bearing him to-day, and all on account of a scamp of a middy such as
+there's a hundred times too many on in the R'yal Navy.  Dunno though;
+bit cocky and nose in air when he's in full uniform, and don't know
+which is head and which is his heels, but he aren't such a very bad sort
+o' boy.  Well, what's the matter with you?"
+
+Dirty Dick screwed up his mouth as if to speak, but only stared.
+
+"Don't turn yourself into a figurehead of an old wreck sir.  What do you
+want?"
+
+"Leave to go ashore, sir."
+
+"Well, you're going soon as the skipper orders."
+
+"I mean all alone by myself, sir."
+
+"What for?  There aren't a public-house for ten miles."
+
+"Didn't mean that."
+
+"Then what did you mean?  Speak out, and don't do the double shuffle all
+over my clean deck."
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Hopping about like a cat on hot bricks.  Now, then, why do you want to
+go ashore?"
+
+"Try and find Mr Raystoke, sir.  Beginning to feel scarred about him."
+
+"What's that?" said the lieutenant, who had come back from abaft
+unheard.  "Scared about whom?"
+
+"Beg pardon, didn't mean nowt, sir," said the sailor touching his
+forelock.
+
+"Yes, you did, sir.  Now look here," cried the lieutenant, shaking his
+glass at the man, "don't you try to deceive me.  You meant that you were
+getting uneasy about Mr Raystoke's prolonged absence."
+
+"Yes sir, that's it," said Dick eagerly.
+
+"Then how dare you have the effrontery to tell me that you did not mean
+`nowt' as you have the confounded north country insolence to call it?
+For two pins, sir,--women's pins, sir, not belaying pins,--I'd have you
+put ashore, with orders not to show your dirty face again till you had
+found Mr Raystoke."
+
+Dirty Dick passed his hand over his face carefully, and then looked at
+the palm to see if any of the swarthy tan had come off.
+
+"Do you hear me, sir?" cried the lieutenant.
+
+"Yes, sir," said the man humbly.  "Shall I go at once sir?"
+
+"No.  Wait.  Keep a sharp look-out on the cliff to see if Mr Raystoke
+is making signals for a boat.  I daresay he has been there all the time,
+only you took up my attention with your chatter."
+
+He swung round, walked aft and began sweeping the shore again with his
+glass, while the master and Dick exchanged glances which meant a great
+deal.
+
+"He is in a wax," said Dick to himself, as he walked to the side, and
+stood shading his eyes with his hands, looking carefully for the signals
+which did not come.
+
+Two hours more passed away, during which it was a dead calm, and the sun
+beat down so hotly that the seams began to send out little black beads
+of pitch, and drops formed under some of the ropes ready to come off on
+the first hand which touched them.
+
+At last the little lieutenant could bear the anxiety no longer.
+
+"Pipe away the men to that boat there," he said; and as the crew sprang
+in.  "Now, Mr Gurr," he said, "I'm only going to say one thing to you
+in the way of instructions."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Will you have the goodness to wait till I have done speaking, Mr Gurr,
+and not compel me to say all I wish over again?"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," said the master deprecatingly.
+
+"I say, sir, I have only one order to give you.  Get ashore as soon as
+you can, and find and bring back Mr Raystoke."
+
+"Yes, sir," cried the master, and he walked over the side, glad to get
+into the boat and push off, muttering the while, "and I always thought
+him such a quiet, amiable little chap.  He's a Tartar; that's what he
+is.  Making all this fuss about a boy who, as like as not, is having a
+game with us.  Don't see me getting out o' temper with everybody, and
+spitting and swearing like a mad Tom-cat.  Hang the boy!  He's on'y a
+middy.--Now, my lads,--now, my lads, put your backs into it, will you?"
+
+The boat was already surging through the water faster than it had ever
+gone before, but the men bent lower and the longer, and the blades of
+the oars made the water flash and foam as they dipped and rose with the
+greatest of regularity.
+
+For the lieutenant's anxiety about the young officer of the _White Hawk_
+was growing more and more contagious, and the men gave a cheer as they
+span the boat along, every smart sailor on board thinking about the
+frank, straightforward lad who had so bravely gone on the risky
+expedition.
+
+"Look ye here, Jemmy," said one of the men to his nearest mate, "talk
+about 'tacking the enemy, if wrong's happened to our young gentleman,
+all I can say is, as I hopes it's orders to land every night to burn
+willages and sack everything we can."
+
+"And so says all of us," came in a chorus from the rest of the crew.
+
+"Steady!  My lads, steady!" cried the master--"keep stroke;" and then he
+began to make plans as to his first proceedings on getting ashore.
+
+He wasn't long in making these plans, and when the cove was reached, the
+two fishing luggers and another boat or two lying there were carefully
+overhauled, Gurr gazing at the men on board like a fierce dog, and
+literally worrying the different fishermen as cleverly as a
+cross-examining counsel would a witness ashore.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+Always the same answer.
+
+No, they hadn't seen no sailor lad in a red cap, only their own boys,
+and they were all at home.  Had he lost one?
+
+Yes; a boy had come ashore and not returned.
+
+The different men questioned chuckled, and one oracular-looking old
+fellow spat, wiped his lips on the back of his hand, stared out to sea,
+and said gruffly,--
+
+"Runned away."
+
+"Ay," said another, "that's it.  You won't see him again."
+
+"Won't I?" muttered Gurr between his teeth.  "I'll let some of you see
+about that, my fine fellows."
+
+He led his men on, stopping at each cluster of cottages and shabby
+little farm to ask suspiciously, as if he felt certain the person he
+questioned was hiding the truth.
+
+But he always came out again to his men with an anxious look in his
+eyes, and generally ranged up alongside of Dick.
+
+"No, my lad," he would say, "they haven't seen 'im there;" and then with
+his head bent down, but his eyes eagerly searching the road from side to
+side, he went on towards Shackle's farm.
+
+"Say, Mester Gurr," said Dick, after one of these searches, "he wouldn't
+run away?"
+
+"What!  Mr Raystoke, sir?  Don't be a fool."
+
+"No, sir," replied Dick humbly, and the men tramped on with a couple of
+open-mouthed, barefooted boys following them to stare at their cutlasses
+and pistols.
+
+"Say, Mester Gurr," ventured Dick, after a pause, "none of 'em wouldn't
+ha' done that, would they?"
+
+Dick had followed the master's look, as he shaded his eyes and stared
+over the green slope which led up to the cliffs.
+
+"What?"
+
+"Chucked him off yonder."
+
+Gurr glanced round to see if the men were looking, and then said rather
+huskily but kindly,--
+
+"In ord'nary, Dick, my lad, no; but when smugglers finds themselves up
+in corners where they can't get away, they turns and fights like rats,
+and when they fights they bites."
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated Dick sadly.
+
+"You're only a common sailor, Dick, and I'm your officer, but though I
+speak sharp unto you, I respect you, Dick, for you like that lad."
+
+"Say, Mester Gurr, sir, which thankful I am to you for speaking so; but
+you don't really think as he has come to harm?"
+
+"I hope not, Dick; I hope not; but smugglers don't stand at anything
+sometimes."
+
+Dick sighed, and then all at once he spat in his fist, rubbed his hands
+together and clenched them, a hard, fierce aspect coming into his rough
+dark face, which seemed to promise severe retaliation if anything had
+happened to the young officer.
+
+There was nowhere else to search as far as Gurr could see, save the
+little farm in the hollow, and the black-looking stone house up on the
+hill among the trees.
+
+Gurr, who looked wonderfully bull-dog like in aspect, made straight for
+the farm, where the first person he encountered was Mrs Shackle, who,
+innocent enough, poor woman, came to the door to bob a curtsey to the
+king's men, while Jemmy Dadd, who was slowly loading a tumbril in whose
+shafts was the sleepy grey horse, stuck his fork down into the heap of
+manure from the cow-sheds, rested his hands on the top and his chin upon
+his hands, to stare and grin at the sailors he recognised.
+
+"Morning, marm," said Gurr; "sorry to trouble you, but--"
+
+"Oh, sir," interrupted Mrs Shackle, "surely you are not going to tumble
+over my house again!  I do assure you there's nothing here but what you
+may see."
+
+"If you'd let me finish, you'd know," said Gurr gruffly.  "One of our
+boys is missing.  Seen him up here?  Boy 'bout seventeen with a red
+cap."
+
+"No, sir; indeed I've not."
+
+"Don't know as he has been seen about here, do you?" said Gurr, looking
+at her searchingly.
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Haven't heard any one talking about him, eh?  Come ashore yesterday."
+
+Mrs Shackle shook her head.
+
+"Thank ye!--No, Dick," continued the master, turning back to where the
+men were waiting, and unconsciously brushing against the bush behind
+which the middy had hidden himself, "that woman knows nothing.  If she
+knew evil had come to the poor lad, her face would tell tales like
+print.  Hi!  You, sir," he said, going towards where Jemmy stood
+grinning.
+
+"Mornin'," said Jemmy; "come arter some more milk?"
+
+"No," growled Gurr.
+
+"Don't want to take the cow away agen, do 'ee?"
+
+"Look here, my lad, one of our boys is missing.  Came ashore yesterday,
+lad of seventeen in a red cap."
+
+"Oh!" said Jemmy with a vacant look.  "Don't mean him as come with you,
+do you?"
+
+"I said a lad 'bout seventeen, in a red cap like yours," said Gurr very
+shortly.
+
+"Aren't seen no lads with no red caps up here," said the man with a
+vacant look.  "Have he runned away?"
+
+"Are you sure you haven't seen him, my lad?" growled Gurr; "because,
+look here, it may be a serious thing for some of you, if he is not
+found."
+
+The man shook his head, and stared as if he didn't half understand the
+drift of what was said.
+
+Gurr turned angrily away, and to find himself facing Dick.
+
+"Well, seen anything suspicious?"
+
+"No, sir," said Dick, "on'y my fingers is a itchin'."
+
+"Scratch them then."
+
+"Nay, you don't understand," grumbled Dick.  "I mean to have a turn at
+that chap, Master Gurr, sir.  I feel as if I had him for 'bout quarter
+hour I could knock something out of him."
+
+"Nonsense!  Come along.  Now, my lads, forward!"
+
+Jemmy Dadd's countenance changed from its vacant aspect to one full of
+cunning, as the party from the cutter moved off, but it became dull and
+semi-idiotic again, for Gurr turned sharply round.
+
+"Here, my lad, where's your master?"
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"I say, where's your master?"
+
+"Aren't in; mebbe he's out in the fields."
+
+Gurr turned away impatiently again, and signing to his men to follow,
+they all began to tramp up the steep track leading toward the Hoze, with
+the rabbits scuttling away among the furze, and showing their white
+cottony tails for a moment as they darted down into their holes.
+
+Dick followed last, shaking his head, and looking very much
+dissatisfied, or kept on looking back at Jemmy, who stood like a statue,
+resting his chin upon the shaft of his pitchfork, watching him go away.
+
+"I dunno," muttered Dick, "and a man can't be sure.  There was nowt to
+see and nowt to hear, and of course one couldn't smell it, but seems to
+me as that ugly-looking fisherman chap knows where our Mr Raystoke is.
+Yah, I hates half-bred uns!  If a man's a labourer, let him be a
+labourer; and if he's a fisherman, let him be a fisherman.  Man can't be
+two things, and it looks queer."
+
+An argument which did not have much force when self-applied, for Dick
+suddenly recollected that he was very skilful with the scissors, and
+knew that he was the regular barber of the crew, and as this came to his
+mind he took off his cap and gave his head a vicious scratch.
+
+"Never mind the rabbits, lads," cried Gurr angrily; "we want to find Mr
+Raystoke."
+
+The men closed up together, and mastered their desire to go hunting, to
+make a change from the salt beef and pork fare, and soon after they came
+suddenly upon Sir Risdon and his lady, the latter, who looked weak and
+ill, leaning on her husband's arm.
+
+Gurr saluted, and stated his business, while the baronet, who had turned
+sallower and more careworn than his lot drew a breath full of relief.
+
+"One of your ship boys?" he said.
+
+"A lad, looking like a common sailor, and wearing a red cap."
+
+"No," said Sir Risdon.  "I have seen no one answering to the description
+here."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, but can you, as a gentleman, assure me that he is not
+here?"
+
+"Certainly," said Sir Risdon.  "You have seen no one?" he continued,
+turning to Lady Graeme.
+
+The lady shook her head.
+
+"That's enough, sir; but may I ask you, if you do see or hear anything
+of such a lad, you will send a messenger off to the cutter?"
+
+"It is hardly right to enlist me in the search for one of your
+deserters," said Sir Risdon coldly.
+
+"Yes, sir, but he is not a deserter; and the fact is, we are afraid the
+lad has run alongside o' the smugglers, and come to grief."
+
+"Surely!" cried Sir Risdon excitedly.  "No, no,--you must be mistaken.
+A boyish prank.  No one about here would injure a boy."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated Gurr, looking at the baronet searchingly.  "Glad you
+think so well of 'em, sir.  But I suppose you'll grant that the people
+about here would not be above a bit of smuggling?"
+
+Sir Risdon was silent.
+
+"And would run a cargo of brandy or silk?"
+
+"I suppose there is a good deal of smuggling on the coast," said Sir
+Risdon coldly, as he thought of his vault.
+
+"Yes sir, there is, and it will go hard with the people who are caught
+having any dealings with the smugglers."
+
+Lady Graeme looked ghastly.
+
+"What would you say, sir, if I were to order my men, in the king's name,
+to search your place?"
+
+Sir Risdon dared not trust himself to speak, but darted an agonised
+glance at his wife.
+
+"However, sir, I'm not on that sort of business now," continued Gurr
+sternly.  "Want to find that boy.  Good day.  Now, my lads."
+
+The men marched off, and Sir Risdon stood watching them.
+
+"Ah, Risdon," and Lady Graeme, "how could you let yourself be dragged
+into these dreadful deeds!"
+
+"Don't blame me," he said sadly.  "I loathe the whole business, but when
+I saw my wife and child suffering almost from want of the very
+necessaries of life, and the temptation came in the shape of presents
+from that man, I could not resist--I was too weak.  I listened to his
+insidious persuasion, and tried to make myself believe that I was
+guiltless, as I owned no fealty to King George.  But I am justly
+punished, and never again will I allow myself to be made an accessory to
+these lawless deeds."
+
+"But tell me," she whispered, "have they any of their goods secreted
+there now?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"You do not know?"
+
+"No.  The only way in which I could allow myself to act was to keep
+myself in complete ignorance of the going and coming of these people.  I
+might suspect, but I would never satisfy myself by watching; and I can
+say now honestly, I do not know whether they have still goods lying
+there or have taken them away."
+
+"But Celia--keep it from her."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"And about the missing boy.  Surely, Risdon, they would not--"
+
+Lady Graeme did not finish, but gave her husband a piercing look.
+
+"Don't ask me," he said sadly.  "Many of the men engaged in the
+smuggling are desperate wretches, and if they feared betrayal they would
+not scruple, I'm afraid, to strike down any one in the way of their
+escape."
+
+Lady Graeme shuddered, and they went together into the house, just as
+Celia came across the wood at the back, in company with the dog.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+Gurr continued his search till it was quite dark, and then tramped his
+men back to the cove, where the boat-keeper was summoned, and the boat
+with her crew, saving Dick, were sent back to the cutter, one of the men
+bearing a message from Gurr to say that he was going to stay ashore till
+he had found Mr Raystoke, and asking the lieutenant to send the boat
+back for him if he did not approve.
+
+It was a very dark row back to the cutter, but her lights shone out
+clearly over the smooth sea, forming good beacons for the men to follow
+till the boat was run alongside.
+
+"Got them, Mr Gurr?" came from the deck.
+
+"No sir, and Mr Gurr's stopping at one of the fishermen's cottages
+ashore to keep on the search."
+
+"Tut, tut!" ejaculated the lieutenant as he turned away and began to
+pace the deck.
+
+"Beg'n' pardon, sir, Mr Gurr said--"
+
+"Well, well, well, what did Mr Gurr say?  Pity he did not do more and
+not say so much."
+
+"Said as his dooty, sir, and would you send the boat for him if you did
+not think he'd done right."
+
+"No, sir!  His Majesty's boats are wanted for other purposes than
+running to and fro to fetch him aboard.  Let him stay where he is till
+he finds Mr Raystoke and brings him back aboard."
+
+"Dear, dear," muttered the lieutenant as he walked to and fro.  "To
+think of the boy being missing like this.--Now you, sirs, in with that
+boat.--Where can he be?  Not the lad to go off on any prank.--There, go
+below and get something to eat, my lads.--All comes of being sent into a
+miserable little boat like this to hunt smugglers."
+
+"Ahoy!" came from forward.
+
+"What's that?" cried the lieutenant, and an answer came from out of the
+blackness ahead.
+
+"What boat's that?" shouted the man on the watch.  "Mine," came in a low
+growl.  "What is it?"
+
+"Want to see the skipper."
+
+There was a little bustle forward, in the midst of which a boat came up
+alongside, and the man in it was allowed to come on board.
+
+He was a big, broad-shouldered, heavy fellow, with rough black beard and
+dark eyes, which glowered at those around as a lanthorn was held up by
+one of the men.  "Where's the skipper?" he growled.  "Bring the man
+aft," cried the lieutenant.  "This way."
+
+"All right, mate; I can find my way; I aren't a baby," said the man as
+he took three or four strides, lifting up his big fisherman's boots, and
+setting them heavily down upon the deck as if they were something
+separate from him which he had brought on board.
+
+"Now, my man, brought news of him?" cried the lieutenant eagerly.  "Eh?"
+
+And the great fellow seemed to tower over the little commander.
+
+"I say, have you brought news of the boy?"
+
+"What boy?"
+
+"Haven't you come to tell me where he is?"
+
+"Here, what yer talking about?" growled the man.  "I aren't come 'bout
+no boys."
+
+"Then, pray, why have you come?"
+
+"Send them away," said the man in a hoarse whisper.
+
+He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, and the lieutenant was about to
+give an order but altered his mind, for he suspected the man's mission,
+not an unusual one in those days.
+
+"Come into my cabin, sir," he said imperiously, and as he turned and
+strutted off, making the most of his inches, the giant--for such he was
+by comparison--stumbled after him, making the deck echo to the sound of
+his great boots.
+
+"Now, sir," said the lieutenant haughtily, "what is your business?"
+
+The man leaned forward, and there was a leer on his bearded face seen by
+the dull swinging oil-lamp, as, half covering his mouth, he whispered
+hoarsely behind his hands--
+
+"Like Hollands gin, master?"
+
+"What do you mean, sir?" cried the lieutenant.  "Speak out, for I have
+no time to lose."
+
+"Oh, I'll speak plainly enough," growled the man; "on'y do you like it?"
+
+"Do you mean that a foreign vessel is going to land a quantity of
+Hollands to-night?"
+
+"Never said nothing o' the sort, Master Orficer.  Why, if I was to come
+and say a thing like that, and folks ashore knowed on it, there'd be a
+haxiden."
+
+"What do you mean, sir?"
+
+"Some un would run up agin me atop o' the cliff, and I should go over,
+and there'd be an end o' me."
+
+"You mean to say that if it was known that you informed, you would be in
+peril of your life?"
+
+"No, I don't mean to say nothing o' the kind, master.  I only says to
+you that there's going to be a drop to be got in a place I knows, and if
+you care to say to a chap like me--never you mind who he is--show me
+where this drop of Hollands gin is to be got, and I'll give you--for
+him, you know--fifty pounds, it would be done."
+
+"Look here, my lad, if you have got any valuable information to give,
+wouldn't it be better for you to speak out plainly?"
+
+"Didn't come twenty mile in my boat and get here in the dark, for you to
+teach me how to ketch fish, Master Orficer."
+
+"Twenty miles!" said the lieutenant sharply; "where are you from?"
+
+"Out o' my boat as is made fast 'longside.  Is it fifty pound or aren't
+it?"
+
+"Fifty pound is a great deal of money, my man.  Your information may not
+be worth fifty pence.  Suppose the boat does not come?"
+
+"Why, o' course, you wouldn't pay."
+
+"Oh, now I understand you.  If we take the boat with the spirits I am to
+give you fifty pounds?"
+
+"Me?  Think I'm goin' to be fool enough to risk gettin' my neck broke
+for fifty pound?  Nay, not me.  You'll give it to me to give to him."
+
+"And where is he?"
+
+"Never you mind, master."
+
+"Oh, well, there then; I'll give you the fifty pounds if I take the
+boat.  Dutch?"
+
+"P'raps.  Shake hands on it."
+
+"Is that necessary?" said the lieutenant, glancing with distaste at the
+great outstretched palm.
+
+"Ay, shake hands on it, and you being a gentleman, you'll say, 'pon your
+honour."
+
+"Oh, very well.  There, upon my honour, we'll pay you if we take the
+boat."
+
+"Oh you'll take her, fast enough," said the man with a hoarse chuckle.
+"Yah!  There's no fight in them.  They'll chatter and jabber a bit, and
+their skipper'll swear he'll do all sorts o' things, but you stick to
+the boat as soon as your lads are on board."
+
+"Trust me for that," said the lieutenant.  "Now, then, when is the cargo
+to be run?"
+
+"T'night."
+
+"And where?"
+
+"Never you mind wheer.  Get up your anchor, and make sail; I'll take the
+helm."
+
+"What, do you think I am going to let a strange man pilot my vessel?"
+
+"Yah!" growled the man; "shan't you be there, and if I come any games,
+you've got pistols, aren't you?  But just as you like."
+
+"Come on deck," said the lieutenant.  "But one minute.  I have lost a
+boy--gone ashore.  Have you seen one?"
+
+"Not I; lots o' boys about, soon get another!"
+
+The man went clumping on deck, and stepped over the side into his boat.
+
+"What are you going to do?" said the lieutenant sharply.
+
+"Make her fast astarn."
+
+"Well, you need not have got into her, you could have led her round."
+
+"This here's my way," said the man; and as the order was given to slip
+the anchor, with a small buoy left to mark its place, the informer
+secured his boat to one of the ringbolts astern, and then drew close in;
+and mounted over the bulwark to stand beside the man at the helm.
+
+"What do you propose doing?" said the lieutenant.
+
+"Tellin' o' you what I wants done, and then you tells your lads."
+
+The lieutenant nodded, and in obedience to the suggestion of the man the
+stay-sail was hoisted; then up went the mainsail and jib, and the little
+cutter careened over to the soft land breeze as soon as she got a little
+way out from under the cliffs, which soon became invisible.
+
+"Why, you aren't dowsed your lanthorns," whispered the man.  "I'd have
+them down, and next time you have time just have down all your canvas,
+and get it tanned brown.  Going about with lanthorns and white canvas is
+showing everybody where you are."
+
+After a time, as they glided on, catching a glimpse of a twinkling light
+or two on the shore, the man grew a little more communicative, and began
+to whisper bits of information and advice to the lieutenant.
+
+"Tells me," he said, "that she's choke full o' Hollands gin and lace."
+
+"Indeed!" said the lieutenant eagerly.
+
+"Ay, so that chap says.  And there's plenty o' time, but after a bit I'd
+sarve out pistols and cutlasses to the lads; you won't have to use 'em,
+but it'll keep those Dutchies from showing fight."
+
+"That will all be done, my man."
+
+"Going to get out four or five mile, master, and then we can head round,
+and get clear o' the long race and the skerries.  After that I shall run
+in, and we'll creep along under the land.  Good deep water for
+five-and-twenty miles there close under the cliff."
+
+"Then you are making for Clayblack Bay?"
+
+"Ah, you'll see," said the man surlily.  "As long as you get to where
+you can overhaul the boat when she comes in, you won't mind where it is,
+Mister Orficer.  There's no rocks to get on, unless you run ashore, and
+'tarn't so dark as you need do that, eh?"
+
+"I can take care of that," said the lieutenant sharply; and the cutter,
+now well out in the north-east wind then blowing, leaned over, and
+skimmed rapidly towards the dark sea.
+
+The reef that stretched out from a point, and formed the race where the
+tide struck against the submerged rocks, and then rushed out at right
+angles to the shore, had been passed, and the cutter was steered on
+again through the clear dark night, slowly drawing nearer the dark shore
+line, till she was well in under the cliffs; with the result that the
+speed was considerably checked, but she was able to glide along at a
+short distance from the land, and without doubt invisible to any vessel
+at sea.
+
+"There," said the great rough fellow, after three hours' sailing; "we're
+getting pretty close now.  Bay opens just beyond that rock."
+
+"Where I'll lie close in, and wait for her," said the lieutenant.
+
+The man laughed softly.
+
+"Thought I--I mean him--was to get fifty pounds, if you took the boat?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, you must take her.  Know what would happen if you went round that
+point into the bay?"
+
+"Know what would happen?"
+
+"I'll tell yer.  Soon as you got round into the bay, some o' them ashore
+would see yer.  Then up would go lights somewhere yonder on the hills,
+and the boat would go back."
+
+"Of course.  I ought to have known better.  Wait here then?"
+
+"Well, I should, if I wanted to take her," said the man coldly.  "And I
+should have both my boats ready for my men to jump in, and cut her off
+as soon as she gets close in to the beach.  She'll come on just as the
+tide's turning, so as to have no fear of being left aground."
+
+"You seem to know a good deal about it, my lad?" said the little
+lieutenant.
+
+"Good job for you," was the reply, as the sails were lowered, and the
+cutter lay close in under the cliff waiting.  The boats were down, the
+men armed, and the guns loaded, ready in case the smuggler vessel should
+attempt to escape.
+
+Then followed a long and patient watch, in the most utter silence; for,
+in the stillness of such a calm night a voice travels far, and the
+lieutenant knew that a strange sound would be sufficient to alarm those
+for whom he was waiting, and send the boat away again to sea.  He might
+overtake her, but would more probably lose her in the darkness, and see
+her at daybreak perhaps well within reach of a port where he dare not
+follow.
+
+It was darker now, for clouds had come like a veil over the bright
+stars, but the night was singularly clear and transparent, as soon after
+eight bells the informer crept silently up to where the lieutenant was
+trying to make out the approach of the expected vessel.
+
+The little officer started as the man touched his elbow, so silently had
+he approached, and on looking down, he dimly made out that the man had
+divested himself of his heavy boots.
+
+"Do be quiet, master," whispered the great fellow.  "Can't 'ford to lose
+fifty pounds for fear o' getting one's feet cold.  See anything?"
+
+"No," whispered the lieutenant, after sweeping his glass round.
+
+"Tide serves, and she can't be long now.  But two o' your chaps keep
+whispering for'ard, and it comes back off the cliff.  No, no--don't
+shout at 'em.  We daren't have a sound."
+
+"No," replied the lieutenant; and he went softly forward toward where a
+group of men were leaning over the bulwarks, peering into the darkness
+and listening to the tide as it gurgled in and out of the rocks, little
+more than a hundred yards away.
+
+"Strict silence, my lads, and the moment you get the word, over into
+your boats and lay ready.  Are those rowlocks muffled?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" said the boatswain, who was to be in command of one of
+the boats.
+
+"No bloodshed, my lads.  Knock any man down who resists.  Five minutes
+after you leave the side here ought to make the smuggler ours.  Hush!
+Keep your cheering till you've taken the boat."
+
+A low murmur ran round the side of the cutter, and every eye was
+strained as the little officer whispered,--
+
+"A crown for the first man who sights her."
+
+After a while, the lieutenant mentally said,--
+
+"I wish Mr Raystoke was here, he and Gurr could go in the other boat.
+I wonder where the lad can be!"
+
+He went cautiously aft along the starboard side of his vessel, looking
+hard at the frowning mass of darkness under which they lay, and thinking
+how dangerous their position would have been had the wind blown from the
+opposite quarter.  But now they were in complete shelter, with the
+little cutter rising and falling softly on the gentle swell and drifting
+slowly with the tide, so that the _White Hawk's_ head was pointing
+seaward.
+
+He glanced over the side to see that the boats were in readiness, and
+then went aft without a sound, till all at once he kicked against
+something in the darkness beneath the larboard bulwark, to which he had
+crossed, and nearly fell headlong.
+
+"What's--here?  Who was--Oh, it's those confounded boots.  Hush, there;
+silence!"
+
+He said the last words hastily, for the crew made noise enough to
+startle any one within range, and the sound: were being followed by the
+hurried whisper of those who came running aft.
+
+"Back to your places, every one," he said; and then the men drew off,
+becoming invisible almost directly, for the darkness was now intense,
+the lanthorns carefully hidden below, and once more all was still, and
+the little office rested his glass on the bulwark and carefully swept
+the sea.
+
+"Stupid idiot!" he said to himself.  "Lucky for him he isn't one of the
+crew.  No, not a sign of anything."
+
+But knowing that seeing was limited enough, he put his hand to his ear
+and stood leaning over the side, listening for a full ten minutes,
+before, with an impatient ejaculation, he turned to speak to the
+informer, who was not aft but probably forward among the men.
+
+He walked forward.
+
+"Where's that man?" he whispered to the first sailor he encountered,
+who, like the rest, was eagerly watching seaward.
+
+"Went aft, sir."
+
+The little officer went aft, but the fisherman was not there, and he
+passed back along the starboard side, going right forward among the
+crew.
+
+"Where is the fisherman?" he said.
+
+"Went aft, sir," came from every one he encountered; and, feeling
+annoyed at the trouble it gave him, Mr Brough went aft again, to notice
+now that there was no man at the helm.
+
+He walked forward again.
+
+"Here!" he cried in an angry whisper, "who was at the helm?"
+
+"I, your honour," said a voice.
+
+"Then why are you here, sir?"
+
+"That fisherman chap told me you said I was to go forward, sir, as he'd
+take a spell now, ready for running her round the head into the bay."
+
+"Where is that man?"
+
+There was no reply, and more quickly than he had moved for months, the
+lieutenant trotted aft, and looked over the stern for the fisherman's
+boat.
+
+It was gone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+Lieutenant brough went into a fit of passion.  Not a noisy, sea-going
+fit of passion, full of loud words, such as are not found in
+dictionaries, but a rising and falling, swelling and collapsing, silent
+fit of passion, as moment by moment he realised more and more that he
+had been victimised, and that he had been sent forward to quiet the men
+so as to give the big rough fellow an opportunity to creep over into his
+boat and cut the painter by which it was made fast, and let it glide
+away on the tide till it was safe to thrust an oar over astern, and,
+using it like a fish does its tail, paddle softly away close under the
+rocks to some hole, or perhaps round into the bay.
+
+For a moment the lieutenant thought of manning the boats and sending in
+pursuit, but he knew that such an act would be madness; and, accepting
+his position, he suddenly gave the order for four men to go into each
+boat, and begin to tow the cutter, while a few of the crew put out the
+sweeps to get her a little farther from the cliff to catch the breeze.
+
+Half an hour later the boats were ordered in, sail was being set, and
+the cutter was again moving swiftly through the water.
+
+But the wind was dead ahead now, and though the _White Hawk_ could use
+her wings well even in such a breeze, and sail very close, it was far
+different work getting back to coming away.
+
+The men were not forbidden to talk, and they were not long in grasping
+the situation, while their commanding officer went up and down the deck,
+fuming and taking himself to task more seriously than any captain had
+done since he first went to sea.
+
+"Only to think of me, after what I have learned of their shifts and
+tricks, letting myself be taken in by such a transparent dodge.  Oh,
+it's maddening!"
+
+He looked up at the sails, and longed to clap on more, but it was
+useless.  The little craft was doing her best, and the water surged
+under her bow as she took a long stretch seaward, before tacking for the
+land.
+
+"There's not a doubt of it," muttered the lieutenant.  "I know it--I'm
+sure of it.  I deserve to lose my rank.  How could I have been such a
+blind, idiotic baby!"
+
+He was obliged to confess, though, that the trick, if such it proved to
+be, had been well planned and executed, and the stipulation of the man
+that he should be paid fifty pounds if the boat was captured had
+completely thrown dust into his eyes.
+
+More than once, as the cutter rushed on through the darkness, he found
+himself wondering whether, after all, he was wrong, and that the man had
+slipped away, so as to avoid being recognised when the smuggling vessel
+was captured, for, if seen, he would be a marked man.
+
+"And, perhaps, in a few minutes, the smuggler would have been coming
+into the little bay, I should have taken her, redeemed my reputation,
+been looked upon as a smart officer, my crew would have got a nice bit
+of prize money, and the fellow would have come stealthily some night for
+his reward.--I've done wrong.  Would there be time to go back?"
+
+He was on the point of bidding the men "'bout ship," when a firm belief
+in his having been cheated came over him, and he kept on.
+
+Then there was another season of doubt--and then of assurance--another
+of doubt, till the poor little fellow grew half bewildered, and gazed
+around, longing for the daylight and his old moorings, so that he might
+send a boat ashore, and carefully examine the ground, to see if he could
+trace any signs of landing having gone on.
+
+At last, just at daybreak, the cutter was about to make a dash, and run
+right down for her old berth, when one of the men shouted "Sail ho!"
+
+He raised his glass, and there, hull down, were the three masts of a
+lugger, a Frenchman without a doubt, and his suspicions had their just
+confirmation.
+
+His immediate thought was to give chase, but the swift sailing vessel
+was well away with a favourable wind, and she would most probably get
+across the Channel before he could overtake her, and even if he were so
+lucky as to catch up to her, what then?  She would not have a keg or
+bale on board which would give him an excuse for detaining her; and
+wrinkling up his brow, he went on more satisfied that he had been
+deluded away, so as to give the _chasse maree_ an opportunity to come in
+and rapidly run her cargo.
+
+He saw it all now.  No sooner had he passed round the race, than lights
+had been shown, and the lugger was run in.  He felt as certain as if he
+had seen everything, and he ground his teeth with vexation.
+
+"Wait till I get my chance!" he muttered.  "I'll sink the first smuggler
+I meet; and as to that blackavised scoundrel who came and cheated me as
+he did--oh, if I could only see him hung!"
+
+A couple of hours later, after seeing the lugger's masts and sails
+slowly disappear, the cutter was once more at her old moorings, and
+leaving the boatswain in charge, the lieutenant had himself rowed
+ashore, to land upon the ledge, and carefully search the rocks for some
+sight of a cargo having been landed.
+
+But the smugglers and their shore friends had been more careful this
+time, and search where they would, the cutter's men could find no traces
+of anything of the kind, and the lieutenant had himself rowed back to
+the cutter, keeping the boat alongside, ready to send along shore to the
+cove to seek for tidings of Gurr and Dick but altering his mind, he had
+the little vessel unmoored once more to run back the six miles along the
+coast till the cutter was abreast of the cove,--the first place where it
+seemed possible for a boat to land,--and here he sent a crew ashore to
+bring his two men off.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+"How many horses has your father got?"
+
+"Three."
+
+"What colour are they?"
+
+"Black, white, and grey."
+
+"Turn round three times, and catch whom you may."
+
+That, as everyone knows, is the classical way of beginning the game of
+Blind Man's Buff; and supposing that the blinded man _pro tem_, is
+properly bandaged, and cannot get a squint of light up by the side of
+his nose, and also supposing that he confuses himself by turning round
+the proper number of times honestly, he will be in profound darkness,
+and in utter ignorance of the direction of door, window, or the salient
+objects in the room.
+
+Take another case.  Suppose a lad to have eaten a hearty supper of some
+particularly hard pastry.  The probabilities are that he will either
+have the peculiar form of dream known as nightmare, or some time in the
+night he will get out of bed, and go wandering about his room in the
+darkness, to awake at last, cold, confused, and asking himself where he
+is, without the slightest ability to give a reasonable answer to his
+question.
+
+It has fallen to the lot of some people to be lost in a fog--words,
+these, which can only be appreciated by those who have passed through a
+similar experience.
+
+The writer has gone through these experiences more than once, and fully
+realised the peculiar sensation of helplessness, confusion, and brain
+numbing which follows.  Dark as pitch is mostly a figure of speech, for
+the obscurity is generally relieved by something in the form of dull
+light which does enable a person to see his hand before him; but the
+blackness around, when Archibald Raystoke began to come back to his
+senses, would have left pitch far behind as to depth of tint.
+
+His head ached, and there was a feeling in it suggestive of the contents
+having been turned into brain-fritters in a pan--fritters which had
+bubbled and turned brown, and then been burned till they were quite
+black.
+
+He opened his eyes, and then put his hands up to feel if they were open.
+
+They were undoubtedly, and he hurt them in making the test, for he half
+fancied, and he had a confused notion, that a great handkerchief had
+been tied over them.  But though they were undoubtedly open he could not
+see.  In fact, when he closed them, strange as it may sound, he felt as
+if he could see better, for there were a number of little spots of light
+sailing up and down and round and round, like the tiny sparks seen in
+tinder before the fire which has consumed is quite extinct.
+
+He lay still, not thinking but trying to think, for his mind was in the
+condition described by the little girl who, suffering from a cold, said,
+"Please, ma, one side of my nose won't go."
+
+Archy Raystoke's mind would not go, and for a long time he lay
+motionless.
+
+His memory began to work again in his back, for he gradually became
+conscious of feeling something there, and after suffering the
+inconvenience for a long time, he thrust his hand under his spine and
+drew out a piece of iron, sharp-edged and round like a hoop.
+
+He felt better after that, and fell to wondering why he had brought his
+little hoop to bed with him, and also how it was that his little hoop,
+which he used to trundle, had become iron instead of wood.
+
+The exertion of moving the hoop made him wince, for his back was sore
+and his arms felt strained as if he had been beaten.
+
+His mind began "to go" a little more, and he had to turn back mentally;
+but he could not do that, so he made an effort to go forward, and
+wondered how soon it would be morning, and the window curtains at the
+foot of the bed would show streaks of sunshine between.
+
+Time passed on and he still lay perfectly quiet, for he did not feel the
+slightest inclination to move after his late efforts, which had produced
+a sensation of the interior of his skull beginning to bubble up with
+fire or hot lead rolling about.  But as that pain declined he felt cold,
+and after a great deal of hesitation he suddenly stretched out his hands
+to pull up the clothes.
+
+There were none.
+
+His natural inference had been, as he was lying there upon his back,
+that he must be in bed; but now he found that, though there were no
+bed-clothes, he was wearing his own, only upon feeling about with no
+little pain they did not seem like his clothes.
+
+That was as far as he could get then, but some time after there came a
+gleam of light in his understanding, and he recalled the mists that hung
+about the Channel.
+
+Of course he was in one of those thick mists, and he had gone to sleep
+on--on--what had he gone to sleep on?
+
+The light died out, and it was a long time before, like a flash, came
+the answer.
+
+The deck of the cutter!
+
+He made a movement to start up in horror, for he knew that he must have
+gone to steep during his watch, and his pain and stiffness were like a
+punishment for doing so disgraceful a thing.
+
+"What will Mr Brough say if he knows?" he thought, and then he groaned,
+for the pain caused by the movement was unbearable.
+
+At last his mind began to clear, and he set himself to wonder with more
+force.  This was not the deck, for he could feel that he was lying on
+what was like an old sail, and where his hand lay was not wood, but cold
+hard stone, with a big crack full of small scraps.
+
+The lad shook his head and then uttered a low moan, for the pain was
+terrible.
+
+It died off though as he lay, still trying hard to think, failing--
+trying in a half dreamy way, and finally thrilling all over, for he
+remembered everything now--the smugglers--the scene in the darkness of
+the room where he was imprisoned--the coming of that boy who jeered at
+him till they engaged in a fierce struggle, with the result all plainly
+pictured, till he was stunned or had swooned away.
+
+These thoughts were almost enough to stun him again, and he lay there
+with a hot sensation of rage against the treacherous young scoundrel who
+had lured him on to that struggle, and held him so thoroughly fixed
+against the bars till he was secured and bound.  Yes, and his eyes were
+bandaged.  He could recall it now.
+
+"Oh, only wait till I get my chance!" he muttered, and he involuntarily
+clenched his fists.
+
+He lay perfectly quiet again though, for he found that any exertion
+brought on mental confusion as well as pain, and he wanted to think
+about his position.
+
+It came by degrees more and more, and as he was able to think with
+greater clearness, he found an explanation of the fancy he had felt,
+that he must be ill and sea-sick again, and that somebody had been
+giving him brandy.
+
+Part was fevered imagination, part was reality, for there could be no
+doubt about that faint odour of spirits.  It was brandy, but brandy in
+smuggled kegs, and the scoundrels of smugglers had shut him up in the
+vault with their kegs.
+
+"Well, they have not killed me," he said to himself with a little laugh.
+"They dared not try that, and all I have to do now is to escape, if Mr
+Brough does not send the lads to fetch me out."
+
+He went through the whole time now since his landing; thought of what a
+disgraceful thing it was for a titled gentleman to mix himself up with
+smuggling, and what a revelation he would have for the lieutenant and
+the master who had been so easily deluded by Sir Risdon's bearing.
+
+Then he thought of Celia, and how bright and innocent she had seemed;
+putting away all thoughts of her, however, directly as his angry feeling
+increased against Ram and this treacherous girl.
+
+He must have been for hours thinking, often in a drowsy, half-confused
+way, but rousing up from time to time to feel his resentment growing
+against Ram, who seemed to him now to be the personification of the
+whole smuggling gang.
+
+By degrees he grew conscious of a fresh pain, one that was certainly not
+produced by his late struggles, or by stiffness from lying upon an old
+sail stretched upon the damp floor of a vault.
+
+As he thought this last, he asked himself why he called it the damp
+floor of a vault.  For it was not damp, but perfectly dry, and below the
+scraps of stone in the seam there was fine dust.
+
+But the said pain was increasing, and there was no mistaking it.  He was
+hungry, decidedly hungry; and paradoxically, as he grew better he grew
+worse, the pain in the head being condensed in a more central region,
+where nature carries on a kind of factory of bone, muscle, flesh, blood,
+and generally health and strength.
+
+Suddenly Archy recalled that his legs had been bound, and he sat up to
+find that they were free now, and if he liked he could rise and go to
+the grated window and call for help.
+
+"If I do, they'll come down and stuff a handkerchief in my mouth again,"
+he thought, "and it is no use to do that.  I may as well wait till I
+hear our men's voices, and then I'll soon let them know where I am."
+
+He got on his feet, feeling stiff and uncomfortable, and then tried to
+make out where the grated window was, but the darkness was absolute, and
+he stretched out one foot and his hands, as he began to move cautiously
+along, feeling his way till he kicked against a loose stone.
+
+This arrested him, and he tried in another direction for his foot to
+come in contact with what seemed to be round, and proved to be a spar
+lying in company with some carefully folded and rope-bound sails.
+
+"The old rascal!" thought Archy, as he mentally pictured the stern, sad
+countenance of Sir Risdon.
+
+"Why, he must have a lugger of his own, and keep his stores in here."
+
+A little feeling about convinced him that the window of the vault could
+not be behind the pile of boat-gear against which he had stumbled, and
+he moved slowly of!  Again, to stop at the end of a yard or two, feeling
+about with one foot.
+
+"Why, I'm not shut up!" he cried joyously.  "I'm out on the ledge.  They
+must have laid me here to be fetched off by the boat.  Suppose the tide
+had risen while I was asleep!"
+
+But the joyous feeling went off as he stared about him.  It had been
+dark enough in a dense fog, but it did not feel dark and cold now, as if
+there was a dense fog.  Everything seemed dry, and though he listened
+attentively, he could not hear the washing of the waves among the rocks,
+nor smell the cool, moist, sea-weedy odour of the coast.  Instead of
+that a most unmistakable smell of brandy came into his nostrils.
+
+And yet he seemed to be standing on that ledge close down to the water,
+for as he stooped down now he could trace with his hand one of the huge,
+curled-up shell-fish turned to the stone in which it was embedded,
+while, as he felt about, there was another and another larger still.
+
+He listened again.
+
+No; he was not on the seashore.  He must be in the vault beneath Sir
+Risdon's house, and though he had not noticed it, the floor must be
+paved with a layer of stones similar to those found where the little
+kegs had been left.
+
+He went cautiously on with outstretched hands through the intense
+darkness, and his feet traced the flat curls of stone again and again,
+but he did not find any wall, and now, as he made up his mind to go back
+to where he had been when he first awoke, he found that he had not the
+faintest idea as to which direction he ought to take.
+
+As he grew more able to move and act, the sense of confusion which
+suddenly arrested him was terrible--almost maddening.
+
+Where was he?  What was here on all sides?  It could not be the cellar,
+as he went in one direction or the other toward the walls, and he stood
+at last resting, in the most utter bewilderment of mind and helplessness
+of body possible to conceive, while a curious feeling of awe began to
+steal over him.
+
+The smugglers had not dared to kill him or throw him into the sea, as he
+had heard of them doing on more than one occasion, but as far as he
+could make out they had cast him down into some terrible place to die.
+
+The idea was terrible, and unable to contain himself he took a step or
+two in one direction, then in another, and stopped short, not daring to
+stir for fear some awful chasm such as he had seen among the rocks
+should be yawning at his feet, and he should fall headlong down.
+
+He stopped to wipe the cold perspiration away that was gathering on his
+brow, and then, trying to keep himself cool, he stood thinking, and
+finally, in utter weariness, sat down.
+
+"I wish I wasn't such a coward," said the young midshipman, half aloud.
+"It's like being a child to be frightened because it's dark.  What's
+that!"
+
+He started up.
+
+"_That_" was a gleam of light some distance off, shining on the rugged
+walls of a vast chamber or set of chambers.  He could only dimly see
+this, for the light was but feeble, and the bearer hidden behind the
+rugged pillars which supported the roof; but it was evidently coming
+nearer, and as it approached he could see that he was in a vast
+cavernous, flat-ceiled place, which appeared to have been a quarry, from
+which masses of stone had been hewn, the floor here and there being
+littered with refuse of all sorts and sizes.
+
+As the light came on, the midshipman made out that quite a store of
+spars, ropes, and blocks lay at a short distance, and that more dimly
+seen was a large stack of tubs, from which doubtless emanated the odour
+of brandy.
+
+Archy's first idea was to go and meet the bearers of the light, but on
+second thoughts he decided to stand upon his dignity and let them come
+to him, and as the thought occurred to him that the visit might be of an
+inimical nature, his hand stole into his breast in search of his dirk.
+Vainly though: the weapon was gone.
+
+All this time, as if the bearers were coming very leisurely, the light
+slowly approached, and as the midshipman more fully grasped the fact
+that he must be either in a stone quarry or a mine, he saw that the
+light was an ordinary horn lanthorn, and from the shadows it cast he
+could see that there were two people, one of whom was carrying something
+weighty on his shoulders.
+
+This soon resolved itself into four kegs, slung two and two, the bearer
+panting under their weight, while his companion held the light low down,
+so that he could see where to plant his feet and avoid the corners of
+the huge square pillars which supported the roof.
+
+Neither of the pair seemed to pay any attention to him; in fact, the
+midshipman was doubtful whether he was seen as he stood back waiting
+till they had passed him, and then hesitated as to whether he should
+make for the entrance and escape.
+
+Through the black darkness, not knowing which way he should go, perhaps
+to fall down some shaft such as was sure to be in a place like this?
+No; he could not risk the journey without a light, and he stood waiting
+and trying to make out the shadowy figures, one of whom looked strangely
+uncouth beneath his load, while the other was quite short.
+
+Archy had not long to wait before the pair halted by the stack of kegs,
+to which the four carried by the man were added, and this done they
+turned and came toward him.
+
+At this moment, after excitedly watching them, the midshipman became
+convinced.
+
+The bearer of the lanthorn was his young enemy--the boy.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+Raystoke looked round him for a weapon, but the only thing visible was a
+stone, and not feeling disposed to descend to such a barbarous means of
+offence or defence, he drew himself up, burning with indignation, but
+waiting for the others to commence speaking.
+
+He had not long to wait.
+
+"Hullo, sailor!" cried Ram; "like some milk?"
+
+"You rascal!" burst out Archy, taking a step toward the lad, but feeling
+directly a strong hand upon his arm to hold him back.
+
+"What's the matter?" growled the owner of the hand.
+
+"The matter will be that you two will be hung at the yardarm some fine
+morning.  How dare you shut me up in this hole?"
+
+"Hung for shutting you up here?" cried the boy.  "We shall have to hang
+him then, Jemmy, after all."
+
+"Ay, lad," said the man.  "When'll we do it; now?"
+
+"Now!" cried the midshipman.  "Do you think you are going to frighten me
+with such talk?  Show me the way out of this place directly."
+
+"Ram, lad," said Jemmy Dadd, with a cackling laugh; "when yer ketches a
+wild thing, and puts him in a cage, he begins to bang hisself agen the
+sides, and knocks his head agen the bars, and if he could talk he'd go
+on just like that 'ere.  Then you keeps quiet, and don't give him
+nothing to eat, and after a day or two you can do what you like with
+him."
+
+"Then we'd better take back the basket, Jemmy, eh?"
+
+"Ay, lad, that's it.  Leave him in the dark a bit to cool him down."
+
+"You scoundrels!" cried the lad in frenzy.  "If you do not show me the
+way out, I'll shout for help, and when it does come, I'll take care your
+punishment shall be ten times worse."
+
+"Ah, do," said Ram, laughing.  "Won't bring the roof down, will it,
+Jemmy?"
+
+"Nay, not it, lad.  Come on."
+
+"Wait a bit," said Ram.--"I say, didn't tell me whether you'd like a
+bottle o' milk?"
+
+Archy felt as if he would like to fly at the boy, the very mention of
+the milk exasperating him to such an extent.  But at every movement he
+felt himself more tightly held, and knowing from sad experience that it
+was waste of energy to contend with the iron-muscled fellow who gripped
+his arm, he smothered his anger.
+
+He did not speak, but as Ram held up the light, Archy's countenance told
+tales of the passion struggling in his breast for exit, and the boy
+grinned.
+
+"I say, do have a bottle o' milk," he said; "it's fresh and warm.
+Mother said it would do you good."
+
+"Nay, lad, don't give him none till he's grow'd civil, and don't talk
+about hanging on us."
+
+"I brought you a bottle o' new milk and some hot bread, on'y it's
+getting cold now, and some butter and cold ham.  Do have some."
+
+Archy ground his teeth: he felt as if he would give anything for some
+food, and the very mention of the tasty viands made his mouth water, but
+he only stamped his foot and tried to shake himself free.
+
+"I am a king's officer," he shouted, "and order you to let me go!"
+
+"Hear that, Jemmy?  Hold him tight."
+
+"Ay!  He's tight enough!" cried the man, throwing a sturdy arm about the
+middy's waist, and holding him back as he tried to get at Ram.
+
+"No good to give orders here," said the latter, grinning.  "You're only
+a king's officer when you're aboard your little bit of a cutter."
+
+"Will you let me out of this place?"
+
+"If I let you go will you tell your skipper about what you've seen?"
+
+"Yes," cried Archy fiercely.
+
+"Then what a dumble head you must be to think we'll let you go.  Won't
+do, little officer; will it, Jemmy?"
+
+"Do!  Better chuck him off the cliff."
+
+"What!" cried the midshipman fiercely.
+
+"Chuck you off the cliff.  What do you mean by coming interfering here
+with honest men getting their living?  We never did nothing to you."
+
+"You scoundrel!" cried Archy, "how dare you say that?  You know you are
+breaking the laws by smuggling, and you are doing worse by kidnapping
+me."
+
+"Should have kep' away then," growled the man.
+
+"Don't speak cross to him, Jemmy.  He's very sorry he came now, and if I
+let him go he'll promise not to say a word about what he has seen; won't
+you now, mate?"
+
+"No!" roared Archy.
+
+"Oh, well then, Jemmy's right.  We shall have to tame you down."
+
+"Show me the way out of this."
+
+"Come along then," said Ram with a sneering laugh.  "But you'd better
+promise."
+
+"Show me the way out."
+
+"Won't you have some milk first?"
+
+"Do you hear me?"
+
+"And bread and butter, home-made?"
+
+"Will you show me the way out."
+
+"Nor no ham?  You must be hungry!"
+
+"You scoundrel!" cried Archy, who was exasperated almost beyond bearing.
+"Show me the way out."
+
+"Oh, very well, this way, then.  Hold him tight, Jemmy."
+
+"Ay, ay, lad!"
+
+"This way, my grand officer without your fine clothes," said Ram
+tauntingly, as he held down the lanthorn to show the rough stone floor.
+"Mind how you put your feet, and take care.  Why don't you come?"
+
+Archy made a start forward, but he was tightly held.
+
+"Why don't you come, youngster?" cried Ram mockingly, as he held the
+lanthorn more closely.  "There, now then, mind how you come."
+
+_Whang_!
+
+The dull sound was followed by a faint clatter, and all was black
+darkness again, for raging with hunger and annoyance as the boy was,
+tightly held, the light down just in front of him, without any warning
+Archy drew back slightly, delivered one quick, sharp kick full at the
+lanthorn, and it flew right away into the darkness.
+
+"Well!" ejaculated Ram in his first moment of surprise.  Then he burst
+into a roar of laughter which echoed from the roof.
+
+"You're a nice un," growled Jemmy.
+
+"Let him go, and come on," cried Ram.
+
+A sudden thought struck the middy.
+
+"No, you don't," he muttered, as he wrenched himself round and clung to
+the man.  "If you are going from here, I go too."
+
+"Got the lanthorn, Ram, lad?" cried Jemmy.
+
+"No; and it's smashed now.  Come away."
+
+"Let go, will you?" growled Jemmy.
+
+For answer the midshipman held on more tightly.
+
+"Do you hear?  Come on!" cried Ram.
+
+"He won't let go.  He's holding on legs, wings and teeth.  Come and
+help."
+
+"Get out: you can manage him.  Put him on his back."
+
+No sooner were the words uttered than, as he struggled there in the
+black darkness, Archy felt himself twisted up off his feet.  There was a
+shake, a wrench, and as he clung tightly to the man, his arms were
+dragged, as it felt to him, half out of their sockets, and he was
+thrown, to come down fortunately on his hands and knees.
+
+For a few moments he felt half stunned by the shake, but recovering
+himself he leaped up and began to follow the retiring footsteps which
+were faintly heard.
+
+He knew the direction, and went on with outstretched hands to find the
+way, checked directly by their coming in contact with one of the great
+pillars of stone.
+
+But he felt his way round this, got to the other side, listened, made
+out which way the footsteps were going, followed on, and caught his feet
+against something which threw him forward on to a pile of broken stone.
+
+He got up again, and felt his way cautiously to the right, for the
+stones rose like a bank or barrier in his way, and he went many yards
+without finding a way through.
+
+Then feeling that he had taken the wrong turning, he retraced his steps
+as quickly as he could, going on and on without avail and never
+stopping.  He was just in time to save himself from another fall as he
+heard a dull bang as if a heavy door were closed, followed by a curious
+rattling sound, as of large pieces of slate falling down and banging
+against wood.  Then came a dull echoing, which died off in whispers, and
+all was perfectly still.
+
+"The cowards!" cried Archy, as he fully realised that his gaolers had
+escaped from him.  "How brutal to leave a fellow shut up in a hole like
+this.  'Tis horrible; and enough to drive one mad.  Ugh!" he now cried,
+"if I only could get out!"
+
+He sat down upon the rough stones, feeling weak, and perspiring
+profusely.  It was many hours now since he had tasted food, and in his
+misery and despair he felt that he should be starved to death before his
+gaolers came again.
+
+"How dare they!" he cried passionately.  "A king's officer too!  Oh, if
+I could only be once more along with the lads, and with a chance to go
+at them!  I think I should be able to fight."
+
+Then as he sat on the stones he began to cool down and grow less fierce
+in his ideas.  In other words, he came down from pistols and sharp-edged
+cutlasses to fists, and felt such an intense longing to get at Ram, that
+his fists involuntarily clenched and his fingers tingled.
+
+"Wait a bit," he said fiercely,--"wait a bit."
+
+"Yes, I shall have to wait a bit," he said sadly, as he rose from the
+stones.  "Oh, how weak and hungry I am!  It's as if I was going to be
+ill.  I wonder whether I could track where they went out."
+
+"Not now," he said,--"not now;" and with some faint hope of finding the
+place where he had been lying on the old sail, he began to move slowly
+and laboriously along, his mind dragged over, as it were, to the words
+of the boy as he taunted him about milk and bread and butter with ham.
+It was agonising in his literally starving condition to think of such
+things, and he tried to keep his mind upon finding the way out, meaning
+to work desperately after he had lain down for a bit to rest.
+
+But it was impossible to control his thoughts, strive how he would.
+Hunger is an overmastering desire, and he crept on step by step with
+outstretched hands, picturing in the darkness slices of ham, yellow
+butter, brown crusted loaves, and pure sweet milk, till, as he dragged
+his feet slowly along, half-fainting now with pain, weariness, and
+despair, his foot suddenly kicked against something which rolled over
+and over away from him.
+
+"The lanthorn!" he exclaimed eagerly, and planning at once how he could
+strike a light with a stone and his knife, and perhaps contrive some
+tinder, he went down on his hands and knees, feeling about in all
+directions till he touched the object which he had kicked, and uttered a
+cry of joy and excitement.
+
+It was not the lanthorn, but a round cross-handled basket with lid, and
+he trembled as he recalled Ram's words about what his mother had sent.
+
+Was there truth in them, or were they the utterances of a malicious mind
+which wished to torture one who was in its power?
+
+Archy Raystoke hardly dared to think, and knelt there for a few minutes,
+with his trembling hands resting upon the basket, which he was afraid to
+open lest it should not contain that which he looked for.
+
+"Out of my misery at all events," he cried; and he tore off the lid.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+"They only want to keep me a prisoner," said the midshipman half an hour
+after, as he sat with his mouth full, steadily eating away as a boy of
+seventeen can eat--"a prisoner till they've got all their stuff safe
+away.  They dare not hurt me.  I'm not afraid of that, and it's a very
+strange thing if I can't prove myself as clever as that cunning young
+scoundrel who trapped me here.  At all events, I'll try.  They dare not
+starve me: not they.  Wait a bit, and I'll show them that I'm not so
+stupid as they think.  Shut me up here, would they?  Well, we'll see!"
+
+He went on munching a little longer, then felt for the bottle, took out
+the tight cork, had a good long draught of the milk it contained,
+recorked and put it away in the basket with the bread, butter, and ham
+he had not consumed, shut down the lid, and laughed.
+
+There was nothing very cheerful about his prison to make him laugh, but
+the reaction was so great--he felt so different after his hearty meal--
+that he was ready to look any difficulty in the face, and full of wonder
+at his despondency of a short time before.
+
+There's a good deal of magic in food to one who is fasting, and is
+blessed with health and a good appetite.
+
+"Now then," he said, rising with the basket in his hand, "the first
+thing is to find a place to stow you;" and he had no difficulty in
+finding ledge after ledge that would have held the basket, but he wanted
+one that would be easily found in the darkness.
+
+At last he felt his way to a great mass of rock, upon which, about level
+with his head, was a projection upon which the basket stood well enough,
+and trusting to being able to find it again by means of the great block,
+he turned his attention to the lanthorn.
+
+"If I only had that," he said to himself.
+
+He stood thinking in the darkness, wondering which way he had better
+try.
+
+"Any way," he said at last, "for I will have it; and then if I don't
+find my way out of this hole, I'm as stupid as that fellow thinks."
+
+Stretching out his hands to save himself from a blow against any
+obstacle, he stalked off in as straight a direction as he could go,
+feeling his way with his feet, and always making sure of firm foothold
+before he moved the one that was safe, for his one great dread in the
+vast cavern was lest he should suddenly find himself on the brink of
+some yawning shaft.
+
+He knew little about the district, his ideas of the place being
+principally confined to what he had seen of the coast-line from the sea,
+but rugged piles of stone had been pointed out to him here and there as
+being the refuse of the stone that had been ages before dug and
+regularly mined by shafts and galleries out of the bowels of the earth;
+and a little thinking convinced him that he must be shut up in one of
+those old quarries which had been seized upon by the smugglers as a
+place to hide their stores.
+
+It was a shrewd guess, and he could not help thinking afterwards that it
+was no wonder that so little success attended the efforts of the revenue
+cutter's crew to trace cargoes which had been landed when the smugglers
+had such lurking places as this.
+
+As he crept slowly on, step by step, these and similar thoughts came
+rapidly through the prisoner's brain, and as he slowly mounted what
+seemed to be a pile of fragments, he began to wonder where his prison
+could be--whether it was close to the shore or some distance inland.
+
+He stopped to listen, hoping to hear the breaking of the waves among the
+rocks, which would have proved what he wished to know at once; but
+though he listened again and again, he could not distinguish a sound.
+The only noises he heard were those he made in stepping on one side of
+some piece of stone, which gave forth a musical clink as it struck
+another.
+
+He was climbing up now what appeared to be a steep slope, over great
+fragments of stone heavier than he would have been able to lift, and he
+seemed to creep up and up till he felt assured that the ceiling was just
+above him, and raising his hand he touched the roof, his fingers tracing
+out again the great cast of one of the old-world shell-fish--one of the
+great nautiluses of the geologist.
+
+But fossils were unknown things in Archy Raystoke's day.  He was hunting
+for a lanthorn, not for specimens.
+
+As he stood on the highest part of this pile of stone, he hesitated
+about going farther, and bore off to his left, feeling that in all
+probability the object of his search had not come so far.
+
+From time to time he paused to listen, and at last thought of trying to
+find the extent of the place by shouting; but he was satisfied with his
+first essay, his voice going echoing away apparently for a great
+distance, and the peculiar, dying, whispering sound was not pleasant to
+one alone in the darkness.
+
+After a while, however, as he felt that he was walking over small
+fragments of stone, he picked up a piece and threw it, to try if he were
+near the end of the cavern in this direction, for he was growing tired
+and longed now to find his way to the sailcloth to lie down and rest.
+
+The piece he held was about a pound weight, and, drawing back his hand
+as far as he could reach, he threw it with all his might, to start back
+in alarm, for it struck wood with a heavy thud, and dropped down almost
+at his feet.
+
+Unknown to himself he had gradually found his way to the pile of kegs,
+and these he touched the next moment, thinking that, as he stood facing
+them, the place where he had first come to himself must lie off to his
+left; and so it proved after a long search, and he sank down so wearied
+out, that as he chose by preference to lie down, he was before many
+minutes had elapsed in a deep and dreamless sleep, forgetful of the
+darkness and any peril that might be ready to assail him next.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+Whether it was night or day when Archy awoke he could not tell, but he
+felt rested and refreshed, and ready to try and do something to make his
+escape.
+
+There was a way into his prison, and that way, he vowed, should by some
+means or other be his way out.
+
+The first thing to do was to find that lanthorn, of whose position he
+seemed to have some vague idea; but, after a little search, he found
+that all idea of locality had gone, and he had not the slightest idea of
+the direction to go next.
+
+"I must leave it to chance," he said.  "I shall find it when I'm not
+trying;" and, wearying of the search, he set himself now to try and make
+his way to the place where his visitors had come into the old quarry.
+
+Here, again, he was utterly at fault, for the cavern was so big and
+irregular, and he was still so haunted by the thought that he might be
+at any moment on the brink of some deep hole, half full of water, that
+he dared not search so energetically as he would have liked.
+
+He had many narrow escapes from falls and blows against projecting
+masses of stone, and he found himself, after hours of wandering, so
+tired and faint, that he would gladly have found the basket and the
+resting-place; but the more he searched the more convinced he grew of
+the ease with which he could lose himself entirely in the darkness, and
+when he did come upon any spot again which he recognised by touch as one
+that he had felt before, it seemed to him that he stumbled upon it quite
+by accident, and the moment he left it he was as helpless as before.
+
+Wearied out at length, he determined to go in a straight line from where
+he was to the extremity of the vault; then to curve back, and from this
+point strike out to the left in search of his resting-place and the
+basket.
+
+It took him just about an hour, and when he had done all this he could
+find no traces of his food, but he heard a noise close behind him which
+nailed him to the spot, and he stood motionless, listening.
+
+According to his idea, he was at the end of the cave farthest from where
+his gaolers approached, but unless there were two entrances he was quite
+wrong, for he had wandered close up to the place whence Ram and Jemmy
+had come, and, the noise continuing, he stooped down to let whoever it
+was pass him, while he made for the entrance and slipped out.
+
+Directly after there was the soft glow of a lanthorn, which suddenly
+came into view round a corner, high up by the ceiling, and the bearer
+began to descend a rough slope.
+
+Archy saw no more, for he dropped down and hid behind a stone, watching
+the glare of light, and then, as it passed him going on toward the other
+end of the cave, he crept from behind the stone and made for the rough
+slope, which was thoroughly printed on his mind, so that he could almost
+picture every rock and inequality that might be in his way.
+
+The door would be open, he thought; and, if he could, he would have a
+clever revenge, for he determined to turn the tables on his enemies,
+shut them in, and he hoped to make them prisoners till he could signal
+for help from the cutter, and get a boat's crew ashore.
+
+As he crept on quietly he glanced over his shoulder once, saw the light
+disappearing behind the great square, squat pillars, and then with a
+feeling of triumph that thrilled through him, he went cautiously up the
+rest of the slope, his arms outstretched, his breath held, and in
+momentary expectation of hearing an exclamation from the other end of
+the cave.
+
+"They'll think I'm somewhere about," he said to himself, as he crept on,
+expecting to pass through an opening into daylight the next moment; but
+it did not turn out as he anticipated, for he stopped short with his
+nose against some one's throat, his arms on each side of a sturdy body,
+and the arms belonging to that body gripped him tight.
+
+"Steady, Ram, lad!" came in a gruff whisper.  "Light out?"
+
+Archy's heart beat heavily, and he felt that, to escape, he ought to try
+and imitate the boy's voice, and say "Yes."
+
+But he could not only stand panting, and the next instant his
+opportunity, if opportunity it was, had gone.  For Ram's real voice came
+from right at the other end, echoing along the roof.
+
+"Look out, Jemmy.  He aren't here."
+
+"No, he aren't there, lad," said the smuggler with a laugh.  "Bring your
+lanthorn, I've ketched a rat or some'at.  Come and see."
+
+Archy made a violent struggle to escape, but the man's arms were tight
+round his waist, he was lifted off the slope, and as he fully realised
+that, in a wrestling match, no matter how active and strong seventeen
+may be, it is no match for big, well-set seven-and-thirty.
+
+"No good, youngster," growled the smuggler, as he carried the midshipman
+down the slope, and held him at the bottom.  "Very good idea, but you
+see we didn't mean you to get out like that."
+
+Feeling that he was exhausting himself for nothing, Archy ceased his
+struggling, and was held there motionless, as Ram came up with the
+lanthorn to begin grinning.
+
+"Bring him along, Jemmy," he said.  "His dinner's ready."
+
+"Shall I carry him, lad?"
+
+"Look here," cried Archy haughtily.  "You two are, I suppose, quite
+ignorant of the consequences of keeping me here?"
+
+"What's he talking about, Jemmy?" said Ram.
+
+"Dunno, lad: something 'bout consequences."
+
+"As soon as it is known that you have seized and kept me here, you will
+both be arrested, and have to suffer a long term of imprisonment, even
+if you get no worse off."
+
+"But suppose no one knows you are here?" said Ram.
+
+"But it will be known, so I give you both fair warning."
+
+"Thank ye," said Ram mockingly.
+
+"And thank ye for me too, my lad."
+
+"So now, take my advice, open that door, and set me free.  If you do
+this, I'll promise to intercede for you two, and I daresay I can save
+you from punishment."
+
+"Well, that's handsome; isn't it, Jemmy?" said Ram mockingly.
+
+"Do you hear me?" cried Archy.
+
+"Oh, I can, quite plain," said Jemmy.
+
+"So can I," said Ram; "but your dinner's ready, Mr Orficer; so come and
+have it."
+
+"Enough of this," cried Archy, wrenching himself free.  "Open that door,
+and let me go."
+
+"Better carry him, Jemmy."
+
+"If you dare!" cried the angry prisoner, beginning the struggle, but
+Jemmy Dadd's muscles were like steel, and he whipped the young
+midshipman off his feet, and carried him, kicking and struggling with
+all his might, right along the cave, Ram going first with the lanthorn;
+and in spite of its feeble, poor, dulled light, the prisoner was able to
+get a better idea of the shape and size of the place than he had had
+before.
+
+The captive ceased struggling, and keenly watched the various pillars
+and heaps they passed, noting too how the cavern seemed to extend in a
+wide passage right on before them, and seemingly endless gloom.
+
+"There you are," said Jemmy, as he set his burden down; "quite at home.
+Is he going to ask us to dinner, Ram, lad, and send for his skipper to
+jyne us?"
+
+Archy paid no heed to the man's jeering words, for he was thinking of
+the place, and trying to fix it all in his memory, for use when these
+two had gone.
+
+He knew that he must have been over the parts he had seen again and
+again in the darkness, but beyond the memory of the great pillars he had
+marked, the place had made no impression; but now he had seen the way
+out, and the way further in, and throwing himself down, he without
+apparent reason took up a long narrow piece of stone, handled it for a
+moment or two, and set it down carelessly, but not with so much
+indifference that he did not contrive that it should act as a rough
+pointer, ready to indicate the direction of the door.
+
+Feeling that it was useless to say more to his gaolers, especially after
+his attempt to escape, he half lay on the old sail; while, as if the
+darkness were the same to him as the light, the smuggler said
+laconically, "Going back!" turned on his heel, and disappeared in the
+black gloom.
+
+"Brought you some bacon and some fried eggs, this time," said Ram,
+looking at him attentively, but Archy made no reply.
+
+"No use to rile," continued the boy, "and you can't get out, so take it
+easy.  Father'll let you go some day."
+
+"Where is the cutter?" said Archy sharply.
+
+"I d'know.  Gone."
+
+"Gone?"
+
+"Yes, she went off somewhere.  To look for you, pr'aps," said the boy
+grinning, "or else they think you're drownded."
+
+"Look here," said the midshipman suddenly, "you behaved very
+treacherously to me, but I'll forgive you if you'll let me go."
+
+"Look here," replied the boy, "you behaved very treacherously to us,
+dressing up, and spying on us; but I've got you, and won't let you go."
+
+"I was doing my duty, sir."
+
+"And I'm doing my dooty--what father telled me."
+
+"How much will you take to let me go?"
+
+"How much will you give?" said Ram, grinning, and the midshipman's heart
+made a bound.
+
+"You shall have five pounds, if you'll let me go now, at once."
+
+"There's as much as you'll eat till I come agen," said Ram abruptly;
+"and if I don't forget you as I did my rabbits once, and they were
+starved to death, I'll bring you some more.--I say!"
+
+Archy looked at him fiercely.
+
+"Don't try to drink what's in them tubs.  It's awful strong, and might
+kill you."
+
+"Stop a moment; leave me a light."
+
+"What do you want with a light?  You kicked the last over, and thought
+you'd get out in the dark.  You may have the one you kicked."
+
+"But it is so dark here," said Archy, as the boy picked up the empty
+basket.
+
+"Course it is when there's no light," said the boy coolly; and swinging
+the lanthorn as he rose, he continued, "You'll find the road to your
+mouth, I daresay.  I did not bring you a knife, because you're such a
+savage one."
+
+"Where is my dirk?"
+
+"What d'yer mean?  Your little sword?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Father's got it all right; said it was a dangerous thing for a boy!"
+
+Ram gave his prisoner a nod, and went off whistling, the prisoner
+following at a distance, and getting pretty close up to the beginning of
+the slope as the lanthorn disappeared round a corner.  Then, as he
+listened, it seemed to him that the boy climbed up somewhere, talking
+the while to his companion, their voices sounding hollow and rumbling,
+then there was a pause, the dull thud of a closing door, the drawing of
+bolts, and soon the rattling of heavy stones, and once more all was
+silent.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+A strange depressing sensation came over the young prisoner as he stood
+there once more alone, but he turned sharply round with his teeth set,
+thought for a few moments about his course back, and then, feeling more
+determined and firm, walked slowly on, and to his great delight found
+that it was possible to become educated to do without sight, for, each
+time that he thought he was near a pillar, he stretched out his hand to
+find that he touched it, and with very little difficulty he walked
+straight up to the old sail, felt about, and there was the basket of
+food, which he attacked at once, and soon after fell asleep.
+
+Four more visits were paid him by Ram, but whether they were at
+intervals of days or half days, the prisoner could not tell, for any
+questions he asked were laughingly evaded, and all attempts at
+persuasion and bribery proved useless.
+
+He did learn that the cutter had just returned and gone away again.  And
+it seemed to him that he was forgotten, but he never thoroughly lost
+heart, and during this time he had accustomed himself to the darkness,
+and educated his feet wonderfully in the topography of the place.
+
+Of one thing he had fully satisfied himself, and that was the
+hopelessness of getting out by the way his visitors came in.  They were
+too cautious ever to leave the door unguarded; hence the prisoner felt
+that if he knocked down and stunned the frank, good-tempered boy who
+seemed disposed to be the best of friends in every way but that of
+helping him to escape, he would be no nearer freedom than before.
+
+He had gone up the slope twice, and the last time crept near enough to
+see that Ram was climbing up a well-like shaft by means of rugged
+projections in the wall, that as he got about twenty feet up he handed
+the lanthorn to the man, climbed out through a square opening, and then
+a trap-door was shut down, locked, and bolted, and what sounded to be a
+number of heavy pieces of stone were drawn over.
+
+As far as he could judge, after venturing up and nearly having a severe
+fall in the darkness, escape was impossible that way, so he returned
+after each trial to think, and come to the conclusion that if the place
+had been used for the purpose of digging out stone, of which there could
+be no doubt, there must be some other way by which the great pieces had
+been dragged up to daylight.
+
+With a lanthorn or torch he might easily have satisfied himself upon
+this point.  To achieve it without was a terribly risky task.
+
+Still he determined to try, and after a hasty meal, directly his gaolers
+had paid their last visit, he started off in the opposite direction to
+that which led to the trap-door, and proceeding cautiously, taking the
+precaution to keep on throwing pieces of stone before him, to satisfy
+himself that there was no well or pit in his way, he went on and on.
+
+Now he threw a piece of stone to his left hand, to his right, and after
+going many yards at what was but a snail's pace, he discovered that the
+place had suddenly contracted, and after creeping a little farther, the
+place was more contracted still, and ascended.  So narrowed was it now
+that a couple of steps in either direction enabled him to touch a wall,
+while about twenty short paces farther on the ascent grew much more
+straight, and there was no fear of a pit or shaft in the way, for he
+found that roughly square blocks of stone were laid like a flight of
+steps, up which he clambered, and then sunk down, overcome by the
+feeling of joy which had flooded his brain.
+
+He must have come up quite fifty feet after ascending the slope along
+which he had walked, and here he was at the top of the flight of clumsy
+stairs on a kind of platform of rugged stones, and straight before him
+there was a chink so narrow that he could not have thrust a hand through
+it, but wide enough to allow the passage of a gleam of light; there was
+a familiar odour, too, of salt air and seaweed, and as he placed his ear
+to the chink he could hear, as if far below, the wash of water.
+
+"Why, this must be at the side of the cliff," he said joyously; and if
+he could enlarge that crack there would be a way out to the face of the
+rocks, where it would go hard with him indeed if he could not climb up
+to the grassy fields above, or down to the shore below.
+
+"Why didn't I try this before?" he cried.  "Oh, how foolish!  Not get
+out, eh?  I'll soon show them that;" and he began to feel about
+carefully all over the face of the stones before him, to satisfy himself
+before long that there had been a large roughly square opening here,
+which had been filled in with some pieces of stone, between which he
+could feel that there was mortar.
+
+"Now, then, what I want is a good marlinspike or an iron bar.  Oh, if I
+had my dirk here I could move them with that."
+
+But he had neither bar, marlinspike, nor dirk, nothing but his hands and
+a small pocket-knife, so a depressing feeling of vexation humbled him
+for a time.
+
+He soon cast that off though, for it was impossible to feel low spirited
+in the face of such a discovery, and before commencing the task he had
+in hand he knelt down with his face close to the chink to drink in the
+delicious sea air.
+
+"I wonder how long I shall be a prisoner," he said aloud; and he
+laughed, for he could see no difficulties now.  Still they began to
+appear soon after, and the first one he mentally saw was the coming of
+Ram with his food.  He must know the place thoroughly, as he had shown
+by the care with which he threaded his way among the loose stones and
+pillars, and if he came with his lanthorn and missed him, he might walk
+up there and find him at work.
+
+"I'll be careful," he said to himself; and taking out his knife forcing
+himself to believe that it was about twelve o'clock each day that the
+lad came, and if so, as it was about six hours, as near as he could
+guess, since the basket was brought, he had about a couple of hours more
+daylight, then the long night and all the morning, before his gaoler
+would come again.
+
+He bitterly regretted now not having tried to time Ram's visits,
+forgetting that it would have been impossible to do so without light,
+and, unable to restrain his impatience to the extent of waiting till he
+came again, and watching for night from then, he went to work to try and
+loosen a stone by the side of the crevice, and toiled away till at the
+end of what seemed to be two hours, the light through the crevice paled,
+grew dull, then dark, and for the first time for many days he knew that
+it was night.
+
+Cheered by his calculation being so far right, he worked and scraped out
+the mortar, satisfied even with getting away the tiniest scraps, feeling
+as he did that if he could only dislodge one stone he could bring up
+from below plenty of great and splinter-shaped pieces with which he
+could hammer, and take out the rest, or enough for his body to pass
+through.
+
+So light-hearted did he feel, as guiding the point of his knife by his
+fingers, he picked and scraped away, that he began to hum a tune over
+softly.  It was as black now as it was in the deepest part of the
+ancient quarry, but that did not seem to matter, for it was only the
+darkness of evening, and if he waited there and kept on working, he
+would see, first of all, a long pallid ray that would grow brighter, and
+bring as it were some light and hope, while as soon as he could get out
+a stone he would be able to see the sea, perhaps even make out the
+cutter, and signal.
+
+No: the boy had said that it was gone.  But it would come back, and they
+would see his signals; a boat would come ashore, he would be fetched out
+of this miserable black hole; the smugglers would be captured, and he
+would have such a revenge on that boy Ram.  It would be glorious.
+
+But all depended upon little _ifs_--_if_ he could get out the stone,
+_if_ the hole happened to be opposite the spot where the cutter was
+moored, _if_ they could see his signals.
+
+It was discouraging to have such thoughts as these, but Archy Raystoke
+had been for days condemned to inactivity, and the opportunity of
+working at something definite which proffered a way of escape made him
+toil on with all his his might.
+
+In fact, he was obliged to check himself, for his task needed care.  Too
+much exercise of the strength which had been growing latent might mean
+breaking his knife, and the destruction of his hopes.
+
+So he toiled on well into the night, picking and loosening tiny scraps
+of mortar, which, hard though it was, had fortunately for him been made
+of an exceedingly coarse sand, or rather very fine shingle, whose tiny
+pebbles formed each a point to work upon till it was loosened and fell.
+
+Archy's first thought was to work right on through the night, but the
+monotonous task in the darkness, and the fatigue and excitement,
+combined to produce their customary effect, and he found himself nodding
+and starting into wakefulness so many times over, that he resolved at
+last to go back to his starting-place, have a good meal, and then come
+back.
+
+He left his task with reluctance, but nature would not be refused, and
+without much difficulty he found his way to the basket, ate heartily,
+sat still to think a few minutes, and thought too much, starting up
+suddenly and rubbing his eyes.
+
+"How stupid of me!" he exclaimed.  "I must have just nodded off to
+sleep.  Nearly wasted a lot of time."
+
+Afraid to remain where he was, lest he should yield to the temptation
+again and fall dead asleep, he eagerly made his way back to the slope
+and the rough steps, to stand there wondering as he got to the top.
+
+For there, straight before him, was a pale ray of light, and the place
+smelt cool and fresh.
+
+Surely a star or the moon must be up, he thought, as he knelt down and
+resumed his task, feeling somehow a good deal rested.
+
+The explanation was not long in coming, for to his astonishment the ray
+of light grew brighter and brighter, and broadened out full of dancing
+motes when he had been an hour at work, teaching him that he had not
+dropped off to sleep for a minute or two, but long enough to give him a
+good night's rest sufficient to prepare him for the toil to come.
+
+He felt vexed and called it laziness, working the harder to recover lost
+time, and as the hours glided by listening intently for the slightest
+sound from the quarry below that should indicate the coming of Ram with
+his daily portion of food.
+
+On previous days he had looked forward to the lad's approach as
+something that would break the monotony of his captivity, but now he
+would have given anything to have known that by some accident the lad
+would be kept away.
+
+Still Archy toiled on, the stone he had attacked as tight as ever, but
+quite a little heap of rough mortar increasing beneath where he knelt.
+
+"It's only getting out the first one," he argued; "the others will come
+easily enough."
+
+And so, full of hope, he kept on, till feeling that it must be near the
+time for the visit, he reluctantly closed his pocket-knife and went
+down, gazing back first at the tiny ray of light which pointed the way
+to liberty.
+
+His arms ached and his fingers were sore.  There was a blister too in
+the palm of his hand where the knife had pressed; but these were trifles
+now, and he seated himself in his old spot ready to receive his
+visitors, and so full of hope that he could hardly refrain from shouting
+for joy.
+
+He could see it all, now.  This was quite an ancient mine, one perhaps
+from which all the best stone had been worked.  Where Ram came down was
+the land entrance, and the ray of light marked the opening in the face
+of the cliff, from which the pieces of stone had been lowered down into
+boats or ships below.  After the smugglers had taken possession it
+seemed probable that they had filled up the hole in the cliff face,
+though it struck Archy that this would leave them a handy place to get
+their cargoes ashore if they had tackle to haul it up, and get it into
+their store at once.
+
+The time seemed very long before the rattle and rumble of the stones on
+the trap-door struck upon Archy's listening ear, but at last, after he
+had convinced himself that he might have worked two or three hours
+longer, there it was, and then came the rattle of the bolts and the
+sharp sound of the lock.  Directly afterwards there was a soft glare,
+the lanthorn appeared like some creature of light swaying and floating
+towards him in the darkness till it stopped close by, and Ram's now
+familiar voice exclaimed,--
+
+"Hullo there!  Getting hungry?"
+
+"Yes," said Archy, in a voice he wished to sound surly and obstinate,
+but which in spite of his wishes had a cheerful ring, which affected
+Ram, who began to laugh and chatter.
+
+"Nice to be you," he said.  "Get all the good things, you do.  Fried
+fish to-day, and pork pie.  I say, midshipman, you have got into good
+quarters, you have."
+
+Archy tried to seem sulky.
+
+"Oh, you needn't talk without you like, but they didn't feed you up
+aboard ship like you're getting it now, I know; salt beef, then salt
+pork, and hard biscuits.  Why, it's like fattening up one of our pigs
+for Christmas.  I say, you are quiet.  Haven't been at one of them
+little kegs, have you?  Oh, very well; if you don't like to talk, I
+can't make you."
+
+"Are you going to let me out of this place?" said the midshipman, so as
+to keep up the idea of his longing to be set free, and chase any
+suspicions of his having discovered a way out.
+
+"When I get orders, Mr Orsifer, and not before.  I aren't skipper, no
+more nor you are."
+
+"Another piece of insolence," thought the prisoner.  "Oh, how I will pay
+him out for this by and by!"
+
+"Aren't you going to peck?"
+
+Archy took no notice, and at last there came, in a deep, echoing growl
+through the place,--
+
+"Say, lad, going to be all day?"
+
+"Coming, Jemmy," Ram shouted.  "Want anything else, midshipman?"
+
+"Yes, you to go and not worry me," replied Archy, heartily repenting his
+words the next moment for fear that they should excite suspicion.
+
+But they did not, for Ram only laughed and walked away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+As the prisoner sat listening to the bang of the trap-door and the
+rattling of the bolts, he could hardly contain himself.  But knowing the
+danger of the boy coming back and finding him gone, he forced himself to
+stay where he was; and to pass away the time he opened the basket Ram
+had now left in place of the other, and forced himself to eat.
+
+But he could hardly swallow the food, which seemed tasteless in the
+extreme, and he was about to give up and hasten back to his work when
+his heart leaped, for there was the distant sound of the bolts being
+drawn, and a minute or two later the soft yellow light came slowly
+towards him and stopped.
+
+"Just remembered," said its bearer.  "Got half way home first, though.
+Mother said I was to be sure and take back that basket.  Put the stuff
+out on the sail.  Hullo, what you been doing to your hands?"
+
+Archy started guiltily, and looked at them in the light to see that they
+were covered with blood, from injuries that he had made unconsciously in
+toiling with his knife against the stones.
+
+"Tumbled down?" continued Ram without waiting for an answer.  "Well,
+'tis dark 'mong these stones.  I used to trip over them, but I could go
+anywhere now in the dark.  Seem to feel like when they are near.  Never
+mind, tear up yer hankychy and wrap round.  I'll bring you one o' mine
+next time I come.  There we are.  Haven't forgot the basket this time.
+I say?"
+
+"Well?"
+
+The lad was ten yards away now, holding the lanthorn above his head.
+
+"You lost a chance."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Jemmy Dadd isn't up by the door.  You might have given me a topper with
+a stone, and run away; too late now."
+
+He ran off laughing, and holding the lanthorn down low to make sure of
+his way.
+
+But Archy did not start up in pursuit.  He saw a better way out now, and
+waiting till he felt convinced that the boy must be well on his way
+home, he jumped up, felt his way to the crevice, and was soon after hard
+at work picking the mortar from between the stones.
+
+Now and then, as he grew faint and weary, it seemed to him that he had
+made no progress, but the little heap of mortar told different tales,
+and once more taking heart he toiled away.
+
+It seemed a very easy thing to do, to loosen one stone in a rugged wall,
+draw it out, and then remove the other, but in practice it appeared
+almost impossible, and again going back into the quarry to partake of
+the food that was absolutely necessary, Archy returned to his task, and
+after working away again for about half an hour he fell fast asleep.
+
+How long he slept he did not know, but he started awake again to find
+that it was quite dark, and he kept on like one in a dream.
+
+The stone seemed as fast as ever, and his progress was getting very slow
+now, for he had cleared away the mortar as fast as he could reach in;
+but at last, seizing the stone and getting his fingers well in the
+joint, he gave it a vigorous shove, and then uttered a shout of triumph,
+for to his delight there came a sharp crack, and after giving a vigorous
+shove, the stone, which was about twenty inches long, was drawn out, and
+became the instrument for dislodging its fellows.
+
+This was comparatively easy now, and in the course of the next two days
+the prisoner had loosened and drawn out stones till he had made a way
+through a rough piece of wall six feet thick, and had enlarged the hole
+so that there was room to creep into the opening he had made and look
+out.
+
+Here came disappointment the first.  The wall he had worked through did
+not face out to sea, but was one side of a chasm, and he gazed at the
+opposite side.
+
+Soon after he learned that this had not been the place where the stones
+were carried out for landing in boats, but the hole through which all
+the refuse was discharged, to fall in a crumbling heap a tremendous
+distance below, to be washed away by the waves which curved over and
+over against the foot and rolled up into the chasm.
+
+Still he worked on, enlarging the hole and sending the broken pieces and
+mortar, rattling down the face of the cliff into the sea, till there was
+nothing to hinder his crawling out at any time, and either getting to
+the top of the cliff or down below to the shore.
+
+He decided for the former as the more easy and the less likely to
+suggest peril, and he spent the next few hours after cleansing himself
+as much as possible, so as not to excite the attention of his young
+gaoler, and in his efforts to do this he made use of a piece of
+sailcloth, and an end of a coil of rope which lay with some sea-going
+tackle hard by where he slept.
+
+The day had come at last when the way was open, and he had but to creep
+out into the fresh bright sunshine and run for his liberty.
+
+He could hardly refrain from doing so at once, but his long and arduous
+labour, which had taken the skin from his fingers and left his whole
+hands so tender that he hardly dared to touch anything, had taught him
+some wisdom, especially not to throw away the opportunity for which he
+had worked so hard.
+
+And now he sat there in the darkness, wafting, so exultant that his seat
+might have been a throne, instead of a worn-out sail stretched over a
+mass of stone.  He hugged the knees upon which his chin rested, and
+gazed straight before him into the blackness, watching for the first
+glow of Ram's lanthorn, and seeing as he watched the glorious sky, the
+blue sea all a-ripple; the shimmer and play of a passing shoal of fish;
+gulls floating without effort, now high up, now low down, their breasts
+of purest white, their backs of delicate grey, and their wondering eyes
+gazing at the rough-looking fisher-lad who crept out of a hole in the
+face of the cliff, made his way from shelf to shelf, ever up and up till
+he was on the grass at the top, where he lay down to wait till night for
+fear of being seen and dragged back.
+
+The black darkness of the great cavern quarry was all alight now with
+the pictures his mind painted, and, in his delight and satisfaction, he
+laughed aloud as he thought of Ram's disappointment on coming one day
+and finding his prisoner flown.
+
+It was hard work to keep from starting at once, but the midshipman felt
+that if he did, his escape would be discovered at any moment, and if it
+were, it was only a question of time before he would have the whole
+smuggling gang after him, and he would be hunted down to a lot ten times
+more bitter from the fact of his having failure to contemplate, and form
+his mental food.
+
+The rattle at last.  The door dragged up, and Ram was not alone, for his
+voice could be heard in conversation with Jemmy Dadd.
+
+The boy was in capital spirits, and he was whistling merrily, his shrill
+notes echoing from the flat roof as he came on swinging his lanthorn in
+one hand, the basket in the other.
+
+"Sleep?" he said, as he saw Archy's attitude.  "There you are," he
+continued.  "I know you weren't asleep, and if you don't like to talk it
+aren't my fault.  Want anything else?"
+
+No reply; Archy dare not speak.
+
+"Oh, very well," he said, "you can do as you like.  Where's t'other
+basket?"
+
+A shiver ran through the prisoner as he recollected that which he had
+forgotten in his excitement: the basket which he had taken with some of
+the food therein, ready for his use as he worked, was standing by the
+opening at the top of the steps, and he cast an anxious glance sidewise
+in the direction of the passage, in dread lest the boy should detect the
+light shining down.
+
+He need not have been alarmed, for there was not a ray visible, and even
+if there had been, the light cast by the opened lanthorn would have
+hidden it; but he sat there trembling all the same, and with a curious
+sensation of suffocation rising in his throat, as he softly altered his
+position and loosened his hands, ready to make a spring at his enemy if
+it should become necessary.
+
+"Well, I do call that grumpy.  Keeps on bringing you nuts, and you're so
+snarky that you won't so much as give one back the shells.  Now, then,
+where's that basket?"
+
+Archy felt that he must speak, or else the boy would go in search of it.
+
+"I haven't done with it."
+
+"But I want it to take back."
+
+"It has some of the dinner in it."
+
+"Well, then, let's empty it out."
+
+"No," said Archy, sitting up angrily; "you can't have it now."
+
+"Oh," said Ram, "that's it, is it?  Suppose I say I will have it?"
+
+"If you don't take yourself off," cried Archy, "I'll break your head
+with one of these pieces of stone."
+
+"Two can play at that game."
+
+"Be off."
+
+"I shan't.  I want our basket.  Mother said I was to bring it back."
+
+"Tell her you haven't got it."
+
+"Now, look here," cried Ram, "if you don't give me that basket back, I
+won't bring you what I was going to bring to-morrow.  Where is it?"
+
+"Where I put it.  You contemptible young smuggling thief!  How dare you
+come worrying a gentleman about a dirty old basket!"
+
+"Wasn't dirty, for mother scrubbed it out before she'd send it to you.
+Where is it?"
+
+Desperate now in his fix, and feeling that his only resource to keep Ram
+from searching for the basket with his lanthorn was to keep up this show
+of anger, Archy made a snatch at a long splinter of stone, and started
+up menacingly.
+
+"Oh, that's it, is it?" cried Ram, who stood upon his guard, but did not
+appear in the least bit alarmed.  "Fed you too well, have I?  Had too
+many oats, and you're beginning to kick up your heels and squeak and
+snort.  Never mind, I'll soon make you civil again.  Going to give me
+that basket?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then you shan't have this.  There!" cried Ram, and snatching up the one
+he had brought, he walked straight away, swinging his lanthorn after he
+had shut it with a snap.
+
+"Going to give it to me?" he cried, as he stopped about half way to the
+trap-door.
+
+"No."
+
+"You'll want all this, and I've got some good tack inside."
+
+"Be off, fellow, and don't bother me."
+
+"Yah!  Who want's to?" cried Ram; and he went off whistling merrily till
+he was at the opening, when he shouted back,--
+
+"No oats to-day, pony.  Good-bye."
+
+Archy leaped up and stood listening with his heart beating fast, and his
+head bent in the direction taken by the boy.
+
+"How unfortunate!" he said.  "But I could not help it.  Will he come
+back?"
+
+He listened and listened and hesitated, but there was no sound, and
+still he hesitated, till quite a couple of hours must have passed, when
+he uttered a loud exultant cry, determined now to make one bold dash for
+liberty, and made straight through the darkness for the open way.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+The midshipman drew in a long breath of the salt air, as he stood at the
+opening in the cliff face.  He tightened his belt, drew his red cap down
+on his head, wished that his hands were not so sore, and muttered the
+words, "Now for liberty!"  He began to creep through the hole till his
+head was well out, and he could look round for enemies.
+
+There was not one.  The only thing that he could see was a gull sailing
+round and round between him and the sea, down to his right.
+
+And now, for the first time, it struck him that the gull looked very
+small, and from that by degrees he began to realise that the hole out of
+which he had thrust his head was fully four hundred feet above where the
+waves broke, and that it must be two hundred more to the top of the
+cliff.
+
+It looked more perilous too than it had seemed before, but the lad was
+in nowise daunted.  The way was open to him to climb up or lower himself
+down apparently, but he chose the former way of escape, knowing as he
+did how very little at the base of the cliffs was left bare even in the
+lowest tides, and that if he got down he would either have to swim or to
+sit perched upon a shelf of rock till some boat came and picked him off.
+
+There was no cutter in view, but he did not trouble about that.  He
+stopped only to gaze down at the dazzling blue sea, and thought that if
+it came to the worst he could leap right off into deep water, and then
+he drew himself right out on to a rugged ledge, a few inches in width,
+and stood holding on by the stones round the opening, looking upward for
+the best way to get up.
+
+"Don't seem easy," he said cheerily, "but every foot climbed will be one
+less to get up.  So, here goes."
+
+As he ceased speaking he drew a deep breath, and then feeling that
+safety depended upon his being firm, cool, and deliberate, he made his
+way from the mouth of the hole along the ledge upon which he stood, till
+he found a spot where he could ascend higher.
+
+It was necessary that he should find such a spot, for the ledge had
+grown narrower and in another yard died completely away.  So, raising
+his hands to their full extent, he found a place for one foot, then for
+the other, repeated the experiment, and was just going to draw himself
+up to a ledge similar to that which he had just left, when one foot
+slipped from the stone upon which it rested, and had the lad lost his
+nerve he must have fallen headlong.
+
+But he held on tightly, waited a minute to let the jarring sensation
+pass away, depending upon his hands and one foot.  Then calmly searching
+about he found firm foothold, raised himself, and the next moment he was
+on the green ledge.
+
+"Wouldn't have done to tumble," he said with a hall laugh.  "Fall's one
+thing, a dive another.  I suppose the water's pretty deep down there."
+
+The ledge he was now on was fully a foot wide, and the refuse and fish
+bones with which it was strewn told plainly enough that in the spring
+time it was the resting--perhaps nesting--place of the sea-birds which
+swarmed along the coast.
+
+As he stood facing the rock he found directly that he could not get any
+farther to his right, and a little search proved that from this ledge he
+could get no higher, not even had he been provided with a ladder.  Even
+if a rope had been lowered down to him from the top of the cliff, it
+would have been of no avail, for he realised now that which he could not
+see from the hole by which he had escaped, to wit, that the cliff
+projected above the opening, and a lowered down rope would have hung
+several feet right away clear.
+
+"Get farther along," he said coolly; and he edged himself slowly along,
+taking hold of every prominence he found to steady himself, and passing
+cautiously along the rough ledge over the hole, and then onward for
+forty or fifty feet, where a rift ran upward, and, by cautious climbing,
+he mounted slowly till he was on a fresh ledge, a few feet above which
+was another rift, and he climbed again, to come to a depression or
+niche, where he stopped to rest.
+
+"No occasion to hurry," he said to himself, and as there was plenty of
+room he sat down and gazed out to sea, noting a sail far away to the
+right, but the vessel was a schooner--it was not that which he sought.
+
+He was apparently cool enough, but his pulses beat more rapidly than was
+consistent with the exertion through which he had gone, and being after
+a few minutes eager now to get his task at an end, he tried to the left,
+to find no way up there, to the right, but everywhere the rock was
+perpendicular, and offered no foothold; or else sloped outward, and
+concealed what was above.
+
+He tried again and again, hoping against hope, but without result.
+
+"Must be a way up," he said, evidently considering that there must be
+because he wanted it, and he took tightly hold of a rough corner and
+leaned out a little to gaze upward, to find, in whichever direction he
+looked, right or left, there was nothing but rugged limestone, which had
+been splintered and moulded by time till there was not a spot where the
+most venturesome climber could obtain foothold; in fact, above him he
+could not see a spot where even the sea-birds had been in the habit of
+finding a resting-place.
+
+It was for liberty, and naturally enough the midshipman made no
+superficial search.  His next plan was to lie flat down in the niche he
+had made his temporary resting-place, lean over, and try and map out a
+course by which he could descend a little way and then pass along for a
+distance, and resume his climb upward with better chances of success.
+
+But no; he could see no sign to help him, and, as a keen sense of
+disappointment assailed him that he should have got so near liberty and
+have to give up, he decided that the way to freedom was downward.
+
+And now, as he looked over the edge of the shelf on which he lay, it
+struck him for the first time that it was a very terrible descent, and,
+turning his eyes away, he looked up again for a way there.
+
+All in vain.  He was fully a hundred and twenty feet from the top of the
+huge cliff, and, half afraid now that he should be quite afraid, he
+determined to lose no time, and, going to the spot where he had crept on
+to the niche floor, he began to lower himself slowly down.
+
+"Be a good thing," he said to himself, as he searched with his feet and
+made sure of his footing, "if one could leave all one's thoughts behind
+at a time like this, or only keep enough to think where to put one's
+feet."
+
+"Glad I haven't got on my uniform," he said a few moments later, as his
+breast scraped over the rough rock.
+
+Soon after,--
+
+"Oh, how sore my hands are!  That's better."
+
+He was back in safety on the ledge over the hole, and, passing along, he
+had soon descended to the one beneath the exit.
+
+"Now then," he said, as he paused for a few minutes before commencing
+his descent; "this will be easier."
+
+Somehow he did not feel in any hurry to begin, and he sat down with his
+legs hanging over the ledge, to give his nerves time to calm down, for
+there was a strong tendency to throb about his pulses, and he was not
+sufficiently conversant with the house he lived in, to know that
+confinement, worry, want of fresh air, and excessive work during the
+past few days had not given him what the doctors call "tone."
+
+So he sat there with his back to the rock, gazing out to sea again, and
+then watching the graceful curves made by a gull, which had risen higher
+and higher, and came nearer and nearer, till it was on a level with him,
+and watching him curiously.
+
+"Wonder whether you think I am going to fall and let you have a pick at
+me," said Archy, with a forced laugh; "because I am not going to tumble,
+so you can be off."
+
+All the same, though, he shuddered, and he had to exercise a little
+force to make his new start downward.
+
+"Best way after all," he said, as he began to descend.  "If you go up,
+it gets more dangerous every minute, because you have farther to fall.
+If you go down, it gets safer, because you have less."
+
+He found the way now comparatively easy, for the rock sloped a little
+out, and he had even got down some sixty feet when he had a check.
+
+"I don't know, though," he said, as he put a bleeding knuckle to his
+lips.  "Don't make much difference, I should think, whether you fall one
+hundred feet or five.  Bother!  I wish I did not keep on thinking about
+tumbling."
+
+He forced himself to study the next part of his descent, which was
+nearly perpendicular, but well broken up with ledges and cracks which
+offered good holding, and terminated a hundred feet below, upon a shelf,
+which naturally offered itself as his next resting-place, but beyond
+which it was impossible to see.
+
+"Don't matter," he said more cheerfully.  "Let's take difficulties a bit
+at a time.  I'm free, and I can laugh at them now.  I could jump into
+deep water and swim, if there were no way down from below there."
+
+His spirits rose now, for, though a false step or slip of the foot would
+have sent him headlong down to the broad ledge, from which he would in
+all probability have bounded into the sea, the climbing was good, and,
+panting with the exertion, he got from projection to ledge, now straight
+down, now diagonally, and often along first one tiny ledge or cornice
+and then another, zig-zagging, till, at about twenty feet from the place
+he was making for, a slaty piece of the limestone rock by which he was
+holding parted, frost-loosened, from the parent rock, and he went down
+with a rush.
+
+But it was only a slide.  He alighted on his feet, and, scratched and
+startled a bit, stood panting and trying to recover his composure.
+
+"No harm done," he said, as he looked up to where the hole from which he
+had escaped was beginning to look quite small.  "Might have been worse.
+Quite bad enough, though.  Shakes one so.  Now for a rest, and then down
+again."
+
+He stepped to the edge and looked over in the middle, next to the left,
+then to the right, and always with the same result.  He was now on a
+regular sea-birds' sanctuary, for the rock below him was not
+perpendicular; but sloped right under, and, try as he would, he could
+devise no plan for getting down lower, save by taking a header into the
+sea, where the water looked black and deep to his right, while to his
+left there was the chasm upon which, twenty feet or so out of the
+perpendicular line, was the hole from which he had come.
+
+Heights of sea-cliffs are very deceptive, and slopes which look to the
+inexperienced eye only a hundred feet or so to the top, are often more
+than double.  It was so here, for, in spite of the distance he had come
+down, the midshipman found that he must be fully two hundred feet above
+the sea.
+
+"Oh, how vexatious!" he cried, as he ground his teeth.  "After all that
+work, after being so sure, to be out here on this wretched shelf like an
+old cormorant, but without any wings."
+
+"I don't care," he said aloud, after again and again convincing himself
+that there was no possible means of farther descent.  "I won't go back
+to prison; I'll sit here and starve first.  Not I," he added, after a
+few moments' thought; "the cutter will be sure to sail by, and they
+could see me if I made signals from just here."
+
+Rather doubtful, as he knew, for he was only at the corner of the chasm
+or tiny gulf into which the sea rushed, and the chances were that unless
+he had something big and white to wave, he was not likely to get his
+signal seen.
+
+For one moment only the recollection of the food he had left behind
+tempted him to return.
+
+"I might get it, and bring the basket down," he said.  "No, I won't try
+it again; it's too dangerous.  I don't want another slip.  Besides,
+there must be a way down farther, if I could find it.  Of course!  I
+knew it!" he cried, as he gazed over once more, farther in toward the
+head of the little chasm, which looked as though the rock had been split
+from top to bottom.
+
+He rubbed his hands, for some thirty feet below there was certainly a
+narrow possible place, and from there perhaps another might be found.
+
+"If one could get down," he said to himself; but it did not look
+possible; the rock was out even of the perpendicular, and no sane person
+would attempt to drop from the edge so great a distance as that.
+
+At that moment a piece of slaty rock came sliding down from on high, to
+fall with a crash and splinter on the rock at his feet.
+
+"Must have loosened that," he said; "good job I didn't get it on my
+head.  Oh!"
+
+It was a cry of rage as much as of alarm, for there, following his track
+exactly, was Ram, who had returned repentant, alone, with his basket, to
+miss his prisoner, search, find the opening, and without hesitation to
+come down the cliff in pursuit.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+For the moment Archy Raystoke was puzzled--completely taken aback.  This
+was something upon which he had not counted; and he stood there looking
+up, as he saw the boy descending with a far greater show of activity
+than he could have displayed.
+
+Naturally, the first thought was of further flight, but he had already
+convinced himself that he was again a prisoner, and as, after another
+glance down at the ledge below to his left, he looked up at Ram, he set
+his teeth, and laughed in a way that did not promise well for his
+pursuer.
+
+"What is he coming down for?" he said to himself, as his teeth began to
+set fast and his hands involuntarily to clench.  "Does he think he is
+going to drag me up there again?  He had better not try."
+
+Meanwhile Ram was descending rapidly, and sending little ambassadors
+down before him in the shape of pieces of rock and shale, all of which
+arrived at the ledge in a very inimical way, bounding off, scattering in
+fragments, or falling with a heavy thud.
+
+From time to time Ram looked down at his escaped prisoner, and then
+devoted himself to the places where he should never plant his feet,
+achieving the whole in the most fearless manner, and finishing with a
+leap which landed him near where Archy stood gazing at him, regularly at
+bay.
+
+Ram did not hesitate an instant, but dashed at the midshipman to seize
+him by the jacket, but Archy was on his mettle, and he struck out
+sharply, a blow in the chest and another in the right shoulder, sending
+the young smuggler staggering back.
+
+"Oh, that's it, is it?" cried Ram furiously.  "I give you one more
+chance, though--will you give in, and come back quietly?"
+
+"If you attempt to come near me, you dog," said Archy slowly through his
+clenched teeth, "I'll knock you off here into the sea."
+
+"Will you?" cried Ram, dashing at his late prisoner again, dodging the
+blow struck at him, closing with his adversary; and then began a
+struggle which would have made the blood of an onlooker curdle, so
+terribly narrow and dangerous was the place where the encounter took
+place.
+
+Of the pair, Archy Raystoke was a little the bigger, but the smuggler's
+son fully made up for any deficiency by his activity, and the hardening
+his muscles had undergone for years.
+
+No blows were struck, the efforts of Ram being apparently directed to
+throwing the midshipman down, when he meant to sit upon him till he had
+reduced him to obedience.
+
+Archy's tactics were, of course, to prevent this, and rid himself of his
+adversary, as he felt all the time how horribly risky it was to struggle
+and wrestle there, for the ledge was six feet wide at the outside, and
+not much more than twice the length.
+
+But in a few minutes, as the encounter grew more hot, and they held on
+to each other, and swayed here and there, all thought of the position
+they occupied was forgotten.  One minute Ram, by entwining his leg
+within those of his adversary, nearly threw him; then, by a dexterous
+effort, Archy shook himself fairly free.  Then they clasped again,
+swayed here and there, Archy getting far the worse of the encounter from
+weakness, but, with a final call upon himself, he strove desperately to
+recover lost ground, and made so fierce an effort to throw Ram in turn,
+that he succeeded.
+
+His effort was not sufficiently well sustained, though, for success to
+have attended it, but for one fact.  They had struggled to the extreme
+edge of the inward part of the shelf, and as the midshipman was at the
+end of his strength, and Ram realised it, the boy smiled, thrust back
+his right leg to give impetus to his next thrust, and his foot went down
+over the rock.
+
+There was a cry, a jerk, and the midshipman was down on his chest, as he
+had fallen, clinging to the edge, for the young smuggler seemed to have
+been snatched from his arms, and was now lying thirty feet below on the
+edge of a sloping rock, part of his body without support, and apparently
+about to glide off into the waves below.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+Archy shuddered, his eyes grew fixed, and his whole body seemed to be
+frozen.  The minute before he had been burning with rage, and struggling
+to gain the mastery over his enemy; now he would have given anything to
+have undone the past.
+
+"Ram!" he cried excitedly,--"Ram, my lad, turn over quickly, and lay
+hold, or you will be off."
+
+There was no reply.  Ram's face looked ghastly, and his eyes were
+closed.
+
+"I've killed him!  I know I have!" cried Archy excitedly; and he
+strained himself more over the edge of the rock, to gaze wildly about
+for a means of descent, but there was only one: if he wished to get down
+to where the boy lay, apparently about to slip off into the sea, there
+was only one way, and that was to jump.  Thirty feet!  And if he did
+jump, he could not do so without coming down in contact with the boy,
+perhaps right on him, when it seemed as if a touch of a finger would
+send him headlong into the sea.
+
+"What shall I do?" thought the midshipman.  "It is horrible.  Ram!" he
+shouted.  "Rouse up!  For goodness' sake, speak!  Try to creep farther
+on to the rock.  Oh, help I help!"
+
+He shouted this frantically, but a wild and mournful cry from a gull was
+the only response, and his voice seemed to be utterly lost in the vast
+space around.
+
+"I shall have murdered the poor fellow," groaned Archy; and he stared
+about wildly again, in search of some means of getting to his adversary.
+
+None--none whatever.  It would have been madness to jump, and he knew
+it--death--certain death to both.  No one could have leaped down that
+distance on to a shelf of rock without serious injury, and then it would
+have been impossible to save himself from the rebound which must have
+sent him headlong into the sea below.  This even if the shelf had not
+already been occupied; and Ram lay there, evidently stunned, if not
+killed.
+
+What did Mr Brough and old Gurr always say?  "_Be cool in
+danger_--_never lose your nerve_!"
+
+"Yes, that was it!" he said, as he recalled lessons that he had received
+again and again.  But what could he do?  Even as he gazed down, he
+momentarily expected to see Ram glide slowly off, and, with brow covered
+with great drops of perspiration and his hands wet and cold, the
+midshipman rose panting to his feet, looked round, and sent up shout
+after shout for help.
+
+Again his voice seemed utterly lost in the air, and a peculiar,
+querulous cry from the gull, which came slowly sailing round, was all
+the response he got.
+
+"Ram!" he cried at last.  "Ram!  Don't play tricks, lad.  Speak to me.
+I want to help you.  Tell me what to do--to get help.  Can't you speak?"
+
+There was no mistaking the state of affairs; the boy was either dead or
+completely stunned by his fall.
+
+Archy put his hands to his temples, and stood looking down wildly for a
+few moments, to assure himself that he could not reach his late
+adversary; and then, perfectly satisfied of the impossibility of the
+task, he began resolutely to climb up the face of the cliff where he had
+come down, and, setting his teeth hard, went from crack to crevice and
+ledge, on and on, seeing nothing but the white face below him on the
+shelf, and praying the while that the poor lad might not fall before he
+came back with help.
+
+The work was more dangerous than he had anticipated, and twice he
+slipped, once so badly that he was holding on merely by the sharp edge
+of a projecting piece of stone, but he found foothold again, drew
+himself up, and went on climbing again, till, with face streaming with
+perspiration and his fingers wet with blood, of which he left traces on
+the stone as he went on, he at last reached the opening he had fought so
+hard to make, climbed in, turned and leaned out as far as he could, to
+try and get a glimpse of Ram, and be sure that he had not glided into
+the sea.
+
+He could see nothing; Ram was far below under the projecting rock; and,
+drawing back once more, the midshipman began to hurry down the steps and
+then the slope, into the black quarry that he had fancied he had quitted
+for ever.
+
+To his great delight, there, right away before him, was Ram's lanthorn,
+burning brightly with the door open, and shining upon the old sails and
+shipping gear, stores, and remains of wrecks saved from the sea.
+
+But he did not stay.  He caught up the lanthorn, closed the door lest a
+puff again should extinguish the candle, and then hesitated a moment or
+two as a thought struck him.
+
+"No," he said aloud, "I must get help;" and, hurrying toward the
+opening, he kicked against the basket of provisions the lad had brought
+back.  He made his way to the top of the other slope and shouted,--
+
+"Hi, Jemmy!--smuggler!  Quick!  Come down!"
+
+There was no response, for, good-heartedly enough, Ram had, as
+before-said, repented, and come back alone.
+
+What should he do?  Climb out, and run for help?
+
+No, he did not know where to find it; and by the time he had discovered
+some of Ram's people, it would be too late; so, with the way of escape
+open to him, and freedom ready to welcome him once again, he hurried
+back, lanthorn in hand, selected a coil of rope from the pile of stores,
+threw it over his shoulder, passing his left arm through, and, leaving
+the lanthorn where he had found it, he hurried back to the narrow
+passage, climbed the slope and the steps up to the opening; and, with
+the rope hanging like a sword-belt from his shoulder, impeding his
+movements, and getting caught in the projections over and over again, he
+once more began to descend.
+
+How he got down he hardly knew, but long before he reached the great
+shelf, he was so incommoded by the rope that he contrived, spread-eagled
+as he was against the rock face, to get it over his head, and then
+carefully let it drop, uttering a cry of anguish as he saw it fall,
+catching against a piece of rock which diverted its course, so that it
+rested nearly half over the edge, and he clung there, gazing down
+wildly, expecting to see it disappear, in which case he would have had
+to climb again for another coil.
+
+Fortunately it lodged, and in a few minutes he was down beside it, and
+close at the end of the great ledge, gazing over wonderingly, and with
+his eyes half blinded by a mist, expecting to see the narrow shelf below
+bare.
+
+But no; Ram had not moved, and there was yet time.
+
+Seizing the coil of rope, he shook it open, and selecting one of the
+biggest blocks of stone, which had at some time fallen from above, he
+made one end of the rope fast, tried it to make sure, lowered the other
+over the edge, and carefully slid down, swinging to and fro, and turning
+slowly round, to hang for a few moments, trying to plant his foot on the
+ledge without touching Ram, for he felt more than ever convinced he
+would glide off at the slightest shock.
+
+It was impossible.  The only way was to draw up his legs, give himself
+an impetus by kicking against the rock, swinging to and fro, and then
+letting himself, at a certain moment when he was well beyond the boy,
+drop on to the shelf.
+
+He tried the experiment, and swung past Ram again and again, but dared
+not leave go for fear of missing the rock with his feet.
+
+At last he ventured: swung well past the prostrate figure, loosened his
+grasp, alighted on the narrow ledge quite clear, but could not preserve
+his balance, and fell back, uttering a low cry, as he tightened his
+grasp upon the rope again, but not till he had slipped rapidly down a
+good twenty feet, where he began swinging to and fro again.
+
+For a few moments it seemed all over; there was the sea at a terrible
+depth below him, and all that distance to climb up with his hands
+bleeding and giving him intense pain, while his arms felt half jerked
+out of their sockets.
+
+But he had had plenty of experience in climbing ropes, and, muttering,
+"Don't lose your nerve," he got the line well twisted round his legs,
+and climbed up again sufficiently high to repeat his former experiment,
+this time with success, and he stood upon the ledge and loosely knotted
+the rope about his waist, to guard against letting the end go, before
+kneeling down tremulously, and getting one hand well in under the collar
+of the boy's rough coat.
+
+For some minutes he felt giddy; there was a mist before his eyes, and he
+involuntarily pressed himself close to the rock, expecting to fall, and
+in a curious, dreamy way he saw himself hanging far below, swinging at
+the end of the rope.
+
+But all this passed off, and, exerting his strength as far as he could
+in the terribly dangerous, crippled position in which he was, he gave
+three or four sharp jerks, and succeeded in drawing Ram well on to the
+shelf, when, in the revulsion of feeling, the dizziness came back, and
+he felt that he must faint.
+
+"Leave off, will yer?" came roughly to his ears, and roused him, telling
+him that the boy was not dead.  "D'yer hear, Jemmy Dadd?  Great coward!
+Father know'd you'd hit me like that, he'd half kill you."
+
+There was a pause, and a sob of relief struggled from Archy's breast.
+
+Then Ram began to mutter again.
+
+"Oh, my head!" he groaned.  "Oh, my head!  Oh, my--"
+
+He opened his eyes, and began to stare wildly; then he seemed to
+recollect himself, and started up to gaze up, then over the side at the
+sea far below, and lastly at his companion in misfortune.
+
+"I reck'lect now," he said.  "We was fighting, and I put my foot over
+the side, and come down here, hitting my head on the stones, and then I
+turned sick, and I knew I was falling over, and then I went to sleep.  I
+was half off, wasn't I, with my legs down?"
+
+"Yes.  In a horrible position."
+
+"Yes, it wasn't nice.  Oh, my head!  But who--Why, you didn't go and get
+the rope and come down and pull me on?"
+
+Archy nodded.
+
+"Is Jemmy here?"
+
+"No."
+
+"But did you climb up and get a rope, and come down again and haul me on
+here?"
+
+"Yes," said the midshipman.
+
+Ram stared at him, holding his hand to the back of his head the while,
+and a couple of minutes must have elapsed before he said,--
+
+"Well, you are a rum chap!"
+
+Archy grew red.  Curious gratitude this seemed for saving the lad's
+life.
+
+"Didn't you know the door was open?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Why didn't yer run away?"
+
+"How could I, and leave you to fall off that place?"
+
+"Dunno.  Wouldn't ha' been nice.  Where did you get the rope?"
+
+"From close to where I slept."
+
+"Yes, there was a lot there.  'Tain't cut," he said, looking at the hand
+he drew from the back of his head.  "What a whop it did come down on the
+rock!"
+
+"Don't talk about it," said Archy, with a shiver.
+
+"Why not?  Father allus said I'd got the thickest head he ever see.  I
+say, though, you--did you--course you did.  You climbed up again, and
+went into the cave, got the rope come down again, and then got down here
+to help me?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"When you might have run away?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Thank ye.  Shake hands!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+Ram sat there holding out his hand to the midshipman, but it was not
+taken, and for a space they gazed into each other's eyes.  The silence
+was broken by Ram.
+
+"Well," he said at last, "won't you shake hands?"
+
+"An officer and a gentleman cannot shake hands with one like you,"
+replied Archy coldly.
+
+"Oh, can't he?" said Ram quietly.  "You're a gentleman.  Was it being a
+gentleman made you come down and pull me on here."
+
+"I don't know whether being a gentleman made me do it," said Archy
+coldly.  "I saw you would lose your life if I did not get a rope and
+come to you, and so I did it."
+
+"Yes; that's being a gentleman made you do that," said Ram thoughtfully.
+"None of our fellows would have done that."
+
+"I suppose not."
+
+"I know I wouldn't."
+
+"Yes, you would."
+
+Ram looked the midshipman hard in the face again.
+
+"You mean, if I'd seen you lying down here like I was, I should have
+gone and fetched the rope and pulled you up?"
+
+"Yes; I am sure you would."
+
+Ram sat in his old position, with his hand to the back of his aching
+head.
+
+"But it's being a gentleman made you do it."
+
+"No; anybody who saw a person in danger would try and save his life; and
+you would have tried to save mine."
+
+"But I might have slipped and gone over the cliff."
+
+"You wouldn't have thought about that," said Archy quietly.  "You did
+not think about the danger when you saw me trying to escape."
+
+"No, I didn't, did I?" said Ram thoughtfully.  "I knew how savage father
+would be if you got away and fetched the sailors; and he told me I was
+to see you didn't get out, so I come down after you."
+
+"And you would have done as I said."
+
+"Well, praps I should," said Ram, laughing; "but, as we didn't neither
+of us go over, it's no use to talk about it.  My!  How it does ache!"
+
+He turned himself a little, so as to plant his back against the rock,
+and let his legs hang down over the edge.
+
+"That's more comf'table.  Bit of a rest.  Hard work getting down here
+and wrastling."
+
+Archy was in so cramped and awkward a position, half kneeling, that he
+followed his companion's example, shuddering slightly, though, as he let
+his legs go down, and put his hands beside him to press his back firmly
+against the rock.
+
+"Frightened?" said Ram, who was watching him.
+
+"I don't know about being frightened.  It would be a terrible fall."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," said Ram, leaning forward and gazing down into the
+void.  "Water's precious deep here.  Such lots of great conger eels, six
+foot long, 'bout the holes in the bottom.  Jemmy Dadd and me's caught
+'em before now.  Most strong enough to pull you out of the boat.
+Dessay, if you went down, you'd come up again, but you couldn't get
+ashore."
+
+"Why?  A good swimmer could get round the point there, and make for the
+ledge where I saw you and that man land."
+
+"No, you couldn't," said Ram; "it's hard work to get round there with a
+boat.  You do have to pull.  That's where the race is, and it would
+carry you out to--oh?"
+
+The boy was looking down between his legs as he spoke; and the
+midshipman just had time to dart forward his hand, catch him by the
+shoulder, and drag him back, or he would have gone off the rock.
+
+Ram lurched over sidewise, his sun-browned face mottled and
+strange-looking, as his head dropped slowly over on to the midshipman's
+shoulder, where it lay for a good ten minutes, Archy passing his arm
+round the boy, and supporting him as he lay there, breathing heavily,
+with his eyes half-closed.
+
+It was a terrible position; and a cold, damp perspiration bedewed the
+midshipman's face, as he felt how near they both were to a terrible end.
+The deep water after that awful fall, the fierce current which would
+carry him out to sea--and then came shuddering thoughts of the great,
+long, serpent-like congers, of whose doings horrible stories were
+current among the sailors.
+
+At last, to his great relief, Ram uttered a deep sigh, and sat up,
+smiling at his companion.
+
+"I've felt like that before," he said.  "Come over all at once sick and
+giddy, like you do if you lean down too much in the sun.  I should have
+gone over, shouldn't I, if you hadn't ketched me?"
+
+"Don't talk about it."
+
+"Oh, very well; it was hitting my head such a crack, I suppose.  I say,
+though, you never thought you could get away down here, did you?"
+
+"Meant to try," said Archy laconically.
+
+"Yah!  What was the good, I knowed you wouldn't; but I meant to fetch
+you back.  Me and Jemmy Dadd come down here once after birds' eggs,
+before father had the place up there quite blocked up.  It used to be a
+hole just big enough to creep through.  Jemmy stopped up on that patch
+where you and me wrastled, and let me down with a rope.  There's no
+getting no farther than this."
+
+"Not with a rope?"
+
+"Well, with a very long one you might slide down to the water, but
+what's the good, without there was a boat waiting?  You hadn't got the
+boat, and you didn't bring no rope.  No use to try to get away."
+
+The words seemed more and more the words of truth as the midshipman
+listened, and he was compelled to own in his own mind that he had failed
+in his attempt; but a question seemed to leap from his lips next moment,
+and he said sharply,--
+
+"Perhaps there's no getting down, but any one might climb up right to
+the top of the cliff."
+
+"Fly might, or a beedle," said the boy, laughing.  "Why, a rabbit
+couldn't, and I've seen them do some rum things, cutting up the rocks
+where they've been straight up like a wall.  Why, it comes right over up
+nigh the top.  No, father's right; place is safe enough from the
+seaside, and so it is from the land.  Now, then, let's go back."
+
+"You can go," said Archy coldly.  "I'm going to stop here."
+
+"That you won't," said Ram sharply.  "You're a-coming up with me.  Yah!
+What's the good o' being obstinate?  We don't want to have another
+fight.  Don't you see you can't get away?"
+
+"I will get away," said Archy sternly.
+
+"Well, you won't get off this way, till your wings grow," said Ram,
+laughing.  "Come on, mate, let's get back."
+
+Archy hesitated, but was obliged to come to the conclusion that he was
+beaten this time, and he turned slowly to his companion and said,--
+
+"Can you climb that rope?"
+
+"Can I climb that rope?  I should think I can!"
+
+"But dare you venture now?"
+
+Ram put his hand to his head, and gazed up thoughtfully.
+
+"Well, it would be stoopid if I was to turn dizzy again.  S'pose you
+untie the rope from round you, and let me tie it round my waist.  Then
+you go up first, and when I come, you'll be ready to lend me a hand."
+
+"Yes, that will be best," said Archy.
+
+"Without you want to leave me?" said the boy, laughing.
+
+The midshipman made no reply.  There was an arduous task before him, and
+his nerves were unstrung.  After he had unfastened the end of the rope
+and passed it to Ram, who did not secure the end about him, but the
+middle, after he had nearly drawn it tight, so that, if he did slip, the
+fall would not be so long.  Then reluctantly, but feeling that it must
+be done, Archy climbed the thirty feet of rope between him and the great
+ledge, slowly and surely, glad to lie down and close his eyes as soon as
+he was in safety so far.
+
+He tried to, but he dared not look over when the rope began to quiver
+again.  He contented himself with taking hold near the edge, and
+crouched there, picturing the boy turning dizzy once more from his
+injury, letting go, and dropping with a terrible jerk to the extent of
+the rope where it was tied.  Then, as he felt the strong hemp quiver in
+his hands, he found himself wondering if the strands would snap one by
+one with the terrible strain of the jerk, and whether the boy would drop
+down into the sea.
+
+What should he do then?
+
+What should he do if the rope did not part?  He did not think he would
+have strength to draw the boy up, and, if he did, he was so unnerved
+now, that he did not believe he would be able to drag him over the edge
+on to the rock platform.
+
+There!  Ram must be turning giddy, he was so long; and, unable to bear
+the pressure longer, Archy opened his eyes and crept nearer to the edge,
+to face the horror of seeing the boy's wild upturned eyes.
+
+But he saw nothing of the kind, save in the workings of his own
+disordered imagination.  What he did see was Ram's frank-looking rustic
+face close up, and a hand was reached over the edge.
+
+"You may get hold of me anywhere if you like," said the boy, "and give a
+hand.  That's your style, orficer!  Pull away, and up she comes.  That's
+it!" he said, as he crept over the edge.  "Thank'ee.  I aren't
+smuggled."
+
+They both sat down for a few minutes, while Ram untied the rope from his
+waist and from round the big block of stone, before beginning to coil it
+up.
+
+"I say," he said, as he formed ring after ring of rope, "that rock isn't
+very safe.  If I'd slipped, and the rope hadn't snapped, that big stone
+would have come down atop of me, and what a mess you'd have been in, if
+father had said you pitched me off!"
+
+"Let's get back," said the midshipman, who felt sick at heart; and he
+moved toward the place where he had been down and up three times.
+
+"Wait a moment," said Ram, securing the end of the rope, and throwing
+the coil over his shoulder.  "That's right.  I'll go first.  Know the
+way?"
+
+"Because you don't trust me," said Archy angrily.
+
+"That's it," said Ram.  "Door's open, and you might get out."
+
+Archy's teeth grated together, but he said nothing, only began to climb,
+following the boy patiently till they were nearing the opening, when he
+started so violently that he nearly lost his hold.
+
+For a voice came from above his head,--
+
+"Got him, Ram?"
+
+"Yes, father; here he is."
+
+For the moment the midshipman felt disposed to descend again, but he
+kept on, and a minute later he looked up, to see Ram's frank face
+looking out of the hole, and the boy stretched out his hand.
+
+"Want any help?  Oh, all right then!"
+
+"Did you think you'd get out that way, youngster?" said Shackle, as the
+midshipman stood erect at the top of the rough stairs.
+
+"I thought I'd try," said the lad stiffly.
+
+"Took a lot o' trouble for nothing, boy," said the smuggler.  "I come to
+see what was amiss, Ram, boy, you was so long.  Don't come again without
+Jemmy Dadd or some one."
+
+"No, father."
+
+"So you thought you'd get away, did you?" said the smuggler, with an
+ugly smile.  "Ought to have known better, boy.  You wouldn't be kept
+here, if there was a way for you to escape."
+
+Archy felt too much depressed to make any sharp reply, and the smuggler
+turned to his son.
+
+"What's the matter with you?"
+
+"Bit of a tumble, father, that's all," said the boy cheerfully, as he
+placed his hand to the back of his head.
+
+"You should take care, then; rocks are harder than heads.  Hi!  You
+Jemmy Dadd!"
+
+"Hullo!" came out of the darkness.
+
+"Get Tom to help you to-morrow.  Bring a bushel or two o' lime stuff,
+and stop up this hole, all but a bit big enough for a pigeon to go in
+and out.  It'll give him a taste o' light and air.  Now, youngster, on
+with you.  Show the lanthorn, Jemmy."
+
+The man came forward, and Archy was made to follow him, the smuggler and
+his son coming on behind; and ten minutes later the prisoner was seated
+in his old place in the darkness, with Ram's basket of provisions for
+consolation.  As he sat there, listening to the departing footsteps, and
+feeling more and more that it was quite true,--escape must be impossible
+down the cliff, or else they would not have left him with the opening
+unguarded,--there was the dull, heavy report of the closing trap-door,
+and the rattle and snap of bolts, and that followed by the rumbling down
+of the pieces of stone.
+
+He had pretty well thought out the correct theory of this noise, that it
+was on purpose to hide the trap-door from any prying eyes which might
+pass, and prying eyes must be few, he felt, or else the smugglers would
+not have had recourse to so clumsy a contrivance.
+
+He thought all this over again, as he sat there wearied out and
+despondent, for in the morning his task had seemed as good as achieved,
+and now he was face to face with the fact, after all that labour, that
+it had been in vain, and he was more a prisoner than ever.
+
+"Not quite so badly off as some, though," he thought, as, moved thereto
+by the terrible hunger he felt, he stretched out his hand for the
+basket.  Not bread and water, but good tasty provisions, and--"What's
+this in the bottle?" he asked himself, as he removed the cork.
+
+It was good wholesome cider, and being seventeen, and growing fast,
+Archy forgot everything for the next half-hour in the enjoyment of a
+hearty meal.
+
+An hour later, just as he was thinking of going to the opening to sit
+there and look out at the evening sky, he dropped off fast asleep, and
+was wakened by the coming of two of the smugglers, who busied themselves
+in the repairs of the broken wall.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+That day Jemmy Dadd brought him his food, and the next day, and the
+next.
+
+"What did it mean?" he asked himself.  He could understand this man
+being the bearer while he was employed at the mason work; but when that
+was over, he felt puzzled at Ram not coming.
+
+Then he began to wonder whether the boy was ill in consequence of his
+fall, and he longed to ask, but, as everything he said to Dadd was
+received in gloomy silence, he felt indisposed to question the man, and
+waited, patiently or impatiently, till there should be a change.
+
+The change did come, Ram appearing the next day with the basket; but his
+father and several other men entered the quarry, and something was
+brought in--what he did not see.
+
+Ram came up to him with his basket, but, just as he began speaking,
+Shackle called him away, and once more the prisoner was left alone.
+
+He partook of his meal, feeling more dull and dispirited than ever, and
+a walk afterwards to the little opening, just big enough to allow of his
+arm being thrust in, afforded no relief.  For he wanted, to talk to Ram
+about their adventures, and to try whether he could not win over the boy
+to help him to escape.
+
+The next day arrived, and, as of old, Ram came, with Jemmy Dadd left at
+the door.
+
+"He's grumbling," said the boy, "about having to help watch over you."
+
+"Then why not put an end to it?" cried Archy, eagerly dashing into the
+question next his heart, for his confinement now grew unbearable.
+
+"How?"
+
+"Help me to escape."
+
+The boy laughed.
+
+"Aren't you going to ask me how I am?"
+
+"No; why should I?"
+
+"'Cause you made me have that fall, and my head's been trebble.  I've
+been in bed three days."
+
+"I am sorry for you," said Archy; "but I can only think of one thing--
+how to get away."
+
+"No good to think about that.  Father won't let you go; I asked him."
+
+"You did, Ram?"
+
+"Yes, I asked him--though you wouldn't be friends and shake hands."
+
+"What did he say?" cried Archy, ignoring the latter part of his gaoler's
+remarks.
+
+"Said I was a young fool, and he'd rope's-end me if I talked any more
+such stuff."
+
+The midshipman did not notice it, but there was a quiet and softened air
+in Ram's behaviour toward him, and the boy seemed reluctant to go, but,
+in the midshipman's natural desire to get away, he could think of
+nothing else but self.
+
+"It would not be the act of a fool to set one of the officers of the
+Royal Navy at liberty."
+
+"He says it would, for it would be the end of us all here.  The sailors
+would come and pretty well turn us out of house and home.  No; he won't
+let you go."
+
+"How long is he going to keep me here?"
+
+"Don't know.  Long as he likes."
+
+That last sentence seemed to drive the prisoner into a fit of anger,
+which lasted till the boy's next coming.
+
+The prisoner had been listening anxiously for the sound which betokened
+the visit of his young gaoler, and he was longing to have speech with
+him; but, telling himself that the boy was an enemy, he punished
+himself, as soon as the lanthorn came swaying through the darkness, by
+throwing himself down and turning away his head.
+
+Ram came up and held the lanthorn over him.
+
+"Morning.  How are you?"
+
+Archy made no reply.
+
+"'Sleep?"
+
+Still no answer.
+
+"You aren't asleep.  Come, look up.  I've brought you four plum puffs,
+and a cream-cheese mother made."
+
+"Hang your plum duffs and cream-cheeses!" cried Archy, starting up in a
+rage.
+
+"Didn't say plum duff; said plum puffs."
+
+"Take 'em away then.  Bread and water's the proper thing for prisoners."
+
+"Oh, I say, you wouldn't get fat on that."
+
+"Will you let me out?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then I warn you fairly.  One of these days, or nights, or whatever they
+are, I'll lie wait for you, and break your head with a stone, and then
+get away."
+
+Ram laughed.
+
+"What?" cried the prisoner fiercely.
+
+"I was only larfin'."
+
+"What at?"
+
+"You.  Think I don't know better than that?  You wouldn't be such a
+coward."
+
+"Oh, wouldn't I?"
+
+"Not you," said Ram, sitting down quietly, and making the lid of his
+basket squeak.  "You know I can't help it."
+
+"Yes, you can.  You could let me out."
+
+"Father would kill me if I did.  Why, if I let you out, you'd come with
+a lot o' men, and there'd be a big fight, and some of our chaps wounded
+and some killed, and if we didn't whop you, our place would be all
+smashed up, and father and all of 'em in prison."
+
+"And serve 'em right!"
+
+"Ah, but we don't think so.  That's what you'd do, isn't it?"
+
+"Of course it is."
+
+"Well, then, I can't let you go.  'Sides, if I said I would, there's
+always Jemmy Dadd, or big Tom Dunley, or father waiting outside, and
+they'd be sure to nab you."
+
+"But you might come by night and get me out."
+
+"No," said the boy sturdily, "I couldn't."
+
+"Then you're a beast.  Get out of my sight before I half kill you!"
+
+"Have a puff."
+
+"Take them away, you thieving scoundrel!" cried Archy, who was half mad
+with disappointment.  "You come here professing to be civil, and yet you
+won't help me."
+
+"Can't."
+
+"You can, sir."
+
+"And you wouldn't like me if I did."
+
+"Yes, I should, and I never could be grateful enough."
+
+"No, you wouldn't.  You'd know I was a sneak and a traitor, as you call
+it, to father and all our chaps, and you'd never like me."
+
+"Like you!  I tell you I should consider you my best friend."
+
+"Not you.  I know better than that.  Have a puff."
+
+"Will you take your miserable stuff away?"
+
+"Have some cream-cheese and new bread."
+
+Archy made a blow at him, but Ram only drew back slightly.
+
+"Don't be a coward," he said.  "You're an officer and a gentleman, you
+told me one day, and you keep on trying to coax me into doing what you
+know would be making me a regular sneak.  What should I say when you
+were gone?"
+
+"Nothing," cried the prisoner.  "Escape with me.  Come on board, and the
+lieutenant will listen to what I say, and take you, and we'll make you a
+regular man-o'-war's-man."
+
+"And set me to fight agen my father, and all my old mates?"
+
+"No; you should not do that."
+
+"And you'd call me a miserable sneak."
+
+"I shouldn't."
+
+"Then you'd think I was, and I should know it, so it would be all the
+same."
+
+"Then you will not help me?"
+
+"Can't."
+
+"You will not, you mean," said Archy bitterly.  "You'd sooner keep me
+here to rot in the darkness."
+
+"No, I wouldn't, and I'd let you out if I could," cried Ram, with
+animation.  "I like you, that I do, because you're such a brave chap,
+and not afraid of any of us.  S'pose I was a prisoner in your boat,
+would you let me out?"
+
+"That's a different thing," said Archy proudly.  "I am a king's officer,
+and you are only a smuggler's boy."
+
+"I can't help that," said Ram warmly.  "You wouldn't let me go because
+you couldn't, and I won't let you go because I can't."
+
+"Then get out of this place, and let me be."
+
+"Shan't.  It's horrid dull and dark here, and lonesome.  I shouldn't
+like it, and that's why I get mother to give me all sorts o' good things
+to bring for you, and save 'em up.  Father would make a row if he knew.
+I do like you."
+
+"Get out!"
+
+"Ah, you may say that, but I'd do anything for you now."
+
+"Then let me go."
+
+"'Cept that."
+
+"Knock me on the head, then, and put me out of my misery."
+
+"And 'cept that too.  I say, don't be snarky with me.  You must stop
+here as long as father likes, but why shouldn't you and me be friends?
+I've brought you a Jew's harp to learn to play when you're alone."
+
+Archy uttered an ejaculation full of contempt, and snatched the
+proffered toy and hurled it as far as he could.
+
+"It was a sixpenny one, and I walked all the way to Dunmouth and back to
+get it for you--twenty miles.  It aren't much of a thing for an orficer
+and a gentleman, though, I know.  But, I say, look here, would you like
+to learn to play the fiddle?"
+
+"Will you take your chattering tongue somewhere else?"
+
+"'Cause," continued Ram, without heeding the midshipman's petulant
+words, "I could borrow big Tom Dunley's old fiddle.  He'd lend it to me,
+and I'd smuggle it here."
+
+"Smuggle, of course," sneered Archy.
+
+"In its green baize bag.  I could teach you how to play one toon."
+
+Archy remained silent, as he sat on a stone, listening contemptuously to
+the lad's words.
+
+"I thought I could often come here, and sit and talk to you, and bring a
+light, and I brought these."
+
+He opened the door of the horn lanthorn, and produced from his pocket a
+very dirty old pack of cards, at which Archy stared with profound
+disgust.
+
+"You and me could play a game sometimes, and then you wouldn't feel half
+so dull.  I say, have a puff now!"
+
+There was no reply.
+
+"Shall I bring you some apples?"
+
+Archy threw himself down, and lay on his side, with his head resting
+upon his hand, gazing into the darkness.
+
+"We've got lots o' fox-whelps as we make cider of, and some red-cheeks
+which are ever so much better.  I'll bring you some."
+
+"Don't," replied Archy coldly.  "Bring me my liberty.  I don't want
+anything else."
+
+"Won't you have the Jew's harp, if I go and find it?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor yet the fiddle, if I borrow it?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I say, don't be so snarky with me.  I can't help it.  I was obliged to
+do what I did, same as you'd have been if it had been t'other way on.
+Look here; let you and me be friends, and I could come often and sit
+with you.  I'll stay now if you like.  Let's have a game at cards."
+
+Archy made no reply, and Ram sighed.
+
+"I'm very sorry," he said sadly; "and I'd leave you the lanthorn if you
+like to ask me."
+
+"I'm not going to ask favours of such a set of thieves and scoundrels,"
+cried the midshipman passionately; "and once more I warn you that, if
+you come pestering me with your proposals, I shall knock you down with a
+stone, and then escape."
+
+"Not you," replied Ram, with a quiet laugh.
+
+"Not escape?"
+
+"I meant couldn't knock me down with a stone."
+
+"And pray why?"
+
+"'Cause I tell you agen you couldn't be such a coward.  I'm going now."
+
+No notice was taken of the remark.
+
+"Like another blanket?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"I'm going to leave the basket and the puffs and cheese.  Anything else
+I can get you?"
+
+Archy was moved by the lad's friendly advances, but he felt as if he
+would rather die than show it, and he turned impatiently away from the
+light shed by the lanthorn.
+
+"I'll bring you some apples next time I come, and p'r'aps then you'll
+have a game at cards."
+
+There was no reply, so Ram slowly shut the door of the lanthorn, turning
+the bright light to a soft yellowish glow, and rising to his knees.
+
+"Do let me stop and have a game."
+
+"Let me stop and talk to you, then."
+
+There was no reply to either proposal, and just then there came a
+hoarse--
+
+"Ram ahoy!"
+
+"A-hoy!" cried the lad.  "I must go now.  That's Jemmy Dadd shouting for
+me."
+
+Archy made no reply, and the boy rose, set down the basket beside where
+he had been kneeling, and stood gazing down at the prisoner.
+
+"Like some 'bacco to chew?" he said.  Then, as there was no answer, he
+went slowly away, with the prisoner watching the dull glow of the
+lanthorn till it disappeared behind the great pillars, there was a faint
+suggestion of light farther on, then darkness again, the dull echoing
+bang of the heavy trap-door and rattle of the thin slabs of stone which
+seemed to be thrown over it to act as a cover or screen, and then once
+again the silence and utter darkness which sat upon the prisoner like
+lead.
+
+He uttered a low groan.
+
+"Am I never to see the bright sun and the sparkling sea again?" he said
+sadly.  "I never used to think they were half so beautiful as they are,
+till I was shut up in this horrible hole.  Oh, if I could only get
+away!"
+
+He started up now, and began to walk up and down over a space clear of
+loose stones, which he seemed to know now by instinct, but he stopped
+short directly.
+
+"If that young ruffian saw me, he'd say I was like a wild beast in a
+cage.  He'd call me a monkey again, as he did before.  Oh, I wish I had
+him here!"
+
+The intention was for the administration of punishment, but just then
+Archy kicked against the basket, and that completely changed the current
+of his thoughts.
+
+"The beggar wants to be civil," he said.  "He is civil.  It was kind of
+him to bring the things to amuse me, and better food.  Wants to be
+friends!  But who's going to be friends with a scoundrel like that?  I
+don't want his rubbish--only to be able to keep strong and well, so as
+to escape first chance."
+
+"Likes me, does he?" muttered the midshipman, after a pause.  "I should
+think he does.  Such impudence!  Friends indeed!  Oh, it's
+insufferable!"
+
+Archy's words were very bitter, but, somehow, all the time he kept
+thinking about their adventure, and the lad's bravery, and then about
+his having saved him.
+
+"I suppose he liked that," said Archy, after a time, talking aloud, for
+it was pleasant to hear a voice in the solemn darkness, even if it was
+only his own.
+
+He grew a little more softened in his feelings, and, after resisting the
+temptation for three hours, and vowing that he would keep to bread and
+water and starve himself before he would let them think he received
+their gifts, he found himself thinking more and more of the friendly
+feeling of the boy and his show of gratitude.  Then he recalled all that
+had passed about the proposal to escape--to set him at liberty--to be
+his companion; and he was obliged to own that Ram had behaved very well.
+
+"For him," he said contemptuously, and then such a peculiarly strong
+suggestion of its being dinner-time reminded him that he ought to
+partake of food, that he opened the basket, and the temptation was
+resisted no longer.
+
+Pride is all very well in places, but there is a strength in cold roast
+chicken, plum puffs, and cream-cheese, that will, or did in this case,
+sweep everything before it; and, after making a very hearty meal, the
+midshipman almost wished that he had Ram there to talk to as a humble
+companion in that weary solitude.
+
+"He's a miserable, contemptible beggar," said Archy at last, "but I need
+not have been quite so rough with him as I was."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY.
+
+Matters grew no better.  There was a leaning toward the rough lad, who
+seemed never weary of trying to perform little acts of kindness for his
+father's prisoner; but there was only one thing which the midshipman
+desired, and, as that could not be accorded, the friendly feeling
+between the two lads stayed where it was.  In fact, it seemed to be
+turning into positive dislike on one side, Archy fiercely rating his
+gaoler over and over again, and Ram bearing it all in the meekest way.
+
+The gloom was so familiar to Archy now that he could go almost anywhere
+about the great place, without stumbling over the loose fragments of
+stone, or being in danger of running up against the great pillars.  And,
+as he roved about the quarry, his busy fingers touched packages and
+bales; he knew which parcels contained tobacco; he handled bales which
+he felt sure were silk, and avoided the piled-up kegs of brandy, whose
+sickly odour would always remind him of being ill at sea.
+
+All these things occupied his mind a little, and when he was extra dull,
+he would go and lie down by the hole which admitted the salt sea air, or
+else make his way right under the trap-door, and climb up to it, and sit
+and listen for the coming of Ram.
+
+One morning he was there, wondering whether it was near the boy's hour,
+and he was listening most intently, so as to get full warning and insure
+time enough to go back to his place and wait, when he fancied he heard
+the bark of a dog.
+
+It was not repeated, and he was beginning to think that it was fancy,
+when the sound came again nearer, then nearer still, till there was a
+prolonged volley of canine-words, let us call them, for they evidently
+meant something from their being so persistent.
+
+"Why--hurrah!  He has found me!" cried the prisoner excitedly; and he
+heard quite plainly, as he clung to the rough steps and pressed his ear
+against the trap-door, the eager scratching made by a dog, and the
+snuffling noise as it tried to thrust its nose down amongst the stones.
+
+"Hi!  Good dog then!" he shouted, and there was a furious burst of
+barking.
+
+Then there was a sharp sound as if a heavy stone had fallen upon a heap,
+and he heard it rattle down to the side.
+
+Then there was a fierce growl, a bark, and directly after silence.
+
+The midshipman's heart, which had been throbbing with excitement a few
+minutes before, sank down now like lead, as he waited to hear the sounds
+again, but waited in vain.
+
+If ever the loud baying of a dog sounded like music in his ear, it was
+during those brief moments, and as he sat there, longing to know what it
+meant, and whether his conjecture was right that the dog had scented him
+out, he faintly heard the gruff tones of a voice, and, hastily
+descending, he went down the slope and made for his usual place.
+
+"That's what it was," said Archy to himself.  "The dog scented me out,
+and was scratching there till that great brute of a smuggler saw him,
+and threw a stone and drove him away.  There they are."
+
+He was right, the rough pieces of stone were being removed, and a few
+minutes later he saw the swinging lamp coming through the gloom.
+
+The prisoner was, as he said, quite right, for that day Celia Graeme had
+wandered down towards the edge of the huge line of cliffs in a different
+direction to that which it was her wont to take.
+
+It was not often that she stirred far from the gloomy fir-wood at the
+back of the house, for her life had not been that of most young people
+of her age.  Her father's disappointed and impoverished life, consequent
+upon his political opinions, and her mother's illness and depression,
+had made the Hoze always a mournful home, and naturally this had
+affected her, making her a serious, contemplative girl, older than her
+years, and one who found her pleasure in sitting on a fallen trunk in
+the sheltering woods, listening to the roar of the wind in the pine
+boughs, watching the birds and squirrels, and having for companion her
+dog Grip, who, when she took him for her walks, generally ran mad for
+the first hour, scampering round and round her, making charges at her
+feet, and pretending to worry her shoes or dress; running off to hide
+and dash out upon her in a mock savage way; bounding into furze bushes,
+chasing the rabbits into their holes; and then, as if apologising for
+this wild getting rid of a superabundance of animal spirits kept low in
+the mournful old house, he would come as soon as she sat quietly down,
+crouch close up to her, and lay his head on her knee, to gaze up in her
+face, blinking his eyes, and not moving again perhaps for an hour.
+
+Celia seldom went seaward.  The distance was short, but she was content
+to watch the beautiful changes on the far-spreading waste from high up
+on the hills.  There had been wrecks on the Freestone Shore, which made
+her shudder as she recalled how the wild cries of the hapless mariners
+in their appeals for help had reached the shore; she had seen the huge
+waves come tumbling in, to send columns of spray high in the air, to be
+borne over the land in a salt rain, and, as a rule, the sea repelled
+her, and she shrank, too, from the great folds of the cliff, with their
+mysterious-looking grass-grown ledges and cracks, up which came the
+whispering and gurgling of water, and at times fierce hissings as if sea
+monsters lived below, and were threatening those who looked down and did
+not pause to think that these sounds must be caused by air compressed by
+the inrushing tide.
+
+Then, too, there was something oppressing in the poorly protected shafts
+with their sloping descents, once, perhaps hundreds of years back, the
+busy spots where old hewers of stone worked their way down below the
+thinner and poorer strata to where the freestone was clean and solid.
+
+These spots attracted and yet repelled her, as she peered cautiously
+down, to see that they were half hidden by long strands of bramble, with
+tufts of pink-headed hemp agrimony, and lower down the sides and archway
+infringed with the loveliest of ferns.
+
+There was something very mysterious-looking in these ancient quarries
+where foot of man never trod now, and she shivered as she passed
+funnel-shaped holes which she knew were produced by the falling in of
+the surface to fill up passages and chambers in the stone whose roofs
+had given way far below.
+
+She often thought, when tempted by Grip in the direction of these weird
+old places, how horrible it would be if some day the earth suddenly sank
+beneath her, and she should be buried alive.
+
+At such times her hands grew wet, and she retraced her steps, fancying
+the while that the earth sounded hollow beneath her tread.
+
+Upon this particular morning Grip had vanquished her.  He was always
+tempting her in this direction by making rushes and looking back as if
+asking her to come, for the dark holes tempted him.  The rabbit burrows
+were all very well, but he could never get in them beyond his shoulders,
+while in these holes he could penetrate as far as he liked in search of
+imaginary wild creatures which were never found.  Then, too, there were
+the edges of the cliffs where he could stand and bark at the waves far
+below, and sometimes, where they were not perpendicular, descend from
+shelf to shelf.
+
+The morning was glorious, and the sea of a lovely amethyst blue, as
+Celia wandered on and on toward the highest of the hills away west of
+the Hoze.  Grip was frantic with delight, his tail stood straight out,
+and his ears literally rattled as he charged over the short turf after
+some rabbit, which dodged through the bushes, reached its hole,
+displayed a scrap of white cotton, and disappeared.
+
+And still, smiling at the dog's antics, the girl wandered on, nearer and
+nearer to where the land suddenly ended and the cliff went sharply down
+to the sea.
+
+As she went on, stopping to admire the beautiful purple thistles, which
+sent up one each a massive head on its small stalk, or admired the
+patches of dyer's rocket and the golden tufts of ragwort, the old
+fancies about the ancient quarries were forgotten for the time, and she
+seated herself at last upon a projecting piece of stone, away there in
+the solitude, to watch the grey gulls and listen to the faint beat of
+the waves hundreds of feet below.
+
+There were a few sheep here and there, but the Hoze was hidden beyond a
+fold of the mighty hills, and Shackle's farm and the labourer's cottage
+were all down in one of the valleys.
+
+It was very beautiful, but extremely lonely, and to right and left there
+were the great masses of cliff, which seemed like huge hills suddenly
+chopped off by the sea, and before her the wide-stretching amethystine
+plain, with a sail or two far away.
+
+Celia sat watching a little snake which was wriggling rapidly along past
+her, a little creature whose scales looked like oxidised silver in the
+afternoon sunshine, and she was about to rise and try to capture the
+burnished reptile, knowing from old experience that it was harmless,
+when at one and the same moment she became aware that Grip was missing,
+and that Ram Shackle and the big labourer from the farm, Jemmy Dadd,
+were coming up a hollow away to the right, one by which they could reach
+the down-like fields that spread along the edge of the cliffs from the
+farm.
+
+She saw them, and hardly realising that they did not see her, she went
+on watching the reptile as it glided with easy serpentine motion through
+the grass.
+
+"Ram is going to gather blackberries," she said to herself, as she
+glanced at his basket; "and Dadd is going to count the sheep.  I ought
+to have brought a basket for some blackberries."
+
+She felt full of self-reproach, as she recalled how plentifully they
+grew there, and how useful they would be at home.  "And I might get some
+mushrooms, too," she thought, "instead of coming out for nothing."
+
+Just then she heard Grip again barking very faintly.
+
+"Stupid dog!" she said to herself, with a little laugh.  "He has
+followed a rabbit to its hole.  If he would only catch a few more, how
+useful they would be!"
+
+Then she moved a little to follow the slow-worm, which was making for a
+patch of heath, and she was still watching it when, some time after,
+Grip came running up quickly, snarling and growling, and pausing from
+time to time to look back.
+
+"Oh, you coward!" she said, sitting down and pulling his ears, as he
+thrust his head into her lap.  "Afraid of a fox!  Was it a fox's hole,
+then, and not a rabbit's, Grip?"
+
+The dog growled and barked.
+
+"Poor old fellow, then.  Where is it, then?"
+
+The dog leaped up, barked, and ran a few yards, to stop, look back at
+her, and bark again.
+
+"No, no, Grip; I don't want to see," she said; and she began idly to
+pick up scraps of wild thyme and toss at the dog, who vainly kept on
+making rushes toward the slope of the great cliff.
+
+"No, sir," she said, shaking her finger at him.  "I am not going to be
+led to one of your discoveries, to see nothing for my pains."
+
+The dog barked again, angrily, and not until she spoke sharply did he
+obey, and followed her unwillingly up the slope and then down into a
+hollow that looked as if at one time it might have been the bed of some
+great glacier.
+
+The dog tried again to lead her away toward the sea, but she was
+inexorable; and so he followed her along unwillingly, till, low down in
+the hollow, as she turned suddenly by a pile of great blocks of
+weather-worn and lichened stone, she came suddenly upon Dadd and Ram,
+the former flat on his back, with his hat drawn-down over his eyes, the
+latter busy with his knife cutting a rough stick smooth.
+
+"How do, Miss Celia?" said Ram, showing his white teeth.
+
+"Quite well, Ram.  How is your head now?"
+
+"Oh, it's all right agen now, miss.  On'y a bit sore."
+
+"You tumbled off the cliff, didn't you?"
+
+"Off a bit of it," said Ram, grinning.  "Not far."
+
+"But how foolish of you!  Mrs Shackle said you might have been killed."
+
+"Yes, miss, but I wasn't."
+
+"What were you doing in such a dangerous place?"
+
+"Eh?" said Ram, changing colour; "what was I doing?"
+
+"Yes, to run such a risk."
+
+"I was--I was--"
+
+Ram was completely taken aback, and sat staring, with his mouth open.
+
+"Lookin' after a lost sheep," came in a deep growl from under Jemmy
+Dadd's hat.
+
+"Oh!  And did you find it?"
+
+"Yes; he fun' it," said the man, "but it were in a very dangerous place.
+It's all dangerous 'long here; and Master Shackle wouldn't let young
+Ram here go along these here clift slopes without me to take care on
+him."
+
+Ram grinned.
+
+"And you take my advice, miss, don't you come 'bout here.  We lost four
+sheep last year, and come nigh losing the missuses best cow not long
+ago.  Didn't you hear?"
+
+"Yes; old Mary told me, and Mrs Shackle mentioned it too."
+
+"Ay," continued Jemmy, without removing his hat, "she fell slip-slap
+into the sea."
+
+"Poor thing."
+
+"Ay, little missus; and, if I were you, I wouldn't come along top o'
+they clifts at all.  Grass is so short and slithery that, 'fore you
+knows where you are, your feet goes from under you, and you can't stop
+yourself, and over you goes.  And that aren't the worst on it; most like
+you're never found."
+
+"Yes, 'tis very slippy, Miss Celia," said Ram, beginning to hack again
+at his stick.
+
+"I do not come here very often, Ram," she said, quietly.  "It is a long
+time since I came."
+
+"Ay, and I wouldn't come no more, little missus," continued Jemmy, from
+under his hat, "for if you did not go off, that there dog--"
+
+Grip had been looking on uneasily, and turning his head from one to the
+other, as each spoke in turn; but the minute he heard himself mentioned,
+he showed his teeth, and began to growl fiercely at the man.
+
+"Look ye here," cried Jemmy, sitting up quickly and snatching away his
+hat, "if you comes at me--see the heel o' that there boot?"
+
+He held up the great heavy object named, ready to kick out, and Grip
+bared his teeth for an attack.
+
+"Down, Grip!  Come here, sir.  How dare you?"
+
+But Grip did dare, and he would have dashed at the labourer if Celia had
+not caught him by the loose skin of his neck, when he began to shake his
+head and whine in a way that sounded like protesting.
+
+"And me giving a bit of advice too," said Jemmy in an ill-used tone.
+
+Grip barked fiercely.
+
+"Be quiet, sir!"
+
+"And going to say, little missus, that if that there dog comes hanging
+about here, he'll go over them there cliffs as sure as buttons, and
+never be seen no more."
+
+"Come away, Grip.  Thank you, Mr Dadd," said Celia, hurrying the dog
+away, and giving him a run down along the hollow; while Jemmy Dadd threw
+himself back, rolled over on to his face, and laughed hoarsely.
+
+"I say, young Ram," he cried, "what a game!"
+
+"What's a game?" said the boy sharply.
+
+"That there dog; he won't forget that whack I give him on the ribs for
+long enough."
+
+"Needn't have thrown so hard."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Don't like to see dogs hurt," said Ram, who was dealing with an awkward
+knot.
+
+"Oh, don't you!  Why, if your father had been along here with that rusty
+old gun of hisn, that he shoots rabbits with, and seen that dog
+scratching among them stones, know what he'd have done?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, then, I do.  He'd have shot him.  And if I ketches him ferretin'
+about there again, I'll drop a big flat stone down on him, and then
+chuck him off the cliff."
+
+"If you do, I'll chuck you down after him," said Ram.
+
+"What?" cried the man, bursting into a fresh roar of laughter.  "Oh,
+come, I likes that.  Why, you pup!  That's what you are--a pup."
+
+This was uttered with what was meant to be a most contemptuous
+intonation of the voice.
+
+"Pups can bite hard sometimes, Jemmy," said Ram slowly; "and I shan't
+have Miss Celia's dog touched."
+
+"Ho!  Then he's to come here when he likes, and show everybody the way
+into our store, is he?  Well, we shall see."
+
+"Yes; and you'd better go and see if they've gone."
+
+"Ah, yes, lad, I'll go and see if they've gone; and we needn't quarrel
+'bout it, for it strikes me as little missus won't come down here no
+more, I scared her too much."
+
+Jemmy burst into another hoarse fit of laughing, and went lumping off in
+his big sea-boots to see if Celia and her dog were well out of sight,
+before rejoining Ram to take the prisoner his repast.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
+
+Three days passed, and the idea of losing her companion was so startling
+to Celia, that she made no further journey toward the cliffs, in spite
+of several efforts made by Grip to coax her in that direction.  But on
+the fourth day there was so mean and unsatisfactory a dinner at the
+Hoze, of the paltry little rock fish caught by the labouring men, that,
+as Celia watched her mother partaking of the unsatisfactory fare, and
+thought how easily it might have been supplemented by a dish of
+mushrooms and a blackberry pudding, she made up her mind that the next
+day she would go.
+
+"I could be very careful, and not go near any of the slopes running down
+to the cliff, and I could make Grip keep with me.  Yes, I will go," she
+said.
+
+The next morning she partook of her breakfast quite early--a simple
+enough meal, consisting of barley bread and a cup of fresh milk from the
+Shackles' farm, and, taking a basket, she called Grip, who came bounding
+about her in a state of the most exuberant delight.
+
+The dog's satisfaction was a little damped as his mistress took her way
+toward the fir-wood, and he kept making rushes by another path.  But it
+was of no use; Celia had made her own plans, and, as the dog could not
+coax her his way, and would not go alone, he had to follow her.
+
+There was a reason for this route being chosen, for Celia did not care
+to be seen by Ram, or any of the men who might be pretending to work
+hard on Shackle's farm, which was ill tended, and consisted for the most
+part of cliff grazing land; but somehow seemed to need quite a large
+staff of labourers to keep it in such bad order.
+
+By passing through the fir-wood, Celia meant to get out of sight of the
+cottages, and she went on, with the dog following sulkily behind, but
+reviving a little upon being given the basket to carry.
+
+She trudged on for about a mile over the thin stony pastures, found a
+fair number of small, sweet, pink-gilled mushrooms where the turf was
+finest and richest, and gradually adding to her store of glistening
+bramble-berries till her finger-tips were purple with the stains.
+
+The course she chose was down in the hollows between the hills, till at
+last she struck the one along which she had passed after leaving Ram and
+his companion, and turned down here, believing that, if the boy selected
+it, there would be good reason for his so doing.  She walked steadily
+on, finding a button mushroom here and a bunch of blackberries there.
+For one minute she paused, struck by the peculiar sweet and sickly odour
+of a large-leaved herb which she had crushed, and admired its
+beautifully veined blossoms, in happy ignorance of the fact that it was
+the deadly poisonous henbane, and then all at once she missed Grip.
+
+"Oh, how tiresome!" she cried excitedly; and she called him loudly, but
+there was no reply.  A gull or two floated about and uttered their
+querulous calls, otherwise the silence was profound, and, though she
+swept the great curved sides of the hollow, whose end seemed filled up
+by the towering hill, all soft green slope toward her, but sheer scarped
+and projecting cliff toward the sea, there was not so much as a sheep in
+sight.
+
+With a great horror coming upon her, she hurried along towards the
+cliff, thinking of what Dadd had said, and picturing in her mind's eye
+poor Grip racing along some seaward slope in chase of a rabbit, and
+going right over the cliff, she went on almost at a run, pausing,
+though, to call from time to time.
+
+It was intensely hot in that hollow, for the sea breeze was completely
+shut off, but she did not pause, and rapidly neared the cliff now, her
+dread increasing, as she wondered whether Ram would be good enough to
+get a boat, and row along under the cliff to find the poor dog's body,
+so that she might bury it up in the fir-wood behind the house, in a
+particular spot close to where she had so often sat.
+
+No sign of Grip: no sound.  She called again, but there was no cheery
+bark in response, and with her despondent feeling on the increase, she
+began to climb the side of the hollow, passing unnoticed great clusters
+of blackberries, whose roots were fast in the stones, and the fruit
+looking like bunches of black grapes; past glistening white mushrooms,
+better than any she had yet seen, but they did not attract her; and at
+last she had climbed so high that she could see the blue waves spreading
+up and up to the horizon, and about a couple of miles out the
+white-sailed cutter, which was creeping slowly along the shore.
+
+"I wonder where that midshipman is," she thought, forgetting the dog for
+the moment.  "How strange that all was!  Could it really have been a
+dream?"
+
+"Yes, it must have been, or else he would have gone and told his
+captain, and they would have come and searched the cellar, and there
+would have been sad trouble."
+
+She turned her eyes from the sea, and began to search the green slopes
+around, and then all at once she uttered a cry of joy as she could
+sight, on the highest slope right at the end of the valley, a white
+speck which suddenly appeared out of the earth, and then stood out clear
+on the green turf, and seemed to be looking about before turning and
+plunging down again.
+
+It was quite half a mile away, and her call was in vain, and she began
+to descend diagonally into the hollow, the tears in her eyes, but a
+smile of content on her lips.
+
+"Oh, you bad dog," she cried merrily, "how I will punish you!" and she
+stooped and picked a couple of mushrooms, quite happy again, and even
+sang a scrap of a country ditty in a pretty bird-like voice as she came
+to a bramble clump, and went on staining her fingers.
+
+By degrees she passed the end of the hollow, leaving all the
+blackberries behind, and now, only pausing to pick a mushroom here and
+there, she began to ascend the slope toward where she had seen the dog.
+
+"It is getting nearer the edge of the cliff," she said; "but it slopes
+up, and not down.  Ah, I see you, sir.  Come here directly!  Grip!
+Grip!"
+
+The dog had suddenly made his appearance about fifty yards in front,
+right as it were out of the grassy slope, to stand barking loudly for a
+few moments before turning tail and plunging down again.
+
+"Oh, how tiresome!" she cried.  "Grip!  Grip!"
+
+But, as the dog would not come to her, she went on, knowing perfectly
+well that he had gone down one of the old stone pits, and quite prepared
+to stand at last gazing into a hole which inclined rapidly into the
+hillside, but was as usual provided with rough stones placed step-wise,
+and leading the way into darkness beneath a fern-fringed arch, while the
+whole place was almost entirely choked-up with the luxuriantly growing
+brambles.
+
+"He has found a rabbit," she thought to herself, as her eyes wandered
+about the sides of the pit, and brightened at the sight of the abundant
+clusters of blackberries, finer and riper than any she had yet secured.
+
+"I wish I was not so frightened of these places," she said to herself.
+"Why, I could fill a basket here, and there can't be anything to mind, I
+know; it is only where they used to dig out the stone."
+
+A sudden burst of barking took her attention to the dog, who came
+bounding up the rugged steps right to her feet, looked at her with his
+great intelligent eyes, and, before she could stop him, rushed down
+again, where she could hear him scratching, and there was a sound which
+she knew was caused by his moving a piece of stone such as she could see
+lying at the side in broken fragments, and of the kind dug in thin
+layers, and used in the neighbourhood instead of tiles.
+
+"Oh, Grip, Grip!  And you know you can't get at him.  Come here."
+
+"Ahoy!"
+
+Celia was leaning over the rugged steps, gazing down into the darkness
+beneath the ferns, when, in a faint, smothered, distant way, there came
+this hail, making her nearly drop her basket as she started away from
+the pit.
+
+The hail was followed by a sharp burst of barking, and the dog came
+bounding up again, to stand looking after her, barking again before once
+more descending.
+
+Slowly, and with her eyes dilated and strained, the girl crept back step
+by step, as she withstood her desire to run away, for all at once the
+thought had come that perhaps some shepherd or labourer had fallen down
+to the bottom, and was perhaps lying here with a broken leg.
+
+She had heard of such things, and it would be very terrible, but she
+must know now, and then go for help.
+
+In this spirit she once more reached the entrance to the old quarry, and
+peered down, listening to the worrying sound made by the dog, who kept
+rattling one piece of stone over another, every now and then giving a
+short, snapping bark.
+
+"Ahoy!" came again, as if from a distance, and a thrill ran through the
+girl, bringing with it a glow of courage.
+
+"It is some poor fellow fallen down;" and, placing her basket by the
+side, she began to descend cautiously, with Grip rushing to meet her,
+barking now joyously, and uttering whine after whine.
+
+The descent was not difficult, and after the first few steps the feeling
+of timidity began to wear off, and Celia descended more quickly till,
+about fifty feet from the top, some distance under where the fringe of
+ferns hung, and where it had seemed quite dark from above, but was
+really a pleasant greenish twilight, she found beneath her feet a few
+loose flat stones, part of a quantity lying before her in the archway
+that seemed to lead straight on into the quarry.
+
+But here, right at her feet, the dog began to scratch, tossing one thin
+piece of stone over the others upon which it lay.
+
+Celia looked before her wonderingly, for she had expected to see a
+fallen man at once, probably some one of the men whom she knew by sight;
+but, in spite of the dog's scratching, she could not imagine anything
+was there, and she was bending forward, gazing into the half choked-up
+level passage before her, when there came from under her feet the same
+smothered,--
+
+"Ahoy!"
+
+She started away, clinging to the side for support, and ready in her
+fear to rush back to the surface.
+
+But the dog's action brought her to herself, as he began again to bark
+furiously, and tore at the stones.
+
+"Hush!  Quiet, Grip!" she said in an awe-stricken whisper, as she went
+down on her knees and listened, her heart beating wildly, and a horrible
+idea, all confused, of some one having been buried alive, making her
+face turn ashy pale.
+
+"Ahoy!  Any one there?" came in the same faint tones.
+
+"Yes--yes," panted the girl.  "What is it?"
+
+"Help!"
+
+And then, more loudly,--
+
+"Let me out, pray."
+
+"Oh," moaned the girl, "what does it mean?"
+
+"Ahoy there!" came more plainly now.  "Whoever you are, get a boat, and
+go off to the cutter _White Hawk_.  Can you hear?"
+
+"Yes, yes," said the girl huskily, as a horrible suspicion ran through
+her mind.
+
+"Tell Lieutenant Brough that Mr Raystoke is a prisoner, kept by the
+smugglers, and then show his men the way here."
+
+There was a pause, for Celia could make no reply; she knew who Mr
+Raystoke was, and it seemed horrible to her that the frank, good-looking
+young midshipman should be kept a prisoner in such a tomb-like place as
+that.
+
+"Don't, don't say you will not go!" came up in the smothered tones.
+"You shall have a reward."
+
+"As if I wanted a reward!" panted Celia.  "What shall I do?  What shall
+I do?"
+
+"Help--pray help!" came from below; and Grip joined in.
+
+"Yes, I will help you," cried Celia, placing her face close down to the
+stones.
+
+"What!" came up.  "I know you--the young--yes, Miss Graeme."
+
+"Yes," she cried hastily.
+
+"Pray help me."
+
+"I want to," she said; "but--but you will go and--and tell--about what
+you have seen."
+
+There was a pause, and then came faintly the words,--
+
+"I--don't--want to; but--I must."
+
+"But I cannot--I cannot help you if you are going to fetch the sailors
+here, perhaps to seize--Oh, what shall I do?"
+
+There was a pause before the prisoner spoke again.
+
+"Look here," he said; "I don't want to tell about your father being
+mixed up with the smugglers."
+
+"You must not--you dare not!" cried Celia.
+
+There was another pause, and then the prisoner's voice came again
+reproachfully.
+
+"You ought to know it's my duty, and that I was sent ashore to find this
+out.--I say."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you know I was shut up like this by those beasts?"
+
+"Oh, no, no, no!"
+
+"Your father did.  He had me sent here, so that he should not get into
+trouble."
+
+"Indeed no!  He would not do so wicked a thing."
+
+"But he is a smuggler."
+
+"It is not true!" cried Celia passionately; "and if you dare to say such
+things of my dear, good, suffering father, I'll go away and never help
+you."
+
+"I can't help saying it," said Archy sturdily.  "I'd give anything to
+get out of this dreadful dark place; but I must speak."
+
+"Not of him."
+
+"I don't want to speak of him," said Archy, "but what can I do?  I must
+tell about all those smuggled things there in the cellar that night when
+you found me in that room--out of uniform."
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated Celia.
+
+"I know it's hard on you, but I've been here a prisoner ever since, and
+it's enough to break one's heart."
+
+The poor fellow's voice changed a little as he spoke, and he would have
+given way if he had seen Celia's head bowed down, and that she was
+crying bitterly.
+
+"You will send for help?"
+
+"I cannot," sobbed the girl, "unless you will promise not to tell."
+
+There was a pause again.
+
+"I can't promise," came up huskily, in faint smothered tones.  "I say,
+is the door locked as well as bolted?"
+
+"I cannot tell; it is covered with stones.  Pray, pray promise me that
+you will not tell.  I do want to help you to get away."
+
+"I can't promise," said Archy at last, after a bitter struggle with
+self.  "I must go straight to my officer and tell him as soon as I get
+out."
+
+At that moment there was a sharp barking from the dog, who rushed up the
+steps to stand at the top for a few moments before coming down again.
+
+"Won't you help me?"
+
+"To send my poor innocent father to prison," said Celia in a low voice.
+
+"I can't hear you," came from below.
+
+"And I can't tell you," said Celia to herself.  "What shall I do--what
+shall I do?"
+
+She stole softly up the rugged steps, with her fingers in her ears, in
+dread lest she should be called upon to listen to the prisoner's piteous
+appeals for help; and, as soon as she reached the top, she set off
+running as hard as she could go, to find her father, tell him all, and
+appeal to him to try and save the poor fellow from the cruel trials he
+was called upon to bear.
+
+Celia could hardly see the direction in which she was going, for her
+eyes were blinded with tears, and so it was that, when down in the
+lowest part of the hollow, as she hurried blindly along, she tripped
+over one of the many loose stones, fell heavily, striking her temple
+against a block projecting from the steep side of the little valley; and
+fell, to lie insensible for a time; and when she did come to her senses,
+it was to find Grip lying by her, with his head upon her chest, and his
+eyes looking inquiringly into hers, as if to ask what it all meant.
+
+Her head ached, and she felt half stunned still, but she strove to rise
+to her feet, and sank back with a moan of pain.
+
+For a worse trouble had discovered itself: her ankle was badly wrenched,
+so that she could not stand, and in the solitary place in which she had
+fallen, it was possible that she might lie for days and not be found,
+unless special search was made.
+
+A sudden thought came--to tie her handkerchief about Grip's neck, and
+send him home.
+
+The first was easily done, the latter impossible.  Grip was an
+intelligent dog in his way, but nothing would make him leave his
+mistress there; and the poor girl lay all day in the hot sun, and at
+last saw that night was coming on, and that there was no help.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
+
+Celia Graeme took sundry precautions to avoid being seen, but she was
+not so successful as she imagined.
+
+Jemmy Dadd was an old servant of Farmer Shackle, one who always made a
+point of doing as little as was possible about the farm.  He did not
+mind loading a cart, if he were allowed as much time as he liked, or
+feeding the pigs, because it afforded him an opportunity to lean over
+the sty and watch the pretty creatures eat, while their grunting and
+squeaking was sweet music in his ear.  He generally fed the horses, too,
+and watched them graze.  Calling up the cows from the cliff pastures he
+did not mind, because cows walked slowly; and he did the milking because
+he could sit down and rest his head; but to thump a churn and make
+butter was out of his line.
+
+Mrs Shackle complained bitterly to her lord and master about different
+lots of cream being spoiled, but Farmer Shackle snubbed her.
+
+"Can't expect a man to work night and day too," he grunted.  "Set one of
+the women to churn."
+
+In fact, the farmer never found any fault with Jemmy, for the simple
+reason that he was his best worker on dark nights, and as handy a sailor
+as could be found.
+
+Jemmy knew it, felt that he was licensed, and laughed to himself as he
+followed his own bent, and spent a good deal of time every day in what
+he called seeing the crops grow.
+
+When there were no crops growing, he went to see how the grass was
+getting on, and to do this properly, he put a piece of hard black
+tobacco in his cheek, and went and lay down on one of the hill-slopes.
+
+He was seeing how the grass got on that particular morning with his eyes
+shut, when, happening to open them, he caught sight of Celia going
+along, a mile away, with her basket and dog.
+
+He knew her by the dog, though even at that distance, as she moved
+almost imperceptibly over the short turf of the treeless expanse along
+by the sea, he would have been sure that it was Sir Risdon's child.
+
+"What's the good of telling on her?" he growled to himself, as he lay
+back with his hands under his head; and in that attitude he rested for
+nearly three hours.  Then, moved by the cogitations in which he had been
+indulging, he slowly and deliberately rose, something after the fashion
+of a cow, and began to go slowly in the direction taken by Celia hours
+before.
+
+Jemmy Dadd seemed to be going nowhere, and as he slouched along, lifting
+up one heavy sea boot and putting it down before the other, he never
+turned his head in either direction.  So stiff was he in his movements,
+that any one who watched him would have concluded that he was looking
+straight forward, and that was all.
+
+A great mistake; for Jemmy, by long practice, had made his eyes work
+like a lobster's, and, as he went on, they were rolling slowly round and
+round, taking in everything, keeping a look-out to sea, and watching the
+revenue cutter, sweeping the offing, running over the fields and downs
+and hollows, missing nothing, in short, as he steadily trudged along,
+not even the few mushrooms that the pleasant showers had brought up, and
+placing them in his hat.
+
+Slow as his pace was, the distance between the prints of the big boots
+was great, and the mushroom hunting took him, before very long, up the
+cliff beyond the entrance to the old quarry, then down below it, and
+then close up alongside, where he stooped over, and then went down a few
+steps out of sight.
+
+He did not turn his head, for his lobster eyes had convinced him that no
+one was in sight, and, as he disappeared in the deep hole, he pounced
+upon the basket, and then went softly and quickly down to where the
+loose tile stones lay.
+
+A rapid examination satisfied him that they had not been moved, and he
+went softly up again, basket in hand, stood still and rolled his eyes,
+but saw no sign of the basket's owner, and then, thrusting his arm
+through the handle, he went steadily back to the farm, where he thrust
+his head in at the door, stared at Farmer Shackle, who was innocently
+mending a net, and backed out and went into the rough stable.
+
+Shackle followed him, net in one hand, wooden netting-needle in the
+other.
+
+"Hullo!" he said.
+
+Jemmy held out the basket.
+
+"Well, I see brambrys and masheroons.  What of 'em?"
+
+"Little missus's basket.  Fun' it."
+
+"Take it home.  No--I'll send Ramillies.  Ladyship don't like to see
+you."
+
+"Fun' it in number one!"
+
+"What!"
+
+"See her going along there with that dog.  She must ha' smelled him
+out."
+
+"Place been opened?"
+
+"No."
+
+Farmer Shackle scratched his nose on both sides with the netting-needle;
+then he poked his red worsted cap a little on one side with the same
+implement, and scratched the top of his head, and carefully arranged the
+red cap again.
+
+"Mayn't have seen or heard anything, lad."
+
+"Must, or wouldn't have left the basket."
+
+"Right.  Have big Tom Dunley, Badstock and two more, and be yonder at
+dark.  Ramillies know?"
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"Don't tell him.  He's waiting yonder for you.  Here he comes.  Go on
+just as usual, and don't tell him nothing.  I'll meet you soon as it's
+dark."
+
+"Pistols?"
+
+"No.  Sticks."
+
+"Jemmy there, father?  Ah, there you are!  Come on.  I've been waiting
+such a time."
+
+Ram looked sharply from one to the other, and knew there was something
+particular on the way, but he said nothing.
+
+"Get it out of Jemmy," he said to himself.
+
+"I'm ready, lad; I'm ready."
+
+"Look sharp, boy," said the farmer.
+
+"Yes, father," said Ram.  "I'll go and get the basket."
+
+"Ay, do, boy.  And look here--never mind more to-day; but take double
+'lowance to-morrow, so as not to go every day."
+
+"Very well, father.  Look sharp, Jemmy!"
+
+The boy ran back to the house, followed by his father, who went on
+netting, and a minute later Jemmy and Ram were off over the bare
+pastures in the direction from which the man had come.
+
+"Find that basket you give to father, Jemmy?"
+
+"Ay, lad, half full o' brambrys and masheroons.  Wondered whose it was.
+Gaffer says it's little missus's, and you're to take it up."
+
+"Oh," thought Ram, "that's what they were talking about;" and he began
+whistling, quite content, as they went wandering about mushrooming,
+till, apparently tired, they sat down close to the mouth of the quarry,
+where Jemmy's eyes rolled round for a good ten minutes before he said,
+"_Now_."
+
+Then the pair rolled over to left and right, down into the hole, and
+descended quickly to the bottom, where the man crept right on along the
+half choked passage, took a lanthorn from a great crevice; there was the
+nicking of flint and steel, a faint blue light, and the snap of the
+closing lanthorn as the dark passage showed a yellow glow.
+
+Meanwhile Ram had been busy removing the pieces of stone, laying bare a
+trap-door upon which were a big wooden lock and a couple of bolts.
+These he unfastened, threw open the door, and descended with his basket;
+while, after handing down the lanthorn into the black well-like hole,
+Jemmy climbed up again to the surface and stood with his eyes just above
+the level, sheltered by blackberry strands and other growth, and slowly
+made his eyes revolve; till, at the end of half an hour, Ram reappeared,
+when the business of closing and bolting the door went on, while Jemmy
+blew out the light, closed the lanthorn, through whose crevices came
+forth an unpleasant odour, bore it back to its hiding-place; and then
+the pair departed as cautiously as they came.
+
+"What did he say?" growled Jemmy.
+
+"Oh, not much.  Seemed all grumpy, and wouldn't answer a civil
+question."
+
+"Should ha' kicked him," said Jemmy.
+
+Very little more was said till they reached home, and Ram busied himself
+about the farm till after supper, wishing that he could help the
+midshipman to escape without getting his father into trouble.
+
+He was thinking how horribly dark and miserable the old quarry must be,
+for the first time.  The thought had not occurred to him before, through
+every hole and corner being so familiar, from the fact that scores of
+times he had held the lanthorn while his father's men carried in
+smuggled goods landed at the ledge, if there was plenty of time; for, if
+the landing had been hurried, and the danger near, the things were often
+carried up to the Hoze for temporary deposit till carts came to bear the
+things into the interior.
+
+"I do wish he'd be friends," thought Ram, when his musings were
+interrupted by his father saying,--
+
+"Ah, there's that basket Jemmy found's mornin'.  Go and take it up to
+the Hoze."
+
+"He needn't go to-night, need he?" said Mrs Shackle.
+
+"You mind your own business," said the farmer fiercely.  "Be off, boy."
+
+Ram put on his red cap, took the basket, and trotted off toward the
+Hoze, while Mrs Shackle sighed, for she knew that something particular
+must be on the way, or Ram would not have been sent off, and her husband
+have prepared to go out directly after.
+
+"Oh dear me, dear me, dear me!" said the plump, comfortable-looking
+woman, as the door closed on her husband's back.  "If he would only keep
+to his cows and sheep!"
+
+"Here," said the farmer, reopening the door, "be off to bed.  Ramillies
+need not know that I'm gone out."
+
+"No, dear.  But do take care of yourself."
+
+"Yah!"
+
+Bang went the door, and Mrs Shackle, after putting a few things
+straight, went off obediently to bed, troubling in no wise about the
+door being left on the latch.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
+
+Archy Raystoke was fast asleep, dreaming about being once more on board
+the cutter, with the sun shining full in his eyes, because he was lying
+on the deck, right in everybody's road, and Gurr the master was scolding
+him for it in a way which was very disrespectful to an officer and a
+gentleman, while the men grouped around grinned.
+
+He was not surprised, for somehow Mr Brough was not there, and Gurr had
+assumed the command of the cutter, and was playing the part of smuggler
+and pirate, and insulting him, whom he addressed again: "Get up!"
+
+Archy leaped to his feet, and saw at a glance that it was not the sun,
+but the light of a lanthorn shining in his eyes, while, before he could
+do more than realise that several men were standing close to him, half
+of a sack was drawn-down over his head and shoulders, and a thin rope
+was twisted round and round his arms, fastening him securely, and only
+leaving his hands free.
+
+"What are you going to do?" he shouted, after a vain struggle to free
+himself, and his voice sounded muffled and thick through the heavy sack.
+
+"Pitch you off the cliff if you make so much as a sound," said a gruff
+voice by his car.  "Keep quiet, and you won't be hurt."
+
+The lad's heart beat heavily, and he felt hot and half suffocated.
+
+"Do you want to smother me?" he said.  "Can't breathe."
+
+"Slit the back of the sack, lad," said the same gruff voice, and there
+was a sharp cutting noise heard, as a breathing-hole was cut right up
+behind his head.
+
+"Now, then, bring him along."
+
+His hand was grasped, and, as he felt himself led over ground that was
+quite familiar now, he knew that he was on the way to the entrance.
+
+Were they going to take him out, and set him free?
+
+No; if they had been going to do that, they would not have blindfolded
+his eyes.
+
+Yes, they would, for, if they were going to set him free, they would do
+so in a way that would place it beyond his power to betray their secret
+store.
+
+Quick immatured thoughts which shot through him as he was led along, and
+he knew directly after that it was only fancy.  Of course.  He could
+show the lieutenant where the opening was in the cliff, and by knowing
+that it would be easy to track out the land entrance.
+
+"No," said the midshipman to himself sadly; "they are going to take me
+and imprison me somewhere else, for they must now know that I was
+holding communications with that girl."
+
+"Now then, steady!" said a voice, as he felt that the cool air was
+coming down on to his head, and he breathed it through the thick
+sacking.  "Make a rope fast round him."
+
+"I must be at the foot of the way in," thought Archy, as he felt a rope
+passed round him, and the next minute it tightened, he was raised from
+his feet, and the rope cut into him painfully as he felt himself hauled
+up.  Then hands seized him, and he was thrown down on the grass, while
+the last rope was cast off.
+
+As he lay there being untied, though his eyes were blinded, his ears
+were busy, and he listened to the smothered sounds of the trap being
+fastened and the stones being drawn over it again.
+
+"Trap-door--door into a trap," he thought.  "Where am I going now?
+Surely they would not kill me."
+
+A cold chill shot through him, but he mastered the feeling of terror as
+he felt himself dragged to his feet.
+
+"Now, then, keep step," the same gruff voice said; and, with apparently
+half a dozen men close by him, as far as he could judge by their
+mutterings and the dull sound of their feet over the grass, he was
+marched on for over an hour--hearing nothing, seeing nothing, but all
+the while with his ears strained, waiting for an opportunity to appeal
+for help, in spite of the threats he had heard, as soon as he could tell
+by the voices that he was near people who were not of the smugglers'
+gang.
+
+But no help seemed to be at hand, and, as far as he could judge, he was
+being taken along the fields and rough ground near the edge of the wild
+cliffs, now near the sea, now far away.  At one time he could hear the
+dull thud and dash of waves, for a good brisk breeze was blowing, and he
+fancied that he had a glint of a star through the thick covering, but he
+was not sure.  Then the sound of the waves on the shore was completely
+hushed, and he felt that they must either be down in a hollow, or going
+farther and farther away inland.
+
+Twice this happened, and the third time, as all was still, and he could
+feel a hard road beneath his feet, he became sure.  There was an echoing
+sound from their footsteps, dull to him, but still plain, and it seemed
+as if they were down in some narrow cutting or rift, when all at once!
+Just in front, after the men about him had been talking more loudly, as
+if clear of danger, there rang out a stern--
+
+"Halt--stand!"
+
+There was a hasty exclamation.  Then came in the loud, gruff voice,--
+
+"Back, lads, quick!"
+
+He was seized, and retreat had begun, when again rang out:--
+
+"Halt--stand!"
+
+The smugglers were between two fires.
+
+The midshipman was conscious of a familiar voice crying,--
+
+"No shots, lads.  Cutlashes!"
+
+There was a rush; the sound of blows, men swayed and struggled about
+wildly, and the lad, bound, blindfolded, and helpless, was thrust here
+and there.  Then he received a sharp blow from a cudgel, which sent him
+staggering forward, and directly after a dull cut from a steel weapon,
+which, fortunately for him, fell upon and across the rope which bound
+his arms to his sides.  There were oaths, fierce cries, and the
+struggling grew hotter, till all at once there was a rush, Archy went
+down like a skittle, men seemed to perform a triumphal war-dance upon
+his body, and then they passed on with the fight, evidently consisting
+of a retreat and pursuit, till the sounds nearly died away.
+
+A minute later, as Archy lay there perfectly helpless, the noises
+increased again.  Men were evidently laughing and talking loudly, and
+the sounds seemed to come round a corner, to become plainer all at once.
+
+"Pity we didn't go on after them?  Nonsense, my lad!  They know every
+hole and corner about here, and there's no knowing where they'd have led
+us," said a familiar voice.
+
+"Well, it is precious dark," said another.
+
+"Too dark to see what we are about.  But I take you all to witness, my
+lads, they 'tacked us first."
+
+"Ay, ay: they began it," came in chorus.
+
+"And if it happens that they are not smugglers, and there's trouble
+about it, you know what to say."
+
+Archy heard all this, and it seemed to him that the party were about to
+pass him, when a voice he well knew growled out,--
+
+"Hit me an awful whack with a stick."
+
+"Ay, I got one too, my lad; and I didn't like to use my cutlash."
+
+"Wish we'd took a prisoner, or knocked one or two down.  Why, here is
+one."
+
+There was a buzz of voices, and Archy felt himself hoisted up.
+
+"Can you stand?  Not wounded, are you?  Who cut him down?"
+
+"Well, I'm 'fraid it was me," said one of the familiar voices.  "Why, he
+is a prisoner ready made."
+
+"What?  Here, cut him loose, lads.  Hullo, my lad, who are you?"
+
+"Take this off," panted Archy in a stifled voice; and then, as the sack
+was dragged over his head, he uttered a sigh, and staggered, and would
+have fallen, had not one of the men caught him.
+
+"Hold up, lad.  Not hurt, are you?"
+
+"No," said Archy hoarsely.
+
+"Who are you?  What were they going to do with you?"
+
+"Don't you know me, Mr Gurr?"
+
+"Mr Raystoke!"
+
+The rest of his speech, if he said anything, was drowned in a hearty
+cheer as the men pressed round.
+
+"Well, I am glad!" cried the master.  "We've been ashore a dozen times,
+my lad, and searched everywhere, till the skipper thought you must have
+run away."
+
+"Run away!" cried Archy huskily.  "I've been a prisoner."
+
+"Those were smugglers, then?"
+
+"Yes," cried Archy; "but they shall smart for all this.  I know where
+all their hiding-places are, and we'll hunt them down."
+
+"Hooray!" shouted the men.
+
+"Were you looking for me?"
+
+"Well, not to-night, my lad.  Making a bit of a patrol," said Gurr.
+"The skipper thought that perhaps we might run against something or
+another, and we have and no mistake.  But what's the matter?  Not hurt,
+are you?"
+
+"No, not much.  I got a blow on the shoulder, and then some one gave me
+a chop with a cutlass."
+
+"That was you, Dirty Dick!  I did see that," cried one of the men.
+
+"Well, I don't say it warn't me.  How was I to know it was a orsifer in
+the dark, and smothered up like that?"
+
+"Are you wounded, then?" cried the master excitedly.
+
+"No; it felt more like a blow, but people kept trampling on me after I
+was down."
+
+"That's bad," said Gurr, giving vent to a low whistle.  "Here, lads,
+let's carry him to the boat."
+
+"No, no!" cried the midshipman.  "I think I can walk.  I could hardly
+breathe."
+
+"Well, go steady, then.  It's on'y 'bout half a mile to the cove.  Where
+did they mean to take you, lad?"
+
+"I don't know.  Perhaps on board some ship to get me out of the way;"
+and he briefly explained his late position, as they walked steadily on,
+the men listening eagerly the while.
+
+"Then you can take me right to the place, Mr Raystoke?" said Gurr.
+
+Archy hesitated.
+
+"I can point it out from the sea, but it will be all guess-work from the
+shore."
+
+"Never mind; we'll find it.  But you can't think about where they were
+taking you to-night?"
+
+"I have no idea.  Of course they blindfolded me, so that I should not
+see the way out of the place I left, nor the way into the other."
+
+"Ah, well, come on, and the skipper will talk to you.  He has been fine
+and mad about it, and I 'most think he's turned a bit thinner, eh,
+Dick?"
+
+"Ay, that he have," said the latter.  "Leastwise you might think so."
+
+"One day he's been all in a fret, saying you've run away, and that you'd
+be dismissed the service, and it was what he quite expected; and then,
+so as not to put him out, when you agreed with him, he flew out at you,
+and called you a fool, and said he was sure the smugglers had murdered
+his officer, or else tumbled him off the cliff."
+
+Archy was too weary with excitement to care to talk much, and he tramped
+on with the men, hardly able to realise the truth of his escape, and
+half expecting to wake up in the darkness and find it all a dream.  But
+he was reminded that it was no dream, from time to time, by feeling a
+hand laid deprecatingly upon his bruised arm, and starting round to see
+in the darkness that it was Dirty Dick, who patted his injury gently,
+and then uttered a satisfied "Hah!"
+
+"Pleased to see me back," thought the midshipman, "but I wish he
+wouldn't pat me as if I were a dog."
+
+"Hullo!" exclaimed the master just then, as they came opposite a
+depression in the cliff which gave them a view out to sea.  "What's
+going on?  Forrard, my lads.  Smart!"
+
+The pace was increased, for away in the darkness there hung out a bright
+signal which all knew meant recall, and the midshipman's heart throbbed
+as he felt that before long he would be in a boat dancing over the
+waves, and soon after treading the deck of the smart little cutter.
+
+"No," he said to himself, as after a hail a boat came out of the
+darkness, its keel grating on the pebbly shore, and he uttered a sigh of
+content on sinking back in the stern-sheets; "it isn't a dream."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
+
+Archy Raystoke's sense of weariness rapidly passed off, as the oars
+splashed, and the boat glided softly out of the waters of the cove,
+between the two huge corners of rock which guarded the entrance, and
+then began to dance up and down as she reached out into the tideway.
+After the darkness of the old quarry, with its faint odour of spirits,
+the night seemed comparatively like noonday, and the pure, brisk air
+that fanned his cheek delicious.  He seemed to drink it in, drawing down
+great draughts which made his bosom swell, his heart beat, and there
+were moments when, like a schoolboy upon whom has suddenly come the joys
+of an unexpected half-holiday, he felt ready to jump up, toss his cap in
+the air, and shout for joy.
+
+"But it would be undignified in an officer," he felt; and he sat still,
+feeling the boat live almost in the water as she throbbed from end to
+end with the powerful strokes, and glide up the waves, hang for a
+moment, and slide down.
+
+"Tidy swell on, Mr Raystoke," said Gurr.
+
+"Oh, it's glorious!" replied the lad in a low voice.
+
+"Glorious?"
+
+"Yes.  You don't know what it means to have been shut up in a place like
+a cellar, always black, and longing to see the blue sky and sunshine."
+
+"Well, there aren't none now, my lad."
+
+"No, Gurr, there is no blue sky and sunshine, but--but--this is
+delightful;" and he said to himself, with his breast swelling, "I feel
+stupid, and as if I could cry like a child."
+
+They were nearing the cutter fast, her lights growing plainer, and the
+lad leaned forward with feelings that were almost ecstatic as he tried
+to scan her lines, and thought of leaping on her deck, and feeling the
+easy, yielding motion as she rose and fell to her cable where she lay at
+anchor.  He even thought of how glorious it would be for there to come a
+storm, with the spray beating on his cheeks and then, as he
+involuntarily raised his hand to his face, a thought occurred to him
+which made him start.
+
+"Oh!" he mentally ejaculated, as he thought of his long sojourn in the
+cave, and a feeling of satisfaction came over him that it was dark;
+"what a horribly dirty wretch I must look!"
+
+A hail came from the cutter at last, and was answered from the boat,
+Archy's heart beating fast as he dimly saw the figures on board, and
+thought of the joy of being once more in his own cabin.
+
+"Gurr," he whispered, "don't say a word to Mr Brough; let me tell him I
+have come on board."
+
+"Right, my lad; but you'll say we found you, and all that.  You see, I
+must make my report."
+
+"Of course."
+
+Just then the oars were thrown up and laid alongside, and, as the
+lieutenant came to the gangway, Archy sprang on to the cutter so sharply
+that he came rather roughly in contact with his commanding officer.
+
+"How dare you!  Why, you clumsy young--" Before he could say more, the
+midshipman touched his red cap.
+
+"Come aboard, sir," he said.
+
+"Why?  What?  Mr Ray--Oh, my dear boy!"
+
+There was not a bit of official dignity in the greeting, for the plump
+little lieutenant, in his surprise and delight, caught Archy by the
+arms, then by the shoulders; stared in his face; seized his hands, shook
+them both, and was about to hug him, but, suddenly recollecting himself,
+he drew back.
+
+"In with that boat," he cried sharply.  Then, giving the orders to slip
+the cable, and prepare to make sail, he turned to Gurr.
+
+"I'll take your report directly, Mr Gurr," he said.  Then, very
+stiffly, "Take charge of the deck.  Mr Raystoke, follow me, sir, to my
+cabin."
+
+"Going to wig me," said the midshipman, as he followed his officer down
+into the cabin and shut the door.
+
+"Now, sir," cried the lieutenant, turning upon him sharply, "have the
+goodness to explain your conduct.  Stop--not a word yet.  I entrusted
+you with an important commission.  I dealt with you as if you were a
+man, an officer and a gentleman; and, instead of doing your duty, you
+went off like a contemptible cabin-boy on a shore-going game, sir--
+dissipation, sir--behaved like a blackguard till all your money was
+spent; and then you come sneaking back on board, insult me by blundering
+up against me, and all you've got to say for yourself is, `Come aboard,
+sir.'  Now, then, what else have you to say?"
+
+"Well, sir!--"
+
+"Stop.  Let me tell you that, knowing as I did what a young scamp you
+were, I refrained from reporting your conduct at Portsmouth, to get you
+dismissed His Majesty's service; and knowing, too, that it would break
+your father's and mother's heart, I did not write and tell them.  For I
+said to myself, `He'll come back and ask forgiveness to-morrow, and I'll
+punish him and forgive him,' for I did not want to blast your career.
+But to-morrow has always been coming, and you haven't come till
+to-night.  And now, what have you to say before--before I treat you--
+yes, I've a good mind to--like some mutinous scoundrel, and--What's
+that, sir, what's that?  How dare you sit down in my presence, when--"
+
+"I'm so done up, sir, and hungry and faint."
+
+"And serve you right, you insolent young dog.  I knew it, and--"
+
+"Oh, I say, Mr Brough, you don't think I could have been such a beast."
+
+"What?"
+
+"I found out all about the smugglers, but they caught me, and I've been
+a prisoner ever since.  Do give me something to eat and drink, and don't
+scold me any more, till I've got on my uniform and had a good wash."
+
+"My dear boy!  My dear Archy Raystoke!" cried the lieutenant, seizing
+his hands and pumping them up and down.  "Of course I didn't think it!
+Knew you were too much of a gentleman, but I was stuffed full of
+thoughts like that, and they would come out.  Here," he cried, "drink
+that, and here's some cake sent from Poole, and--tip it up, and eat
+away.  I am glad to see you again.  God bless you, my dear boy!  I'm
+your officer, but you don't know how miserable I've been."
+
+"Yes, I do, sir.  I know you always liked me," cried the midshipman,
+between the mouthfuls he was taking.  "But never mind the being
+prisoner, sir.  I know all the scoundrels' secrets now, and you can
+capture them, and make some good hauls.  You must send a strong party
+ashore as soon as it's day."
+
+"But--but--"
+
+Archy answered those buts to such an extent that Gurr's report was
+needless, and the master was terribly disappointed.
+
+By that time the cutter was slowly gliding away seaward, with every eye
+on the watch, for, as the lieutenant explained, after telling his
+recovered officer how he had searched in all directions, he had that
+night seen lights shown far up on one of the cliffs--lights which might
+mean a warning to some vessel to keep off, or just as likely might have
+the other intention, and be an invite to some lugger to land her cargo.
+
+In any case the lieutenant meant to be on the alert, and hence the
+sailing of the cutter.
+
+The lieutenant had hesitated a little at first after hearing his
+midshipman's report, but he now decided how to act.
+
+"No," he said; "not to-night, my lad.  I'm inclined to think the signal
+was a warning to keep off.  They may hide the cargo they leave ashore,
+and if we don't capture it, so much the worse, but our work is to crush
+up the gang more than to capture a few barrels and bales.  We'll look
+out to-night, and, as soon as it is daylight, you shall make sure of the
+bearings of your prison, then we'll land a strong boat's crew, and go
+along the top of the cliff to the place, and put an end to that game.
+You shall make a good meal, and then have a sleep, ready for to-morrow's
+work.  Hah!" cried the little lieutenant; "that ought to mean a good
+day's business, Mr Raystoke, and promotion to better jobs than this."
+
+"I hope so, sir," said Archy, with his mouth full.
+
+"No use to hope," said the lieutenant dismally.  "I'm like poor old
+Gurr; they don't consider me fit for service in a crack ship; and when I
+make my report, and send in my despatches, and ask for an appointment, I
+shall be told I do my work too well on this important service, and that
+they cannot spare so valuable an officer from the station.  Gammon, Mr
+Raystoke, gammon!  It's all because I'm so little and so fat."
+
+Archy was silent, for he knew it was the truth, and that such a quaint
+little fellow did not somehow quite command the men's respect.
+
+Half an hour after, he was sleeping heavily, with the delightful
+sensation of being undressed and between blankets, to wake up with a
+start in the morning, by hearing Ram coming to the trap-door.
+
+No, it was a noise on deck; and he sprang up and rapidly washed and
+dressed, to hurry up to see what was going on.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
+
+As the midshipman reached the deck, it was to find that there was a
+light mist on the water, and that the lieutenant was at the side with
+Gurr, where they were watching a boat coming in from seaward.
+
+The cutter was back not far from her old moorings, and the great cliffs
+of the shore were dimly visible.
+
+"Lobster-boat, sir," said Gurr, as Archy came behind them.
+
+"Never mind!  I'll overhaul her.  I'm going to be suspicious of
+everything now.  Take the boat, and--Ah, to be sure.  Mr Raystoke, take
+the boat, and see what those fellows mean.  They're making straight for
+the ledge, and there is no one to buy lobsters there."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!"
+
+That familiar sea-going reply seemed to ring out of the lad's throat,
+and afforded him a pure feeling of delight.  No more groping about in
+the darkness, biting his nails, and feeling heart-sick with despondency,
+but the full delight of freedom and an active life.
+
+No lad ever sprang to his work with more alacrity, and, as he leaped
+into the boat, and the men dropped their oars, there was a hearty look
+of welcome in each smiling face.
+
+"She has just gone into the mist there, Mr Raystoke," said the
+lieutenant; "but she's making straight for that ledge, and you can't
+miss her.  One moment.  If the men seem all right and honest as to what
+they are going to do, see if you can get any information, but be on your
+guard, as they'll send you, perhaps, on some fool's errand."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" cried Archy again, as he took the handle of the tiller.
+"Now, my lads, give way!"
+
+The mist was patchy, thin here and thick there, but it seemed an easy
+task to overtake the boat, which had glided into the fog, going slowly,
+with her little sail set, and with only a man and boy for crew.  She was
+about a mile away from the cutter, and about a quarter of that distance
+from the land when she passed out of sight, and the possibility of not
+overtaking her never entered the midshipman's head.  All the same,
+though, he was well enough trained in his duties to make him keep a
+sharp look-out on either side, as they crept in, to make sure that the
+boat did not slip away under the cliffs to right or left unseen.
+
+The mist grew more dense as they neared the towering cliffs.  Then it
+seemed to become thinner, and, just as the midshipman was thinking to
+himself how glorious it would be if the man and boy in the boat should
+prove to be his old friends Ram and Jemmy Dadd, there came a peculiar
+squeaking sound from somewhere ahead.
+
+"Lowering sail, sir," said Dirty Dick, who was pulling first oar.
+
+"Then we have not missed them," thought Archy, as the men pulled
+steadily on, with the rushing, plunging noise of the waves beginning to
+be heard as they washed the foot of the cliffs.  "I'll be bound to say
+it is Ram and that big scoundrel.  Oh, what a chance to get them aboard
+in irons and under hatches, for them to have a taste of what they gave
+me!"
+
+It seemed perfectly reasonable that those two should have been off
+somewhere in a boat, and were now returning.  Who more likely to be
+making for the ledge, which, as far as he could judge, was a point or
+two off to the right.
+
+All at once, after a few minutes' pulling, the boat glided right out of
+the bank of mist which hung between them like a soft grey veil, while in
+front, lit up by the first beams of the morning sun, was the great wall
+of cliff, the ledge over which the waves washed gently, the green
+pasture high up, and the ledges dotted with grey and white gulls.  The
+picture was lovely in the extreme, but it wanted two things in Archy's
+eyes to make it perfect; and those two things were a background formed
+by the great cliff, down which he had crept, and the feature which would
+have given it life and interest--to wit, the fishing-boat containing Ram
+and Jemmy Dadd.
+
+"Hold hard, my lads!" cried the midshipman, and the men ceased rowing,
+holding their oars balanced, with the diamond-like drops falling
+sparkling from their blades into the clear sea, while the boat glided
+slowly on towards the ledge, which was just in front.
+
+"Why, where's the boat?" cried Archy excitedly, as he swept the face of
+the cliff with his eyes.
+
+"She aren't here, sir," said Dick.
+
+"Well, I can see that, my man.  Can she have slipped aside and let us
+pass?"
+
+"No," said one of the other men.  "'Sides, sir, she was just afore us
+ten minutes ago, and we heard her lowering down her mast and sail."
+
+"Could that have been a gull?"
+
+"What, make a squeal like a wheel in a block?  No, sir, not it."
+
+"Then they have run her up on the ledge and dragged her into one of the
+holes.  Give way!"
+
+The men pulled in quickly, and at the end of a few minutes they were as
+close to the side of the ledge as it was safe to go, for, as the waves
+ran in, the larger ones leaped right over the broad level space, washing
+it from end to end.  But there was no sign of the boat, and the
+midshipman hesitated about believing that the man and boy could have
+taken advantage of a good wave and run her right on.
+
+"It's strange," said Archy aloud, as he sat there thinking that, if he
+chose his time right, he might make his men pull the boat in upon a
+wave, let them jump out and drag her up the rocks.
+
+But he shook his head, for he knew that if everything was not done to
+the moment, the boat would be stove in.
+
+"Hullo!  What are you shaking your head about?" he said sharply to Dick.
+
+"Nothing sir, only you said it was strange."
+
+"Well, isn't it strange?"
+
+"Ay, sir; so's the _Flying Dutchman_!"
+
+"What?  Why, you do not think any of that superstitious nonsense about
+the boat, do you?"
+
+"Well, sir, I dunno.  I only says, Where's the boat now?  She couldn't
+have got away."
+
+"No," said another of the men.  "She couldn't have landed there."
+
+"Nonsense!" cried Archy angrily.  "Absurd!  Who ever heard of a phantom
+lobster-boat?"
+
+Dick shook his head, and then sat playing with the handle of his oar.
+
+"You Dick," cried Archy, "you're a goose!  There, it will not be safe to
+land, my lads.  Here, you two jump ashore as we back in.  Mind, just as
+the sea's off the ledge; and run up and have a good look round."
+
+The boat was turned, backed in, and, seizing the right moment, the men
+jumped on to the rock just as the water was only ankle-deep, had a good
+search round, and came back, to be picked up again safely, though the
+boat was within an ace of being capsized.
+
+But they had seen nothing.  There was no boat, and they searched along
+some distance east, turned back to the ledge and went west, still
+without elucidation of the mystery; then they went as close under the
+cliffs as they dared go, in the hope of finding some cavern or passage
+through the rocks that escaped notice from outside.
+
+All in vain, and, obeying the signal now flying on the cutter, the boat
+was rowed back.
+
+"Well, Mr Raystoke, where's the boat?"
+
+"Don't know, sir.  We never got sight of her."
+
+"Then you must have been asleep," cried the lieutenant angrily.  "There,
+breakfast, my lads, and be smart."
+
+After the meal, Gurr was left in the charge of the cutter, while the
+lieutenant accompanied Archy to search for the high cliff which
+contained the old quarry, and they rowed east for a couple of miles in
+vain.  But, after pulling back to the starting-point, and making for the
+other direction, they had not gone four hundred yards under the cliff
+before the midshipman exclaimed excitedly,--
+
+"There; that's the place: there!"
+
+"Then why didn't you say so when we were on deck?  You could have seen
+it there."
+
+"I could not tell without seeing it close in, sir; and besides it looks
+so different from right out yonder."
+
+"But are you sure this is right?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir.  Look, that's the place--where there is that narrow rift,
+and if you look high up there is a hole.  There, I can see it plainly."
+
+"Humph!  Can you?  Well, I cannot!"
+
+"But you can see that broad ledge, sir, about two hundred feet up.
+That's where I climbed down to, and we had the struggle--that boy and
+I."
+
+"No, I can't see any ledges, Mr Raystoke.  There may be one there, but
+if you had not been upon it, I don't believe you would know that there
+was one."
+
+Archy looked up at the towering pile of rock, and was obliged to own
+that he was right.  He shivered slightly as he swept the face of the
+cliff for the various points that had helped him in his descent, and, as
+he gazed out there in cold blood, it seemed to have been an extremely
+mad idea to have attempted the descent.
+
+"Well, it is impossible to land here," continued the lieutenant.  "You
+are certain that this is the place?"
+
+"Certain, sir."
+
+"Good.  Then we'll go back to the cutter, and this evening a strong
+party shall land.  I'll lead them myself, and we'll try and surprise
+them.  It's quite likely that the signals I saw last night may mean
+business for to-night.  If so, we shall be on the spot."
+
+"Won't you go at once?"  Archy ventured to observe.
+
+"No, certainly not; what would be the good?  We would be watched, of
+course, and the scoundrels would signal from hill to hill, and our every
+step would be known.  This evening, my lad, at dusk.  Now, my lads, give
+way."
+
+The boat was rowed rapidly from under the shadow of the mighty cliff,
+and the midshipman could not repress a shudder as he noticed how swiftly
+the current ran right out to sea, and fully realised what would have
+been the consequences to any one who had tried to swim along the coast
+if he had managed to descend in safety to the cliff foot.
+
+Back on board the cutter there was a fair amount of bustle and
+excitement among the men, for, after months of unfruitful hanging about
+the coast, chasing luggers which proved to be empty, following false
+leads to get them off the scent or out of the way when contraband goods
+were to be landed, here was genuine information at last, the smugglers
+having, after such long immunity, placed themselves in the hands of the
+King's men.
+
+Consequently cutlasses were being filed up, pistols carefully examined
+as to their flints and nicked off to see that they threw a good shower
+of sparks into the pans, and the men sat and talked together as eagerly
+as if they were about proceeding upon a pleasant jaunt, instead of upon
+a risky expedition which might result in death to several, and certainly
+would in serious injury.
+
+"Yes," the lieutenant said, "rats will run away as long as they can, but
+when driven to the end of their holes they will fight."
+
+"But will they dare, do you think, sir?" said Archy.
+
+"Dare!  Yes, my lad.  You had a bit of a taste of it the other night
+when they were surprised in the lane.  They will be more savage in their
+holes, and therefore, as you are so young, I should like you to go with
+the men, show them the way, and then leave them to do the work."
+
+Archy stared at him.
+
+"Yes: I mean it.  Of course as an officer you cannot shrink from your
+duty, but, as you are a mere boy, it is not your duty to go and fight
+against strong men who are sure to get the better of you."
+
+"But they are not all men there, sir," said the midshipman, with a look
+of disappointment getting heavier in his face.  "There's a boy there--
+that young rascal who came after the cow.  I owe him such a thrashing
+that I must have a turn at him."
+
+"Ah, that's different," said the lieutenant; "and it will keep up
+appearances.  But take care to confine yourself to fighting with him.
+And--er--I would not use my pistol, Raystoke."
+
+"Not shoot, sir?"
+
+"Well--no.  I want to destroy this wasps' nest, but in as merciful a way
+as possible.  I have given orders to the men, and I wish you to mind
+too--I don't want to kill the wasps, but to make them prisoners."
+
+"Yes, sir, I see."
+
+"They are not French wasps, or Dutch wasps, but English.  You
+understand?"
+
+"Quite, sir."
+
+"That's right.  Another hour and you may be off.  You think you can find
+the place?"
+
+"I do not feel a doubt about it, sir."
+
+"Well, it's going to be a dark night, and you and Mr Gurr will have to
+be careful over your men.  You had better keep as close to the cliff as
+you can, for, of course, the entrance must be somewhere near.  I have
+given Mr Gurr full instructions.  You are to search and find the place,
+and if found hold it, but if you do not find it you will be back on
+board by daybreak, and another expedition must be made by day.  If we
+can surprise them by night, when they think all is safe, it may save
+bloodshed.  If we are obliged to go by day, they will have good warning,
+and be prepared to receive us, though they may be now.  I wish I was
+going with you, but that cannot be."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
+
+Everything was arranged on board, so that no watcher armed with a glass
+who scanned the ship should suspect that an expedition was on hand; but
+as soon as it was dark the men were ordered into two boats, one
+commanded by Gurr, with whom was Archy, the other by the boatswain, only
+leaving a very small crew on board with the lieutenant.  Then they
+pushed off, rowing with muffled oars, and keeping right away from the
+cliffs, so that any watcher there should have no indication of their
+passing.
+
+The quiet little cove was still a couple of miles away, when Archy
+suddenly touched the master's arm as he sat there holding his cutlass.
+
+"Yes; what is it?"
+
+For answer the midshipman leaned forward, and pointed to where, far back
+and apparently opposite to the cutter, a couple of faint lights could be
+seen high up and away from the cliff.
+
+"Humph!  Lights," said Gurr; "but they may be up at some cottage.  What
+do you think?"
+
+"I thought they might be signals."
+
+"Well, my lad, if they be, it's to bring the smugglers ashore, where we
+may have the luck to be in waiting for 'em.  But before that the skipper
+may have seen them, and, though he's short-handed, they could manage to
+shake out a sail or two, and manage a gun."
+
+"You would not put back, then, after seeing these lights?"
+
+"Not likely, with the orders we've got, sir," said the master; and the
+men rowed on, and in due time reached the cove, where all was perfectly
+quiet, the tide falling, and as they landed quite a noisy tramp had to
+be made over the fine pebbles, in which the men's feet sank.
+
+A couple of men were left in charge of the boats, the others were formed
+up, and, after passing the cottages of the few fishermen of the place,
+the party struck off for the top of the cliffs, to follow the rugged,
+faint track which was more often lost, and the arduous tramp was
+continued hour after hour, till, partly from the schooner's lights,
+partly from his idea of the run of the coast, the late prisoner began to
+calculate that they must be approaching the land side of the large
+cliff.
+
+It had been a terrible walk in the darkness, for the cliff tops were as
+if a gigantic storm had taken place when that part of the coast was
+formed, and a series of mountainous--really mountainous--waves had run
+along and became suddenly congealed, leaving sharp-crested hill and
+deeply grooved valley, which had to be climbed and descended in turn,
+till the men vowed that the distance was double what it would have been
+by road, and they certainly were not exaggerating much.
+
+It was only here and there that the party had been able to follow the
+edge of the cliff.  For the most part prudence forced them to keep well
+in, but at times they had some arduous climbs, and walked along the
+sides of slopes of thin short grass, covered with tiny snails, whose
+shells crushed beneath their feet with a peculiar crisp sound; and had
+it been daylight, the probabilities were that they would have given
+these risky spots a wider berth.
+
+"Call a halt, Gurr," whispered Archy at last; and it was done.  Then,
+giving the master his ideas, the men were allowed a few minutes'
+breathing space before being formed in a line, with a space of a few
+yards between the men, one end of the line being close to the edge of
+the cliff, the other some distance inland.
+
+In this way the men were instructed to walk slowly on, scanning every
+depression and clump of bared stone carefully, and at a word uttered by
+the man who felt that he had found any place likely to prove to be an
+entrance to a cave or quarry, all were to halt, the word was to be
+passed along, and the officers were to examine the place before the line
+went on again.
+
+The plan was good, and the long line swept slowly along, the halt being
+called soon after they had started, but the stoppage was in vain, the
+midshipman and Gurr finding before them only a rough piled-up collection
+of stones from which the earth had in the course of ages crumbled or
+been washed away.
+
+On again in the darkness, the officers pacing along portions of the line
+to urge on the men to be careful, and warning those near the cliff edge.
+
+The advice was needed, for all at once, just as Archy was leaving the
+edge, there was a faint cry; the halt was called, and the young officer,
+closely followed by Dick, went quickly to the spot from whence the cry
+had come.
+
+"It's Bob Harris, sir," said the last man they reached.  "I see him a
+moment ago, and heard him cry out, and then he was gone."
+
+With his blood seeming to chill, Archy crept in the darkness close to
+the cliff edge, to find that it sloped down where he stood.
+
+"Give me your hand, Dick," he whispered.
+
+"Lie down, my lad, and I'll go down too," said the sailor in a husky
+voice, which told of the horror he felt.
+
+It was good advice, and the midshipman was putting it in force just as
+Gurr came tearing up.
+
+"What is it?" he panted.
+
+"Bob Harris gone over, sir," whispered Dick.
+
+"And no rope with us!" exclaimed the master.  "See anything, my lad?"
+
+"Yes; he is just below here on a ledge.  Hi!  Are you hurt?"
+
+"No, sir," came up faintly; "but I durstn't move, or I should go over."
+
+"Lie still, then, till we pull you up.  Mr Gurr, I can almost touch
+him.  I could, if some one lowered me a little more."
+
+"No, no, my lad, no, no!" whispered the master.  "Here, Dick, and you,"
+he said in short, quick, decisive tones, as he lay down and looked over.
+"Now, then, four more men here.  Now, who'll volunteer to lean over and
+get a good grip of him, while we hold by your legs?"
+
+"I will," said Dick.
+
+"'Spose I'm as strong as any on 'em.  But who's going to hold my legs?"
+
+"Two men, my lad, and there'll be others to hold them."
+
+"Right," said Dick shortly; and the men lay down, forming themselves
+into a human chain, the end of which Dick was lowered slowly down the
+slope and over the edge.
+
+"Look here, my man," said Archy, as he lay with his head and chest over
+the edge of the awful precipice, listening to the faint beat of the
+waves, and involuntarily thinking of his adventure with Ram, "as soon as
+Dick grips you, get tight hold of him too."
+
+"Ay," came up in a hoarse whisper.  "Please be quick.  I feel as if I
+was going."
+
+"Now," said the master, "ready, lads?  Steady!  You, Dick, give the word
+yourself to lower away."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir; lower away."  Then again, "Lower away!  Lower away!"
+
+The suspense in the darkness seemed strained to breaking point, and
+Archy lay with his heart beating painfully, watching till it seemed as
+if the case was hopeless, and that if Dick, now nearly off the cliff,
+could grip hold of the fallen man, they would never be able to get him
+and his burden back.
+
+"'Nother inch," came up out of the void.  "Touched him.  'Nother inch!"
+
+At each order, given in a hoarse, smothered way, the men shuffled
+themselves forward a little, and lowered Dick down.
+
+"Just a shade more, my lads," came up.
+
+"Can't!" said one of the men who held one of Dick's legs.
+
+"Right.  Got him," came up, as a thrill of horror ran along the chain at
+that word _can't_.  "Haul away!"
+
+How that hauling up was managed the midshipman hardly knew, but he had
+some consciousness of having joined in the efforts made, by seizing one
+man of the human chain, and dimly seeing Gurr and two other men of the
+group now gathered about them lend their aid.  Then there was a
+scuffling and dragging, a loud panting, and, with a few adjurations to
+"hold on," and "haul," and "keep tight," Dick and the man he had been
+lowered down to save were dragged into safety.
+
+"Phew!" panted Dick.  "Look here, Bob Harris--never no more, my lad,
+never no more!"
+
+"Bravely done, Dick," whispered Gurr.
+
+"Thank ye, sir.  But, never no more.  I want to be a good mate to
+everybody, but this here's a shade too much."
+
+"And I'd take it kindly, Master Raystoke, sir," said the man the
+midshipman had gripped, "if nex' time, sir, you wouldn't mind grappling
+my clothes only.  You're tidy strong now, and I can't `answer for my
+flesh', if you take hold like that."
+
+"Hush!  No talking," said the master.  "Dick, take the outside now, and
+be careful.  Form your line again.  Bob Harris, take the far left."
+
+"Well, Master Raystoke, sir," grumbled Dick, "I call that giving a
+fellow a prize.  Saves that chap, and here am I."
+
+"Post of honour, Dick.  Go slowly, and not too near."
+
+"Not too nigh it is, sir," said Dick, with a sigh; and a minute later
+the word was given, and they went on once more.
+
+One hundred, two hundred, three hundred yards, but no sign.
+
+Then a discovery was made, and by the midshipman.
+
+They had come to the descent on the far side of the vast hill by whose
+top they had been searching.  There was a stiff slope beyond, and
+another mass of cliff loomed up, rising dimly against the sky, in a way
+that made Archy feel certain that, though so far their search had been
+in vain, they had now before them the huge cliff which held the
+smugglers' store.
+
+The midshipman felt so assured of this, that he whispered his belief
+freely to Gurr, as he encountered him from time to time perambulating
+the line of men, but the old master received the communication rather
+surlily.
+
+"All guess-work, my lad," he said.  "We're working wrong way on.  These
+great places would puzzle a monkey, and we shan't find the hole unless
+we come by daylight, and leave a boat off-shore to signal to us till we
+get over the spot."
+
+"What's that?" cried Archy excitedly, as one of the men on his left
+uttered a sharp, "Look out!"
+
+"Sheep, I think, sir."
+
+"No, it was a dog," said another.
+
+"Hi!  Stop him!" cried a third.  "Boy!"
+
+There was a rush here and there in the darkness, the line being
+completely broken, and the men who composed it caught sight from time to
+time of a shadowy figure to which they gave chase as it dodged in and
+out of the bushes, doubling round masses of weather-worn stone, plunging
+into hollows, being lost in one place and found in another, but always
+proving too active for its pursuers, who stumbled about among the rough
+ground and dangerous slopes.  Here for a moment it was lost in a damp
+hollow full of a high growth of mares-tail (_equisetum_), that curious
+whorled relic of ancient days; driven from that by a regular course of
+beating the ground, it led its pursuers upward among rough tumbled
+stones where the brambles tripped them, and here they lost it for a
+time.  But, growing hotter in the chase, and delighted with the sport,
+which came like a relief from their monotonous toil, the Jacks put their
+quarry up again, to get a dim view of it, and follow it in full cry,
+like a pack of hounds, over the rounded top of the hill, down the other
+side into a damp hollow full of tall reeds, through which the men had to
+beat again, panting and regaining their breath, but too excited by the
+chase to notice the direction in which they had gone, and beyond hearing
+of the recall shouted by their officers.
+
+The midshipman joined as eagerly in the chase as any of the men,
+forgetting at the moment all about discipline, formation, and matters of
+that kind, for in one glimpse which he had of the figure, he made
+certain that it was Ram, whom they had surprised just leaving the
+entrance to the cave; and it was not until he had been joined in the
+hunt for about a quarter of an hour, that he felt that the men ought
+instantly to have been stopped, and the place around thoroughly
+searched.
+
+"How vexatious!" he cried to himself, as he panted on alone, always in
+dread of coming suddenly upon the edge of the cliff, and trembling lest
+in their excitement the men might go over.
+
+All regrets were vain now, and he kept on following the cries he heard,
+first in one direction and then in another, till at last, after a weary
+struggle through a great patch of brambles and stones, he found himself
+quite alone and left behind.
+
+But his vanity would not accept this last.
+
+"I've quite out-run them," he said, half aloud, as he peered round
+through the gloom, listening intently the while, but not a sound could
+be heard, and in his angry impatience he stamped his foot upon the short
+dry grass.
+
+"What an idiot I am for an officer!" he cried.  "Leading men and letting
+them bolt off in all directions like this.  Suppose the smugglers should
+turn upon us now!"
+
+"They would not have any one to turn upon," he added, after a pause.
+
+"Well, it's all over with anything like a surprise," he continued, after
+a time, "and we must get back to the place where we started from, if we
+can find it."
+
+"I'll swear that was Ram," he said, as he trudged on up a steep
+hillside; "and if they have caught him, we'll make him show us the way.
+Stubborn brute!  He was too much for me in the quarry, but out here with
+the men about, I'll make him sing a different tune."
+
+"Where can they be?" he cried, after wandering about for quite half an
+hour.  "Why!  Ah!" he ejaculated.  "I can see it all now.  It was Ram,
+and he was playing peewit.  The cunning rascal!  Oh, if I only get hold
+of him!
+
+"Yes; there's no doubt about it, and he has been too clever for us.  He
+was watching by the entrance, and just as the men got up, and would have
+found it, he jumped up and dodged about, letting the men nearly catch
+him, and then running away and leading them farther and farther on."
+
+"Never mind.  I'll get the men together, and we'll go back to the place
+and soon find it.  Oh, how vexatious!  Which way does the sea lie?"
+
+There was not a star to be seen, and the night was darker than ever.
+
+He listened, but the night was too calm for the waves to be heard at the
+foot of the cliffs, and, gaze which way he would, there was nothing but
+dimly seen rugged ground with occasional slopes of smooth, short grass.
+
+"Ahoy!" he cried at last, and "Ahoy!" came back faintly.
+
+"Hurrah!" he said, after answering again, and walking in the direction
+from which the cry came, downward in one of the combe-like hollows of
+the district.  "No one need be lost for long, if he has a voice.  Don't
+hear any of the others though."
+
+He shouted again and again, getting answers, and gradually diminishing
+the distance, till he saw dimly the figure of a stoutly built man, and
+the next minute he was saluted with,--
+
+"Oh, it's you, is it, Mr Raystoke?  Pretty run you've led me.  Pray
+what sort of a game do you call this?"
+
+"Game, sir!" said Archy ruefully; "it's horribly hard work!"
+
+"Hard work!  To you, sir--a mere boy!  Then what do you suppose it is to
+me?  I have hardly a breath left in me."
+
+"But where are the men Mr Gurr?"
+
+"The men, Mr Raystoke, sir?  That's what I was going to ask you.  Now
+just have the goodness to tell me what you mean by forgetting all the
+discipline you have been taught, and leading these poor chaps off on
+such a wild-goose chase."
+
+"I, Mr Gurr?" said Archy in astonishment.
+
+"Yes, sir, you, sir.  What am I to say to Mr Brough when we get back?
+I am in command of this expedition, and you lead the men away like a
+pack of mad March hares, and now I find you here without them.  Where
+are they?"
+
+"I don't know, sir."
+
+"You don't know!"
+
+"I thought they were with you."
+
+"And you took them away and left them?"
+
+"I didn't take them away!" cried the midshipman angrily.
+
+"Then where are they, sir?"
+
+"I don't know.  You were close by me when they rushed off after that
+boy."
+
+"Sheep, sir."
+
+"No, no, Mr Gurr; boy--Ram."
+
+"Well, I said sheep, Mr Raystoke."
+
+"No, no, boy; that's his name--Ram."
+
+"Nonsense, sir; it was a sheep, and if it was not, it was a dog."
+
+"I tell you, sir, it was the smuggler's boy, Ram,--the one who came
+aboard after the cow."
+
+"Hang the cow, sir!  I want my men.  Do you think I can go back on board
+without them.  Why, it's high treason for a naval officer to let one man
+slip away, and here you have let two boats' crews go.  I say once more,
+how am I to face Mr Brough?"
+
+"I don't know, Mr Gurr," said Archy, who was growing vexed now at the
+blame being thrown on his shoulders.  "You were in command of the
+expedition, and the bosun was in charge of the second boat's crew.  I
+don't see how I am to blame."
+
+"But you led the men away, sir."
+
+"Not I, Mr Gurr.  I joined in the chase, and I tried to get the boys
+together, but they scattered everywhere."
+
+"But it really is awkward, Mr Raystoke, isn't it?"
+
+"Horribly, sir.  Got anything to eat?"
+
+"To eat?  No, my lad.  But--tut--tut--tut!  I can't hear them anywhere."
+
+"Nor I, sir."
+
+"Well, we must not stand here.  But what did you say?--I did not see
+what it was; they went off after a boy?"
+
+The master spoke so civilly now that Archy forgot his anger, and entered
+into the trouble warmly.
+
+"Yes," he said; "and it was a plan.  That boy is as cunning as can be.
+We must have been close up to the way into the cave when he started out
+and led us all away from it."
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"I say he jumped up and dodged about, knowing the place by heart, and
+kept hiding and running off again, to get us right away from the
+entrance."
+
+"That's it--that's it, Mr Raystoke.  Don't try any more, sir.  You've
+hit it right in the bull's eye."
+
+"You think so?"
+
+"No, sir; I'm sure of it.  A young fox.  Now as soon as we've taken him
+prisoner, I'll put the matter before Mr Brough in such a way that the
+young scamp will be tied up, and get four dozen on the bare back."
+
+"Hadn't we better catch him first, Mr Gurr?"
+
+"Right, Mr Raystoke.  Come on then; and the first thing is to get the
+men together.  We shall catch him, never you fear that.  These cunning
+ones generally get caught first.  Now then, sir, let's listen."
+
+They listened, but there was not a sound.
+
+"'Pon my word!  This is a pretty state of affairs!" cried the master.
+"What do you propose next?"
+
+"Let's get right up to the top of this place and hail."
+
+"That's good advice, Mr Raystoke, sir: so come on."
+
+They started at once, and at the end of ten minutes they were at the top
+of a hill, but upon gazing round they could only dimly see other hills
+similar to the one on which they stood,--regular earth-waves of the
+great convulsion which had thrown the strata of the Freestone Shore into
+a state of chaos,--but nothing more.
+
+"I'll hail," said Archy; and he shouted, but there was no reply.
+
+"The scoundrels!" cried the master angrily.  "They're all together in
+some public-house drinking, and glad to get away from us.  Eh?  What are
+you laughing at?"
+
+"There are no public-houses out in this wild place, Mr Gurr."
+
+"Eh?  Well, no, I suppose not.  I'll hail.  Ahoy?"
+
+A faint echo in reply.  That was all.
+
+"Which way shall we go?"
+
+"I don't know, Mr Gurr."
+
+"Can't make out which is the north, can you?"
+
+"No, sir, nor the south neither."
+
+"Humph!  I think I could find the south if you told me which was the
+north," said the master drily.  "Well, we must do the best we can.
+Let's strike along here.  I seem to feel that this is the right
+direction."
+
+Archy felt that it was the wrong direction, but, at he could not point
+out the right, he followed his leader for about a quarter of a mile,
+both pausing to shout and listen from time to time.
+
+All at once Gurr came to a dead stop.
+
+"I feel as if we're going wrong," he said.  "You choose this time."
+
+"Let's try this way," said Archy, selecting the route because it was
+down hill; but a quarter of an hour of this did not satisfy him, and he
+too stopped dead short.
+
+"I feel just as much lost as I did in the dark in that cave, Mr Gurr,"
+he said.
+
+"Never mind, my lad," said the master good-humouredly.  "It's all an
+accident, and nobody's fault.  Wish I had my pipe."
+
+"Ahoy!" shouted Archy, but there was no reply.
+
+"I'd sit down and wait for morning, only conscience won't let me."
+
+"Well, let's try this way," suggested Archy.
+
+"Seems to me, my lad, that it don't matter which way we take, we only go
+wandering in and out among the stones and brambles and winding all sorts
+of ways.  Never mind; we must keep moving, so come on."
+
+They trudged on for how long they could not tell, but both were getting
+exceedingly weary, and as ignorant now ever as to their whereabouts;
+for, whether the direction they followed was east, west, south, or
+north, there was no indication in the sky; and they kept on, always
+cautiously, in dread and yet in hope that they might come upon the edge
+of the cliff, which would solve their difficulty at once, if they could
+see the cutter's lights.
+
+"Though that aren't likely, Mr Raystoke.  Strikes me that he'll lie
+there, and not show a light, on the chance of a smuggling lugger coming
+along, though that's hardly our luck."
+
+"I don't know," said Archy bitterly.  "Seems just the time for her to
+come when the skipper's so short-handed that he can't attack."
+
+"Yes, we are an unlucky craft and no mistake, and I 'most wish sometimes
+I'd never sailed in her.  Look here, for instance, here's a chance for
+us."
+
+"Hist!  Listen!" whispered Archy.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"A hail right in the distance."
+
+"No such luck, my lad.  I don't know how I'm going to face Mr Brough.
+Hark!"
+
+"Yes; there it is again, away to the left.  Yes; there it goes.  Ahoy!"
+
+They stopped and listened after the midshipman had hailed as loudly as
+he could; and, to the intense delight of both, the hail was responded
+to.
+
+Hurriedly changing their direction, they went on as rapidly as the rough
+ground would allow, getting an answering hail every time they shouted,
+and each time louder, as if those who called were also coming toward
+them.
+
+Ten minutes later they heard voices, by degrees these became a murmur,
+and they knew that there must be several of the men together.
+
+In another ten minutes they came upon a group steadily approaching.
+
+Mutual inquiries took place.
+
+No, the men had not captured the fugitive, but they were sure it was a
+boy; Dirty Dick was ready to take an oath to that effect, but he was not
+asked.
+
+Then came the important question--Where were they?
+
+The boatswain gave it as his opinion that they had been going westward,
+but he could give no reason why; and it was decided to continue in that
+direction, after Gurr had satisfied himself that the men were all
+present, though they learned that there had been a good deal of hailing
+before all were collected.
+
+They trudged on almost in silence, for the whole party were wearied out,
+till an announcement galvanised them all, for suddenly Dick put an end
+to the question of their journeying west by suddenly shouting,--
+
+"South ho!"
+
+"Eh?  What do you mean?" cried the master.
+
+"I know yon hill," said Dick, pointing to an eminence dimly seen away
+before him.  "That's just close to the cove, and if we keep straight on,
+we shall be in the road in less than half an hour, and at the boats ten
+minutes later."
+
+"No, no, my lad," said the master; "I don't think that's right.--Yes, it
+is, my lad; I'm 'most sure of it now."
+
+Right it was, as was proved a quarter of an hour later, by their
+striking the rough road at right angles, and there a halt was called.
+
+"Don't seem any good to go searching along again in the dark, Mr
+Raystoke," said the master; and the boatswain shook his head decisively.
+
+"All 'bout done up," he growled.
+
+"We could do no good now," said Archy, "for of course I am not sure
+where the entrance is."
+
+"Must be getting toward morning too, and time to be aboard, Mr
+Raystoke.  There, sir, sometimes we win and many more times we lose.
+We've lost this time, so let's go back aboard, according to orders.
+Forward right, my lads, and let's make the best of it."
+
+"Never mind, Mr Gurr," said Archy in a low voice.  "I was regularly in
+despair as I was being taken from one prison to be shut up in another,
+when I ran up against you.  Perhaps we may run up against the smugglers
+after all."
+
+"Wish we might," said the master.  "Oh, how I could fight!"
+
+But they ran up against no smugglers on their way to the boats, which
+they hailed from the strand, where the water was very low; and soon
+after they were passing in the lowest of low spirits, out of the cove to
+the open channel, when once more every one was thrilled with excitement,
+for right away in the offing they heard a gun.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
+
+"Can't be, sir," said Gurr, as he tried to pierce the darkness, "because
+the skipper must be lying at anchor where we left him."
+
+"Hah!  See that?" cried Archy, as the men bent to their oars and made
+the now phosphorescent water flash.
+
+"Only the oars, lad.  Water brimes."
+
+_Thud_! came the report of a heavy gun.
+
+"You're right, lad!  'Twas the flash from a gun.  Some one's pursuing of
+something.  Pull away, my lads, let's get aboard, and the skipper may
+join in.  Bah!  What's the good o' shore-going?  Man's sure to get wrong
+there."
+
+The men forgot their weariness in the excitement, as they realised that
+some vessel was in chase of a smuggler, but they murmured among
+themselves at their ill luck at being away from the cutter; for if they
+had been aboard at the first shot, the anchor would have been weighed or
+slipped, and the _White Hawk_ gone to see what was going on, probably to
+help capture a heavily laden smuggler craft.
+
+"And we should have took our share, lads," said Dick in a whisper.
+"Hey, boot we are out o' luck."
+
+"Don't sit muttering and grumbling there, my lad, but pull hard, and
+let's get aboard," cried the master, and the oars dipped away in the
+dark sea, seeming to splash up so much pale lambent fire at every
+stroke.
+
+But this was no novelty to the men, and the boats sped on, one in the
+other's wake, with the crew straining their heads over their left
+shoulders to catch a glimpse of the next flash which preceded the gun.
+
+"Good six mile away from where we are now," said Gurr.  "Oh, my lad, my
+lad, I wish we were aboard."
+
+But it was a long pull from the cove to where the cutter lay, nearly a
+mile and a half from the shore, and, though the master and Archy kept
+straining their eyes to catch sight of their little vessel, she was
+invisible.
+
+As they rowed on, they kept on increasing their distance from the shore,
+steering so as to pass along one side of a right-angled triangle,
+instead of along by the cliff and then straight off; but, as the cutter
+showed no lights, this was all guess-work, and made the task rather
+anxious.
+
+The firing kept on, the dull thud of the gun being preceded by the
+flash, and at each notification of a shot the men gave such a tug at the
+stout ash blades that they bent, and the boat leaped through the water.
+
+"Hurrah!  Morning," cried Archy, and the men answered his remark with a
+cheer, for there was a grey light coming fast now in the east, but, to
+the utter astonishment of all, the cutter did not become visible.
+
+They gazed round excitedly as the light broadened, but there was no
+cutter where they expected she would be, but ten minutes later, dimly
+seen as yet, they made her out miles away under full sail, in chase of a
+long, low, three-masted lugger, at which she was keeping up a slow and
+steady fire.
+
+The men cheered as the direction of the boats' heads was changed.
+
+"Pull, my lads, pull!" cried master and boatswain.  The men responded
+with another cheer, and the water rattled under their bows.
+
+"It's a long pull," cried the master; "but as soon as she sees us,
+she'll run down and pick us up."
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted the men.
+
+"Well done, Mr Brough, well done!" cried Gurr excitedly.  "Think of
+him, with hardly a man to help him, sailing the cutter, and keeping up a
+steady fire like that.  Oh, Mr Raystoke, why aren't we aboard?"
+
+"Ah, why indeed?  There she goes again.  I say, Mr Gurr, won't she be
+able to knock some of her spars overboard."
+
+"I wish I was aboard the lugger with an axe," growled Gurr, shading his
+eyes; and then, placing his foot against the stroke oar, he gave a
+regular thrust with the man's pull, a plan imitated by the boatswain on
+board the other boat.
+
+The light increased rapidly now, and the soft grey sky gave promise of a
+glorious day, but this did not take the attention of those on board the
+boats, who could see nothing but the lugger trying to escape, and
+gradually growing more distant, while the cutter kept on slowly, sending
+a shot in her wake, evidently in the hope of bringing down one of her
+masts.
+
+"What boat's that, Mr Gurr?" said Archy at last, drawing the master's
+attention to one in full sail in the opposite direction to that in which
+they were going.
+
+"Dunno, my lad.  Never mind her.  Lobster, I should say."
+
+"Looks fast and smart for a lobster-boat," thought Archy, as he kept
+glancing at the craft, whose aspect seemed to have a strange attraction
+for him alone.  In fact, every eye was fixed upon the two vessels in the
+offing, while it seemed to Archy that the boat, which was sailing
+rapidly, had changed her course on seeing them, and was trying to get
+close up under the cliffs, apparently to reach the cove from which they
+had come.
+
+There was nothing suspicious in a sailing-boat making for the cove, but,
+as the middy looked at it, the boat heeled over in a puff of wind, and
+he fancied that he caught sight of a familiar figure behind the sail.
+
+It was only a momentary glance, and directly after he told himself it
+was nonsense, for the figure which had started up in the night, away on
+the cliff was Ram Shackle, and he could not be in two places at once.
+
+"We shall never do it, my lads," said the master suddenly.  "Easy--easy.
+It's of no use to break your backs, and your hearts too.  She's sailing
+two knots to our one.  Easy in that boat," he shouted.  "We can't do
+it."
+
+A low murmur arose from both crews.
+
+"Silence there!" shouted Gurr.  Then, more gently, "I don't want to give
+it up, but you can see for yourself, bo's'n, we can't do it."
+
+"No," came back abruptly.
+
+"It would only be hindering her too.  No, Mr Raystoke, it's only our
+old bad luck, and common sense says it's of no use to fight again it."
+
+"Mr Gurr," said Archy excitedly, speaking with his eyes fixed on the
+sailing-boat.
+
+"Yes, my lad, what is it?"
+
+"Do you think it possible that yonder boat has had anything to do with
+the lugger?"
+
+"Eh?  What?" cried the master sharply.  "Haven't got a glass.  I dunno.
+They're such a set of foxes about here that she might."
+
+He shaded his eyes with his hand, and took a long look at her, and once
+more a puff of wind caught her sail and heeled her over, so that he
+could get a good look over her side.
+
+She was about a mile away, and well in toward the shore, keeping far
+enough from the cliffs to catch the land breeze, and now, as the task of
+catching up the cutter was given up as impossible, the boat took the
+attention of all.
+
+"Why, she's got a lot of men in her," cried Gurr excitedly; "nine or ten
+lying down in her bottom."
+
+"Yes," cried Archy; "and it doesn't take ten men to catch a lobster."
+
+"Ahoy, bo's'n!" cried Gurr; "pull off to the west'ard sharp, and cut off
+that boat if she makes for that way.  Try and head her in under the
+cliff where there's no wind, if she tries to pass you.  Look out!  She
+has a lot of men on board."
+
+The direction of the second boat was altered at once, the men began to
+pull hard; and just as a dull thud from seaward told that the _White
+Hawk_ was still well on the heels of her quarry, the first boat turned
+smartly and began to chase.
+
+"I hope you're right, Mr Raystoke," said the master.  "I should like to
+have one little bit o' fun before we go back aboard.  Ah, look at her!
+She don't mean us to overhaul her.  Be smart, my lads.  Don't cheer, but
+seem to be taking it coolly.  You're right, Mr Raystoke," he added a
+minute later; "there's something wrong with that boat, or she would not
+want to run away."
+
+For the direction of the little yawl they were making for was suddenly
+changed, and it was evident that, seeing how the second boat, commanded
+by the boatswain, was going to head her off from the west, she was being
+put on the other course, so as to run east.
+
+But the first boat was going rapidly through the water now, and a turn
+of the helm changed her course, so that it would be easy to cut the yawl
+off from going in the new direction, while an attempt to pass between
+the boats and head straight for sea was also met by the steersmen of the
+pursuers.
+
+"Why, what's she going to do?" said Gurr.  "Ah, my lad, it's all a flam.
+Only a lobster-boat after all.  She's going to run in under the cliffs
+where there's no wind, and of course it's to take up her lobster-pots."
+
+"If she was only going to take up lobster-pots she wouldn't have tried
+to run," said Archy sharply.  "I'd overhaul her, Mr Gurr."
+
+"Going to, my lad.  Don't you be scared about that.  I'll overhaul her,
+if it's only to get some fresh lobsters for breakfast.  There, I told
+you so," he continued, after a few minutes' interval, during which the
+boat was sailing straight in for the cliffs, about five hundred yards
+away from the landing ledge, away to the west; and as the master spoke
+the mainsail was rapidly lowered, the jib dropped, and those in the
+_White Hawk's_ leading boat saw that there was a good deal of busy work
+on board; and before they had recovered from their surprise, several men
+rose up, oars were thrust over now that the wind had failed, and, with
+eight men pulling, they were going straight for the cliff.
+
+"Smugglers!" shouted Gurr excitedly.  "Jump up, Mr Raystoke, and signal
+the bo's'n to come on.  We shall have a prize after all, though it's
+only a little one.  Pull my lads, pull?"
+
+The smugglers' boat was now about half a mile away, the men in her
+pulling with all their might, but the King's boat was the more swift,
+though after a few minutes' chase it was evident that the start was in
+the smugglers' favour.
+
+"Hang them!  They're going to run ashore.  They've got a nook there,
+I'll be bound, and as soon as they're landed they'll be scuffling up the
+side of the cliff.  Pull, my lads, and as we reach the rock, out with
+you and chase them; you can climb as well as they can.  If they're
+getting away, cover them with your pistols, and tell 'em they shall have
+it if they don't surrender."
+
+The excitement was now tremendous: the cutter's boat was going fast, and
+the second boat was closing up, so that it would be impossible for the
+smugglers to escape by sea.  And now, as they drew nearer, Archy saw
+that his first surmise was right: Ram was in the boat, and right
+forward, his red cap showing out plainly in the morning light.  Jemmy
+Dadd was there too, and Shackle, beside the big dark fellow who had
+tricked the lieutenant, while the rest of the crew were strong-looking
+fellows of the fisherman type.
+
+"Now then there!" shouted Gurr, rising up, but retaining his hold of the
+tiller with one hand.  "It's of no use.  Surrender!"
+
+A yell of derision came from the boat, and Ram jumped up and waved his
+red cap, with the effect that it seemed as if some of the dye had been
+transferred to Archy's face, which a minute sooner had been rather pale
+with excitement.
+
+"Pull, my lads, pull, and you'll have them before they land!" cried the
+master, stamping his foot.  "Here, take the tiller, Mr Raystoke;" and
+he shifted his position, passed the tiller to Archy, and stood up and
+drew his sword.
+
+"Starboard a little--starboard!" he said.  "Run her right alongside, my
+lad; and you, my men, never mind your oars, the others'll pick them up.
+The moment we touch, up with you, out with your cutlashes, and down with
+any man who does not surrender."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" cheered the men.
+
+"Now, then," shouted Gurr, "do you surrender?"
+
+A derisive laugh came from the smugglers, who pulled their hardest,
+pretty closely followed by the king's boat, when, just as they seemed to
+be coming stem on to the rocks at the foot of the cliff, the four men on
+the starboard side suddenly plunged their oars down deep, backing water,
+while the men on the larboard pulled furiously, the result being that
+the head of the boat swung round, and she glided right out of sight
+behind a tall rock, which seemed part of the main cliff from a few yards
+out.
+
+A fierce cry of rage came from the master, but he was quick at giving
+directions, checking the course of his boat, and then proceeding
+cautiously; and having no difficulty in following under a low archway
+for some twenty yards,--a passage evidently only possible at extreme low
+water,--and directly after they were out again in broad daylight, and at
+the bottom of a huge funnel-like hollow, from which the rocky cliffs
+rose up some three hundred feet.
+
+It was a marvellously beautiful spot, but the occupants of the _White
+Hawk's_ boat had only eyes then for the smugglers, who had run their
+boat into a nook just across the bottom of the pool, and they had had
+time to leap on to the rock, and were rapidly climbing a rough zigzag
+path.
+
+"And us never to have been along here at the right time of the tide to
+find this hole!" thought Archy, as, in obedience to a sign, he steered
+the boat across the beautiful transparent pool, and laid her alongside
+the smugglers boat.
+
+Then oars were thrown down, the men sprang across the smugglers' craft,
+and, headed by Archy and Gurr, began to climb rapidly after their
+enemies.
+
+"It's of no use to call upon them to surrender," said Gurr rather
+breathlessly, as they toiled up the zigzag.
+
+"We'll make them do it later on," cried Archy, whose youth and activity
+helped him to get on first.
+
+"Steady, my lad, steady!"
+
+"But I want to see which way they go."
+
+"Right, but keep out of danger, my lad.  If they show fight, keep back."
+
+Archy heard, but made no reply, and toiled on up the rugged ascent,
+straining every nerve as he saw the last smuggler disappear over the
+top, and, at the next turn he made in the zigzag, he caught a glimpse of
+the ascent from top to bottom, with the sailors climbing up, and just
+then there was a fresh cheer, which made him turn swiftly again, to look
+round and see the second boat gliding through the rocky arch into the
+pool.
+
+It was rather risky, for he was on a narrow slippery place at one of the
+turns of the _zigzag_, and nearly lost his footing, but, darting out a
+hand, he caught at the rock, recovered himself, and climbed on, to reach
+the top just in time to see Ram's red cap disappearing some four hundred
+yards away over a rounded eminence due west of where he stood.
+
+He glanced down again, and then, breathless as he was, ran on over the
+down-like hillside till he reached the spot where he had seen Ram's red
+cap disappear, and here he stopped, to make sure of Mr Gurr seeing the
+direction he had taken, standing well up with his sword raised above his
+head in the bright sunshine.
+
+There was nothing visible but soft green rolling cliff top, and he
+looked vainly for some sign of the enemy, eager to go on, but taught
+caution, and not knowing but what Ram might have taken one direction to
+lure the pursuers away, while the men were in hiding in another.
+
+But, as he waited and scanned the place around, he suddenly caught sight
+of what seemed to be a rift against the sky in the edge of a cliff which
+rose up rapidly, and his heart gave a great throb.
+
+"Let Ram play what tricks he likes," he said, "I know where I am now."
+
+"Well, my lad, well!" panted Gurr, running up, followed by the men.
+"Don't say they've got away!"
+
+"No," cried Archy excitedly.  "I think I can lead you to the foxes'
+hole.  This way."
+
+And, as he spoke, there came in rapid succession a couple of dull thuds
+from seaward, and a cheer from the crew behind, as, led by Archy
+Raystoke, the men now went over the undulating cliff top at a trot.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
+
+The discovery of the way through the cliff made clear to Archy several
+matters connected with the appearance and disappearance of Ram and his
+companion with the boat, for upon more than one occasion it had seemed
+impossible that they could have rowed six miles to the cove and come
+back again.  And, excited as the midshipman was, these ideas occurred to
+him while running along over the top of the down-like cliff.
+
+On looking back beyond the first boat's crew, the head of the second
+crew could be seen as they reached the top of the zigzag path, where the
+boatswain waited till the last man was up, and then gave the word for
+them to double after their fellows.
+
+Seeing that he was so well supported, the master felt that he was ready
+for any force the smugglers might have to back them up, and, turning to
+Archy, he suggested that the midshipman should point out the way into
+the smugglers' cave, and then leave them to do the work.
+
+"It will be time enough to talk about that, Mr Gurr," said Archy rather
+breathlessly, "when we have found the place."
+
+"But I thought you had found it, my lad!"
+
+"After the tricks played us, I shall not be certain until I see you all
+right in the cave."
+
+"But you think it's close here?"
+
+"Yes; unless I am quite wrong, the old quarry is in that great cliff
+where the grass runs right up to the edge."
+
+"Then if it's there, and those fellows have gone in, we'll find the way,
+and go in too."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated Archy, stopping short.
+
+"What's the matter, lad?--hurt?"
+
+"No.  The place is dark as pitch, and we have no lights."
+
+"Then we'll strike some with our pistol locks, and set fire to some
+wood.  Never mind the lights.  If it's light enough for them, it will be
+light enough for us, lad.  Let's find the way in, and that will be
+enough.  They won't show fight.  Let's get on, and we shall be marching
+them all out tied two and two before they're much older."
+
+The party kept on along the rugged undulating top of the cliffs, till,
+after a careful inspection in all directions, Archy declared that they
+must now be over the cavern.
+
+The second boat's crew had overtaken them now, and, upon receiving this
+information, the master spread his men out a few yards apart, to sweep
+the ground after the fashion observed on the previous night.
+
+"You must find it now, my lads," he said.  "I should say what you've got
+to look for is a hole pretty well grown over with green stuff right up
+at the end of a bit of a gully, and looking as if no one had been there
+for a hundred years."
+
+"Yes, something like the mouths of the old quarries we have seen," added
+Archy.
+
+"Then there's something of the sort down yonder," cried Dick, pointing
+to a spot where the ground seemed to have sunk down.
+
+"Yes," cried Archy eagerly; "and that's the place.  Look here, Mr
+Gurr."
+
+"What at, my lad?"
+
+"The grass."
+
+"Well, we want to find smugglers, not grass, my lad."
+
+"Yes, but don't you see that some one has gone over here lately.  The
+dew is all brushed off, and you can see the footmarks."
+
+"I can't, my lad.  Perhaps you can with your young eyes."
+
+"Oh, it's all right," growled the boatswain.
+
+"Keep a sharp look-out, then, and mind no one gets by."
+
+The little force advanced, with the men spread out to right and left,
+the officers in the centre, following the trail which led right to the
+gully-like depression, once doubtless a well-worn track, but now
+completely smoothed over and grass-grown; and there, sure enough, as
+discovered only a short time before by Celia, was the scooped-out hollow
+filled with fern, bramble, and wild clematis, and the rough steps down,
+and the archway dimly seen beyond the loose stones.
+
+"Halt!" cried the master; and, after a careful inspection had shown that
+the footprints in the dewy grass had gone no farther than the entrance,
+the men were called up, and stood round the pit.
+
+There it all was, exactly as Archy had pictured it in his own mind: the
+loose stones at the bottom of the hole covering, he was sure, the
+trap-door he had so often heard opened and shut; but, as he went down a
+few steps in his eagerness, and scanned the place, he was puzzled and
+disappointed; for the trap-door, if that was the spot where it lay, was
+covered, and therefore the men could not be in the cave.
+
+"Bad job we've got no lanthorns," said Gurr, who was looking over
+Archy's shoulder at the low-browed arch of the passage leading right in;
+"and it looks bad travelling, but in we've got to go if they won't
+surrender.  Let me go first, my lad."
+
+For answer the midshipman went down to the bottom of the rough steps,
+and stood over the trap-door on the loose stones.
+
+"No, no, my lad," said Gurr kindly, as he joined him.  "Too rough a job
+for you.  I'll lead, and, hang it!  I shall have to crawl.  Not very
+good work for one's clothes.  Come along, my lads.  You, Mr Raystoke,
+and four men stop back, and form the reserve, to take prisoner any one
+who tries to escape."
+
+The men descended till every step was occupied, the little force
+extending from top to bottom.
+
+"Stop a minute, Mr Gurr.  Let the bo's'n guard the entry here; I must
+go with you to act as guide."
+
+"It aren't all passage, then, like this?"
+
+"No; it's a great open place supported by pillars, big enough to lose
+yourselves in.  But stop; that can't be the way, sir."
+
+"Oh, hang it all, my lad!" cried the master in disappointed tones.
+"Don't say that."
+
+"But I do," cried Archy.  "There ought to be a trap-door covered with
+stones leading down a place like a well."
+
+"Yes; that's what we've come down."
+
+"No, no, another.  I think it was down here."
+
+He stamped his foot on the loose stones, and then uttered a cry of joy,
+for there was a curious hollow sound, and on stooping down he pulled
+away some of the great shaley fragments, and laid bare a rough plank
+with a bolt partly visible.
+
+"Right!  Got 'em at last," cried Gurr.  "Clear off more stones, my lads.
+No; stop!" he said.
+
+"Yes, I know what you are thinking, Mr Gurr," said Archy.  "The men
+couldn't have shut themselves in there."
+
+"Course not, my lad.  But you are right, that's the way down to their
+curiosity shop, and they're hiding in this hole here."
+
+Then, thrusting in his head, and holding on by the rugged stones, he
+shouted into the hollow passage,--
+
+"Now then, my lads, out you come!"
+
+A pause.
+
+"D'yer hear?  The game's up, and if you don't come out quietly, we shall
+have to fetch you out on the rough."
+
+Still no reply.
+
+"Come, come, my lads, no nonsense!  Surrender.  I don't want to use
+pistols and cutlashes to Englishmen.  You know the game's up.
+Surrender."
+
+Still no reply.
+
+"I don't think that hole goes in far, Mr Raystoke," whispered the
+master.  "There's no echo like, and it sounds smothered."  Then aloud,--
+
+"Now, then, is it surrender?  Oh, very well; I've got some nice little
+round messengers to send in after you."
+
+He drew a pistol from his belt and cocked it, winking at Archy as he did
+so.  "Now, then, once--twice--fire!"
+
+He pointed the mouth of the pistol downward, and drew the trigger, and
+in the semi-darkness below the overhanging brambles and clematis there
+was a dull flash, the report sounded smothered, and the place was filled
+with the dank, heavy-scented smoke.
+
+"There's precious little room in there," whispered the master.  "If
+there'd been much of it, we should have heard the sound go rolling along
+instead of coming back like a slap in the face.  Here, one of you,
+reload that.  You, Dick, follow me.  If they show fight, you come on
+next, bo's'n, with the whole of your boat's crew."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"Hi!  In there.  Do you surrender?"
+
+There was not a sound, and, after a momentary pause, the master spat in
+his fist, gripped his cutlass, went down on all fours, after driving his
+hat on tightly, and crawled into the hole, followed by Dick.
+
+"Keep a cheery heart on it, lad," said one of the men just before to
+Dick.  "We'll fetch you out and bury you at sea."
+
+Dick drove his elbow into the man's chest for an answer, grinned as he
+felt the point of his cutlass, and dived into the hole, while the
+boatswain and his men stood waiting eagerly, ready to plunge forward at
+the first sound of a scuffle.
+
+Archy peered in at the dark passage, his heart beating as he listened to
+the noise made by the two men crawling in, and the last of the two had
+hardly disappeared when there was a shout, a scuffle, and the boatswain
+plunged in.
+
+"All right!" they heard Gurr say.  "I've got him.  Hold still, you
+varmint, or I'll cut your ears off.  Here, Dick, get by me, and go
+forrard if you can."
+
+There was more scuffling, and the rattle of a stone or two, as the
+listeners pictured in their own minds the man squeezing past the master
+and his prisoner, and then Dick's voice came out in a half smothered
+way:
+
+"Can't get no farther.  All choked-up."
+
+"All right, then, but make sure."
+
+"Oh, I'm sure enough," said Dick.  "It's all a stopper here."
+
+"Then out you come, my lad," said the master; and the next minute his
+legs were seed as he backed out, dragging evidently some one after him
+who was resisting.
+
+"Here, Dick," came in smothered tones.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"Says he won't come.  If he gives me any more of his nonsense, touch him
+up behind with the pynte of your cutlash."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"Yah!  Cowards!" came in angry tones.
+
+"Ram!" exclaimed Archy, as the boy, looking hot and fierce, was dragged
+out by the master, to stand looking round him as fiercely as a wild cat.
+
+"Hullo!" cried Archy.  "It's my turn now, Ram;" but he repented his
+words directly, as he saw the reproachful look the boy darted at him.
+Then he forgot all directly, as he exclaimed,--
+
+"I see, Mr Gurr, I see!  The smugglers are down here after all, and
+they left this boy behind to fasten the door, and cover it over with
+stones."
+
+Unable to contain himself, Ram thoroughly endorsed the midshipman's
+words by giving an angry stamp upon the bottom of the hole.
+
+"That's it!" cried Gurr.  "Here, chuck these stones into the passage, my
+lads;" and the rough trap-door was laid bare, the two bolts by which it
+was secured were seen to be unfastened, and the lock unshot.
+
+"No way out, Mr Raystoke, is there?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then we've got 'em trapped safe this time," said Gurr, as the door was
+thrown open.  "Bad job we've no lanthorns; but never mind, my lads.  If
+they won't surrender, you must feel your way with the pyntes of your
+toothpicks."
+
+There was a murmur of excitement among the men, and then Gurr leaned
+down over the hole, put his hand to his mouth, and shouted,--
+
+"Below there!  In the King's name--surrender!"
+
+His words went rolling and echoing through the place, but there was no
+reply.
+
+"Once more, my lads, to save bloodshed, will you surrender?"
+
+No reply.
+
+"Very well.  It's your fault, my lads, and very onsensible.  Bo's'n,
+it's a big place, and I shall want all my men.  You're all right here;
+with one you ought to be able to hold this."
+
+"And the prisoner?"
+
+"No; we'll take him with us.  Here, lash his hands behind him, and tie
+his legs together.  We'll lay him down to have a nap somewhere yonder
+down below.  That's right," he continued, as a man produced a piece of
+line, and firmly secured the boy, who was lowered down to one of the men
+who had descended, laid on the stones in a corner at the bottom; and
+then, after giving the word to be ready, Gurr braced himself up.
+
+"You'll stop aside me, Mr Raystoke, and try and guide."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You understand, bo's'n, down with the first who tries to escape up the
+hole here."
+
+"Ay, ay."
+
+"Then, now, forward!" cried Gurr; and, closely followed by Archy and his
+men, he descended into the old quarry, and then stood listening at the
+top of the slope, before preparing to advance into the enemy-peopled
+darkness right ahead.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.
+
+Archy felt his heart throb as he led the way down the slope, every step
+of which seemed so familiar that he advanced without hesitation, the
+knowledge of how many sturdy men he had at his back keeping away the
+natural shrinking which under other circumstances he might have felt.
+
+"Halt!" said the master suddenly, and then in a whisper to his guide,
+"Strikes me as they'll have the best of it if they should fight, my
+lad."
+
+"Not much," replied Archy; "it's as dark for them as it is for us, so
+that they can't take us at a disadvantage.  Call on them to surrender
+again."
+
+"Ay, to be sure," cried the master; and once more he summoned the
+smugglers to give in.
+
+There was not a sound to suggest that his orders were heard.
+
+"Don't know what to do, my lad," whispered the master again.  "If we go
+forward, we're leaving the way open for the enemy to attack the watch at
+the entrance, and we don't want that.  Are you sure they're here?"
+
+"I feel certain of it," said Archy in the same low tone.  "They must be,
+but they're hiding, so as to try to escape, or else to take us at a
+disadvantage."
+
+"Well," said Gurr, "let them.  So long as they come out and fight fair,
+I don't care what they do.  Here, four of you stop here; Dick, take
+command.  We'll go forward and turn the enemy, and try to take them in
+the rear.  Stand fast if they come at you; no pistols, but use your
+cutlasses.  We shall come up to you at the least sound, to help."
+
+The men uttered a low, "Ay, ay, sir," speaking as if they were oppressed
+by the darkness, and the master whispered.
+
+"Now, my lad," he said, "try and give us the shape of the place like."
+
+Archy obeyed, and explained where the smugglers' stores lay, and the
+pile of little kegs, if they had not been moved, the place where he had
+slept, and the positions of the huge pillars and heaps of broken stones.
+
+"And you was shut up here all that time, and didn't go mad!" said Gurr.
+"Well, you are a wonder!  Tell you what, my lad, I should just like to
+make sure that those brandy kegs are still here, and then I think we'll
+be off, and come back with lights.  There's no one here but ourselves.
+Place isn't big enough for any one to be hiding without our hearing
+them?"
+
+"Plenty, Mr Gurr," said Archy firmly; "and I am sure they are here; but
+it is impossible to search without lights.  They may be hiding behind
+the pillars or piles of stone.  Have lights got as soon as possible, and
+then we can come and make them prisoners."
+
+All this was said in a hurried whisper, as the two stood together in
+front of their men, and in absolute darkness, for they had advanced into
+the place far enough for the faint light which filtered down from the
+trap-door to be completely lost.
+
+"Yes; but I'd like to be able to tell the skipper that we have got
+something in the way of a prize for the men.  Can you lead us to it, my
+lad?"
+
+"But you couldn't take it away."
+
+"Well, we might carry one keg aboard, as a sample.  Now then, where will
+it be from here?"
+
+"Give me your hand, and I'll lead you right to it."
+
+"There you are.  Take care how you go.  Can you keep close behind us, my
+lads?  Better join hands.  Now then, are you ready?"
+
+"Ay, ay," came in a low murmur; and, grasping the master's hand, Archy
+led on, fully believing that the smugglers were still there, but feeling
+that they would keep in hiding, and try to escape when they were gone.
+
+"Say, my lad," whispered the master, "I pity you--I do from my soul.
+Think of you being shut up all alone in a place like this!  Hah!  Look
+out!"
+
+The order was needless, for the smugglers gave every one warning to do
+that.
+
+One moment the King's men were advancing cautiously through the
+darkness, the next, without a sound to warn them, there was a rush;
+blows fell thick and fast, cudgel striking head, cutlass, shoulder,
+anything that opposed the advance; and in less time than it takes to
+describe the encounter, the sailors were beaten down or aside, and the
+party of four, who were warned of what to expect by the noise in their
+front, advanced to the help of their friends, but only to be beaten down
+or aside by the gang which rushed at them.
+
+"Stop them, Dick.  Down with them!" shouted the master, as soon as he
+could get on his feet.  "Hi, Dick!  Pass the word to the bo's'n to look
+out.  Here, Mr Raystoke!  Hi, bo's'n, down with that trap and make it
+fast.  Mr Raystoke, I say, where are you?  Which way is it?  Who's
+this?"
+
+"No, no, sir," cried one of them; "it's on'y me."
+
+"Mr Gurr!  Here!" cried Archy.  "Where are you?"
+
+"At last.  Where were you, then?"
+
+"On the stones, half stunned," cried Archy.  "Here, all get together and
+follow me."
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"Make for the trap-door--sharp!  They're fighting there."
+
+"Oh, dear, who'd have thought it was this way!" grumbled the master.
+"Talk about blind man's buff!  Sure you're going right, lad?  Shall I
+fire a pistol to make a flash?"
+
+"No; I know."
+
+"Hah!" cried Gurr, as an echoing bang ran through the great cavern.
+"Bravo, bo's'n!"
+
+The bang was followed by a heavy rattling sound perfectly familiar to
+Archy, as he hurried the master along to the foot of the slope.
+
+"Are you all there?" cried Archy.
+
+"Yes,"--"No,"--"No," came from different directions.
+
+"Then keep up this way, and be ready for another rush."
+
+"Ay," cried the master loudly; "and I warn you fellows now, I'd have
+treated you easy; but if you will have it, the word's war, and a volley
+of bullets next time you come on."
+
+"No, no, don't fire!  You'll hit our own men," whispered Archy, as he
+reached the top of the slope.  "Ah!  Who's this?" he cried, as he nearly
+fell over a prostrate figure.
+
+"Steady, my lad, steady!"
+
+"Steady it is," said another voice.
+
+"What, bo's'n?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and me too.  Oh, my head!  How it bleeds!"
+
+"Why, what are you doing here?"
+
+"They came at us, sir, like mad bulls, and 'fore I knew where I was they
+had me.  Pair o' hands pops up out of the hole, takes hold of my legs,
+and I was pulled down, had a crack of the head, was danced on, and here
+I am, sir."
+
+"And me too, sir," said the other voice.  "But, I'm much worse than
+him."
+
+"But the smugglers?"
+
+"All seemed to come over us, sir; banged the door down, and they've been
+rattling big stones on it.  There, you can hear 'em now."
+
+In corroboration of the boatswain's words, there was a dull thunderous
+sound overhead, as of great stones being thrown down over the trap-door,
+and all listened in silence for a time till the noise ceased.
+
+The silence was broken by Gurr, who suddenly roared out, as if he had
+only just grasped the position,--
+
+"Why, they've got away!"
+
+"Every man jack of 'em, sir, and they all walked over me."
+
+"And they've shut us in!"
+
+"Yes, Mr Gurr," said Archy sadly; "they've shut us in."
+
+"But if they were here," cried the master; "that's what I wanted to do
+to them.  I say, Mr Raystoke, you've done it now."
+
+Half angry, half amused, but all the while smarting with the pain caused
+by a blow he had received, Archy remained silent, listening to the heavy
+breathing and muttering of his companions in misfortune.  The sounds
+above ground had ceased, and it was evident that the smugglers had made
+good their escape.
+
+Again the silence was broken by the master, who raging with pain and
+mortification, exclaimed,--
+
+"Well, Mr Raystoke, sir, you know all about this place; which is the
+way out?"
+
+"Up above here, Mr Gurr, close to where we stand."
+
+"Very well, sir; then why don't you lead on?"
+
+"Because they have shut and fastened the trap, and heaped about a ton of
+stone upon it."
+
+"Well, then, we must hack through the door with our cutlashes, and let
+the stone down."
+
+"What's that?" cried Archy excitedly,--"a light!"
+
+For there was a dull report and a flash of blue like lightning; and,
+running down the slope, the midshipman beheld that which sent a thrill
+of terror through him.  For, away toward the far end of the cave, there
+was a great pool of flickering blue light; and, as it lit up the ceiling
+and the huge square stone supports of the place, he saw that which
+explained the meaning of what had seemed to be a wonderful phenomenon.
+
+There, beyond the flickering pool of blue and yellow flame, which was
+rapidly spreading in every direction, he could dimly see quite a wall of
+piled-up kegs, one of which lay right in the edge of the pool of fire,
+and suddenly exploded with a dull report, which blew the tongues of fire
+in all directions, half extinguishing them for the moment, but
+instantaneously flashing out again in a volume of fire, which quadrupled
+the size of the pool, and began to lick the sides of the kegs.
+
+"The wretches!  They fired the spirits before they escaped," cried
+Archy, who realised to the full what had been done; and, for the sake of
+our common humanity, let us say it must have been an act of vindictive
+spite, aimed only at the destruction of the proof spirit, so that it
+might not fall into the sailors' hands--not intended to condemn them to
+a hideous death.
+
+"Back quick to the entrance!  We must hack down that door," roared
+Archy.
+
+"Ay, ay," shouted the men, who the moment before were mad with terror,
+but who leaped at the command as if their safety were assured.
+
+"No, no!" shouted the midshipman, as a fresh keg exploded; and in the
+flash of flame which followed, the place glowed with a ghastly light.
+
+"Yes, sir, yes!" shouted the men.
+
+"I tell you no," cried Archy; "we should be burned or suffocated long
+before we could get that open."
+
+And, as in imagination he saw the men fighting and striving with one
+another to get to the trap-door, which remained obstinately closed, he
+clapped his hand on Mr Gurr's shoulder.
+
+"I know another way," he cried.  "Follow me."
+
+"Hurrah!" yelled the men, and the lad had taken a dozen steps toward the
+pool of fire, when a wild shout came from near the entrance.
+
+"All!  Who's that?" cried Archy, as he mentally saw a wounded man being
+left behind.
+
+"Don't leave a poor fellow to be burnt to death, Mr Raystoke," cried a
+familiar voice.
+
+"Ram!" cried Archy, running back to where the boy lay bound behind a
+pile of stones, forgotten for the time, and unheeded by his companions.
+
+"Yes, it's me," said the boy excitedly.
+
+"Quick!  Get up.  Can you walk?" said Archy, cutting him free.
+
+"Yes," cried the lad.
+
+"Then come on!"
+
+"For the top passage," whispered Ram.  "That's the only way now."
+
+"Yes.  Follow me."
+
+The midshipman had hardly given the command when there was another
+explosion, a fresh flash of fire, which nearly reached them, and he saw
+beyond the dancing tongues of flame the black opening he sought.
+
+But this fresh explosion--one of which he knew scores must now rapidly
+follow--checked him for the moment, and he saw that Ram had disappeared.
+
+"It's our only chance, my lads," cried Archy.  "Are you all ready?"
+
+"Ay, ay."
+
+"Hold your breath, then, as you get to the fire, and follow me."
+
+"Through that blaze, my lad?" whispered the master.
+
+"Yes.  Don't stop to talk.  Now, then," roared Archy, "come on!"
+
+"Hurrah!" cried the men wildly; and Archy dashed forward, but was thrown
+back, and had to retreat, as a fresh keg exploded and added to the size
+of the pool, now almost a river of fire many yards wide.
+
+"It's now or never!" cried Archy frantically, and he rushed into the
+blue flames, which leaped about his feet and up as if to lick his face.
+
+A dozen strides, splashing up blue fire at every step, and he was
+through it, and where a faint current of cold air seemed to be meeting
+him.
+
+Almost as he reached the farther side, the men came leaping and yelling
+after him, to stand beating the tongues of fire from their feet and
+legs.
+
+_Bang_--_bang_--a couple more explosions, and the men crowded up to
+Archy, the master included, as if to ask what next.
+
+"Are you all here?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"And that boy?"
+
+"I'm here," cried Ram.  "Quick, before they all go off."
+
+"Yes," said Archy.  "Forward!"
+
+He led the way into the darkness once more, but into an atmosphere which
+he could breathe.  Then up the familiar way, with its rugged steps, and
+on to the newly mortared wall, with its loophole, through which the
+glorious light of day streamed.
+
+"Now, my lads, cutlasses here.  That wall's new.  Four of you work, and
+loosen the stones, the others take them and throw them back below."
+
+The men cheered, and, headed by Mr Gurr and Dick, worked as they had
+never worked before.
+
+The stones were hard to move at first, but it was child's play compared
+to the toil through which the young midshipman had gone when he attacked
+the wall.  First one yielded, then another, and, as they were dragged
+out, the men cheered, and passed them back to those down the rough
+steps.
+
+With every stone removed, hope strengthened the little party; but as the
+explosions followed fast, and the flames began to flicker and play up
+the passage in which they were penned, Archy closed his eyes for a few
+moments to mutter a prayer, for his thoughts were getting wild.
+
+Just then, he knew that some one else thought as he did, for a hand
+touched his arm, and a voice whispered,--
+
+"It wasn't my fault.  It must have been Jemmy Dadd.  I say--case they
+can't make a way out in time--shake hands once, mate.  I do like you."
+
+Something like a hysterical sob burst from the young midshipman's breast
+at this; and, facing death as he was just then,--a horrible death which
+might follow at any moment,--the lad's hand grasped that of his young
+gaoler--officer and smuggler, but both boys of one blood, who had fought
+each according to his lights.
+
+"Hah!" sighed Ram, as he gripped hard, and then let go.  "Now, then,
+tell 'em to shove the stones, sharp, and let 'em fall out.  Quick!
+Before the powder ketches."
+
+"Powder?" said Archy in an awe-stricken whisper.  "Yes; there's a lot
+not far from the kegs."  The men cheered, as the fresh order was given,
+and a new set took the places of those who were growing weary, sending
+the stones out rapidly, till there was room for a man to creep through.
+
+"Here, Ram, you through first, and show them how to climb on the shelf."
+
+"No, no, you lead, Mr Raystoke," cried the master.  "Silence, sir!  I
+know what I'm doing," yelled Archy.  "Out with you, Ram."
+
+The boy went through like a rabbit, passing something dark before him,
+and then rapidly one by one the men followed, with the flames roaring
+horribly now below, and explosion after explosion following quickly, the
+cave rapidly becoming a reservoir of fire.
+
+"Hurrah!  That's all," cried Mr Gurr.  "Now, Mr Raystoke."
+
+"No, sir, you."
+
+"I say you."
+
+"And I--"
+
+Archy yielded to his superior in the expedition, crept out, and the
+master was following, and got stuck, but a fierce tug from a couple of
+the men set him free, and he had only just joined the two boats' crews
+standing side by side on the shelf of rock, when the whole cliff seemed
+to shake; and, as if the passage they had left were some vast cannon,
+the artificial wall left was blown right out by an awful burst of flame,
+the stones hurtling down as if the end of the cliffs had come, and
+falling with a mighty splash into the chasm.
+
+The men stood white and awe-stricken, expecting the cliff to crumble
+away beneath them, but save that a stream of fire roared out of the
+opening, all was now still.
+
+Then, in the midst of the awe-inspiring silence, Ram spoke,--
+
+"I thought it wouldn't be long before the powder caught;" and then,
+before any one could reply, the lad said quietly, "I didn't want to be
+burnt to death.  Better go to prison for smuggling.  I say, I got this
+rope.  Hadn't we better make it fast somewhere, and then you can all get
+down to the big shelf?  I'll come last, and unfasten it."
+
+"And then how will you get down?" said the master suspiciously.
+
+"Oh," said Ram, laughing, "I can climb down; can't I, orficer?"
+
+"Yes," said Archy quietly.  "He can get down.  You will not try to
+escape, will you, Ram?"
+
+"No; not I.  What's the good?" said Ram sadly.  "It's all over now."
+
+The rope was made fast, and by its help the men easily reached the great
+ledge, Ram coming down soon after with the coiled-up rope about his
+shoulder and under one arm.
+
+"Couldn't have got away if I wanted to," he said, laughing frankly in
+Archy's face.  "I say, I am hungry!  Aren't you?  Don't I wish I'd got
+one of mother's baskets full of good stuff!"
+
+"Where's your mother?" asked Archy.
+
+"Up at the farm."
+
+"And your father?"
+
+"Oh, he went off in the lugger this morning, after they'd tried to run a
+cargo.  Your cutter was too quick for them though.  We tried to get out
+to her, but the skipper sent a shot at us, and we came back here, only
+you saw us, and run us down."
+
+"Where do you suppose your men are now?" asked Archy.
+
+"Don't know, and if I did, I wouldn't tell," said the boy bluntly.  "I
+say," he added, after a pause, "I give you a pretty good run last night,
+didn't I?"
+
+"You young dog!" growled the master.
+
+"Well, if I hadn't, you'd have found the way in yonder, and I wasn't
+going to let you if I could help it."
+
+"Ah, you'll be hung, sir."
+
+"Get out!" cried Ram.  "Your skipper wouldn't hang a boy like me.  Think
+the cutter will be long?" said the boy after a pause, during which all
+had been watching the flame which seemed to flow out of the opening far
+overhead.
+
+"I don't know; why?" replied Archy.
+
+"Because she'll have to come and take us off.  This rope's long enough,
+and we shall have to slide down into a boat."
+
+But the cutter was long.  For the lugger had escaped to Holland
+consequent upon the _White Hawk_ being so short-handed, and it was
+toward evening that she came close in to search for the crews, and all
+the party descended in safety to the boat, which rowed under in answer
+to the signals made by firing pistols.
+
+As to the boats that passed under the archway, they were prisoned till
+the next low water.
+
+"Satisfied?" said the lieutenant, after all were on board, and he had
+heard the report.  "More than satisfied.  I was horribly disappointed at
+losing the lugger, and I made a hard fight for it, but your news--my
+dear boy--my dear Mr Gurr, this is splendid!  What a despatch I can
+write!"
+
+"It will be the breaking up of the gang, will it not, sir?" asked Archy.
+
+"Yes, my dear boy; and an end to this wretched work.  They must promote
+me now, and draft you, too, into a good ship.  If we can be together,
+Mr Raystoke, I shall be delighted."
+
+That same night, as he was thinking about Ram Shackle, Archy went up to
+the lieutenant, who was walking up and down rubbing his hands.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, but may I ask a favour?"
+
+"A dozen if you like, Raystoke, and I'll grant them if I can.  Want a
+run ashore?"
+
+"No, sir.  I want you to be easy with that boy.  He was very kind to me
+when I was a prisoner."
+
+"Hum!  Hah!  Well, I don't know what to say to that.  Here, my man,
+fetch that boy on deck."
+
+Ram came up, whistling softly, and looking sharply from one to the
+other.
+
+"Now, sir, take off your cap," said the lieutenant sternly.
+
+Ram did not look a bit afraid, but he doffed his red cap.
+
+"I suppose you know, sir, that you'll be sent to gaol?"
+
+"Yes.--I knew you wouldn't hang me."
+
+"And pray what have you to say for yourself?"
+
+"Nothing that I knows on," said Ram.  "Yes, I have.  I say father's
+gone, and I dessay he won't come back for ever so long, and I don't want
+to go among the Dutchmen.  May I stop here 'long of him?  There won't be
+no more smuggling to do."
+
+"You mean you want to volunteer for His Majesty's service?"
+
+"Yes, that's it," said Ram cheerfully.  "May I?"
+
+"Yes," said Lieutenant Brough shortly.  "There; you can go below."
+
+Ram waved his red cap, tossed it in the air, and turned to Archy.
+
+"I say, orficer," he said, "I know where your little sword is.  You send
+one of your chaps to-morrow to mother, and tell her I'm aboard and going
+to be a sailor, and she's to give him your little sword as father put in
+the top drawer."
+
+Archy's eyes sparkled, for the loss of his dirk was a bitter memory.
+
+"Humph!" said the lieutenant, as Ram went below; "not a bad sort of boy.
+Well, Mr Raystoke, will that do?"
+
+Archy shook the hand held out, and went aft to gaze at the cliff,
+feeling that somehow he liked Ram Shackle.
+
+Then he turned, rather despondent, for he knew that the next day there
+would be an expedition ashore, when visits would be paid to the farm and
+to the Hoze, and he felt uncomfortable about the Graemes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY.
+
+"Hullo, young fellow!"
+
+"Hullo, orficer!"
+
+"You must not speak like that," said Archy, as he encountered Ram on
+deck next morning, whistling softly as he neatly coiled down a rope.
+"And you must touch your cap."
+
+"That way?" said Ram.
+
+"Yes; that will do, but you must say `Sir,' or `Ay, ay sir.'"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"Well, you seem to be settling down very soon."
+
+"Oh, yes, I'm all right.  What's the good of making a fuss.  Going
+ashore?"
+
+"Yes.  Do you want to go?"
+
+Ram shook his head.
+
+"No; I should only see some of our chaps, and it would look as if I'd
+been splitting on them; and I didn't, did I?"
+
+"No; you behaved very bravely and well, Ram."
+
+"Mean it--_sir_?"
+
+"Yes, I do, indeed."
+
+"Thank ye--sir," said Ram.  "No, don't let the skipper send me ashore;
+and--I say--"
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Tell mother I'm all right, and that I shan't have to go to prison, and
+that I'll get some one to tell her how I'm getting on now and then.
+She's a good one is mother, that she is."
+
+"I'll tell her you have given up all smuggling, and that you are going
+to be a good sailor now."
+
+"Yes, do, please--sir.  She hates the smuggling, and used to beg father
+not, but he would do it.  And I say, are you going up to the Hoze?"
+
+"Yes; we shall search the farm and the Hoze too."
+
+"Won't find nothing at the farm.  Father never had nothing there, not
+even a keg.  And you won't find nothing at the Hoze."
+
+"Not in the cellar?"
+
+"No," said Ram frankly.
+
+"How long has that Sir Risdon Graeme been a smuggler?"
+
+"Him?  Never was one, poor old chap, only father good as made him lend
+us his cellar, because it was nice and handy, and nobody would think of
+going and searching there.  Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Ram, showing his white
+teeth; "you people went up there one day and touched your hats to Sir
+Risdon, and were afraid to go close up to the house, when all the time
+the cellar was choke full."
+
+"I remember," said the midshipman; "and I found it out.  But look here,
+Ram, how could your father make Sir Risdon, who is a gentleman, lend him
+the cellar?"
+
+"'Cause father and mother used to pretty well keep 'em.  I had to be
+always going without father knowing, and taking 'em bread and butter and
+bacon and eggs.  They just are poor.  Mother used to send me, and she
+often used to tell me that they was 'most starved to death."
+
+"Then Sir Risdon didn't get anything by the smuggling?"
+
+"Him!" cried Ram.  "Why, father sent me up one day with a keg of brandy
+for him, and a piece of silk for her ladyship; I did get hot that day
+carrying of 'em up the hill.  It was last summer."
+
+"Yes; and what did Sir Risdon say?"
+
+"Say?  He 'most shied 'em at me, and I had to carry 'em back.  My!  That
+was a hot day and no mistake."
+
+Somehow Archy felt relieved about the Graemes, and, after a little
+consideration, he went and reported all he had heard to the lieutenant,
+who nodded his head, looked severe, and ordered the two boats to be
+manned.
+
+The midshipman took the order on deck, and Ram stared.
+
+"I say," he said, "what's the good of going now?  You'll have to row all
+the way to the cove and walk all the way along by the cliffs.  If you
+wait till the tide's right out, you can get in through Grabley's hole."
+
+Archy reported this, and in due time Gurr was left in charge of the
+cutter, the lieutenant went off in one boat, and the other was in
+Archy's charge.
+
+It all seemed very matter of fact now, as they rowed in through the
+opening, left the boats in the little pool, climbed the zigzag; and a
+halt was called, during which the little lieutenant wiped his streaming
+face, and recovered his breath.
+
+Then the party marched for the farm, where, red-eyed, and her florid
+face mottled and troubled-looking, Mrs Shackle met them.
+
+"Well, woman," said the lieutenant severely; "I have to search this
+place."
+
+"If you please, sir," said the woman humbly.
+
+"One moment.  Answer me honestly.  Is there any contraband article
+stored about the farm?"
+
+"No, sir, and never was."
+
+"Humph!  That's what your son said."
+
+"My son?  Oh, pray, pray tell me, gentlemen, is he safe?  I heard that
+he was burned to death."
+
+"Your son is quite well, aboard my ship."
+
+"Thank God!  Oh, thank God!" cried the poor woman, sinking upon her
+knees to cover her face with her hands, sobbing violently, and rocking
+herself to and fro.
+
+"There!" she cried, jumping up quickly, and wiping her eyes; "I've no
+cause to fret now."
+
+"He has volunteered for the navy," continued the lieutenant; "and if he
+is a good lad, we shall make a man of him."
+
+"Then you will, sir; for a better boy never stepped."
+
+"For a smuggler, eh?" said the lieutenant drily.
+
+"Well, sir, he was my husband's boy, and he did what his father told
+him."
+
+"And your husband?"
+
+"The men came and told me, sir, that he escaped in the lugger."
+
+"And the men--where are they?"
+
+"They got away yesterday, sir, those who were left.  They felt that they
+must leave these parts for good."
+
+"Yes, for _good_!" said the lieutenant emphatically.  "Now, Mr
+Raystoke, have you anything to say?"
+
+"Only to deliver my message.  Mrs Shackle, Ram told me to tell you he
+was all right."
+
+"Thank Heaven!" said the woman, wiping away a tear; "and you won't
+punish him, sir, and you'll keep him away from the smuggling?"
+
+"Never fear," cried the lieutenant, laughing.
+
+"You were to give me my dirk, Mrs Shackle."
+
+"Oh, _yes_, sir!" cried the woman, crossing to an old bureau, and taking
+out the little weapon.  "And I suppose, sir, all the old home will be
+taken and destroyed?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know.  We shall see.  But, look here, my good woman; do you
+want to sail right or wrong now?"
+
+"Oh, right, sir, please."
+
+"Then tell me honestly where there are any more goods stored?"
+
+"Everything left, sir, was put in the old quarry."
+
+"Nothing up at that house on the hill?"
+
+"No, sir, I think not.  It's all over now, and my husband has gone, so I
+may as well speak out."
+
+"Of course.  It will be best for you--and for your son."
+
+"They only stored cargoes up at Sir Risdon's because it was handy, sir,
+and then took them on afterwards to the big store in the old quarry that
+was burned last night.  But pray tell me, sir, was any one hurt?"
+
+"No, but we have no thanks to give your people.  Now, Mr Raystoke."
+
+He marched out, and Archy was following, but Mrs Shackle arrested him.
+
+"God bless you, my dear!" she whispered.  "I knew about you being there,
+but we couldn't help it, and Ram used to tell me all about it, and how
+he liked you; and we sent you everything we could to make you
+comfortable.  Be kind now to my son."
+
+"If Ram turns out a good lad, Mrs Shackle, he shall never want a--"
+
+Archy was going to say friend, but he could not, for Mrs Shackle had
+thrown her arms about his neck in a big, motherly hug, from which the
+young officer escaped red-faced and vexed.
+
+"I wish she hadn't kissed me," he said to himself, after making sure
+that no one had seen.  "And she has made my face all wet with her
+crying."
+
+They were on the march now to the Hoze, with the lieutenant in the
+highest of glee, and chatting merrily to Archy as a brother officer and
+a friend.
+
+"If I could only have got the lugger too, Raystoke," he cried, "it would
+have been glorious!  But I couldn't do impossibilities, could I?"
+
+"I am sure you did wonders, Mr Brough," said Archy.
+
+"Well, never mind what I did, sir.  You and Gurr acted so that I'm proud
+of you both, and of the lads.  Completely burned out the wasps' nest,
+eh?  It--will be a glorious despatch, Raystoke.  By the way, we must go
+straight down there and see if the place is cool enough to search.
+There may be a little of the wasps' comb left, eh?"
+
+"I'm afraid the whole of the stores would be destroyed."
+
+"Ah, well, we shall see, and--Who are these?"
+
+"Sir Risdon and Lady Graeme and their daughter," whispered Archy, who
+coloured as he saw Celia looking at him defiantly.
+
+They were outside the house, and Lieutenant Brough halted his men,
+marched forward with the midshipman, and raised his hat, his salute
+being formally returned.
+
+"I regret to have to come in this unceremonious way, sir," said the
+lieutenant.
+
+"Excuse me," interrupted the baronet.  "I expected you, sir, and, while
+congratulating you and your men upon their success, I wish to humbly own
+that my place has unwillingly on my part, been made one of the stores
+for their nefarious transactions."
+
+The lieutenant moved away with Sir Risdon, leaving Archy alone with
+Celia and her mother.
+
+"Oh," cried the girl, taking a step nearer to the midshipman, "how I
+hate you!"
+
+"Miss Graeme!"
+
+"I thought you a nice frank boy, and that you would be our friend."
+
+"Celia, my child," whispered Lady Graeme reproachfully.
+
+"I can't help it, mamma.  I wanted to help him, but he would keep saying
+that he must tell of papa because it was his duty."
+
+"Yes," said Archy bluntly; "and so it was."
+
+"Yes," said Lady Graeme, "it was."
+
+"Oh, mamma dear, pray don't say that.  And now he has come with his
+hateful men to take papa to prison, and--"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes, yes, Sir Risdon, of course, I must write my despatch.
+But you have given me your word of honour as a gentleman that you never
+engaged in these contraband practices."
+
+These words reached the little group, and also Sir Risdon's reply:
+
+"I swear it, sir; and it was only--"
+
+"Yes, yes.  Never mind that.  Word of honour's enough between gentlemen.
+Oh, no, I shall not search, sir.  I am satisfied."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated Celia.
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Archy in a sigh of relief.
+
+"Now, Mr Raystoke, midshipman," said the lieutenant merrily.  "My chief
+officer, ladies!  Come, we have a great deal to do.  Good morning.  If
+you will pay us a visit on the cutter, we shall be only too proud to see
+you."
+
+A friendly salute was interchanged, and Archy emphasised his by holding
+out his hand to Celia.
+
+"Good-bye," he said.  "Don't hate me, please.  I only did my duty."
+
+"I don't hate you," she replied, giving him her hand.  Only a boy and
+girl; but Archy looked back several times, as they marched downward to
+the cliff, and then up its steep, grassy slope, to see at a turn a white
+handkerchief being waved to him.
+
+"Why--hullo, Mr Raystoke!" cried the lieutenant merrily.  "Oh, I see.
+Well, wait till you become a post-captain, and I hope I shall be an
+admiral by then, and that you will ask me to honour the wedding."
+
+"Hush, pray, sir!" said Archy.  "Some of the men will hear."
+
+But the men did not hear, for they were quietly trudging along over the
+short grass, chewing their quids, and discussing the fire in the cave;
+those who had escaped relating again to those who were on the cutter
+their terrible experiences before the powder caught.
+
+In due time they reached the entrance to the quarry, and found that
+everything was as they had anticipated, the smugglers having piled quite
+a ton of stones over the trap-door.  These were removed at length, and
+the door was thrown open, when a peculiar dim bluish mist slowly rose,
+and disappeared in the broad sunshine.
+
+"Keep back, my lads," said the lieutenant.  "The powder smells badly,
+and it would be very risky to go down now."
+
+"Fire seems to be out," said Archy, as he held his hand in the bluish
+smoke, which was dank and cold.
+
+"Not much to burn," said the lieutenant; and, giving the word, the men
+bivouacked on the short turf to eat the provender they had brought,
+quite alone, for not a soul from the cottages between the farm and the
+cave appeared.
+
+So strong a current of air set through the old quarry, that by the time
+they had ended the air was good; but now another difficulty arose.
+There were no lights, and a couple of men had to be despatched to the
+farm, from whence they returned with four lanthorns which had often been
+used for signals.
+
+Armed with these, the party descended, and explored the place, to find
+that, where the powder had exploded, the walls were blackened and
+grisly, and that scores of little barrel staves were lying about
+shattered in all directions and pretty well burned away.  On the other
+hand, the staves of the brandy kegs were for the most part hardly
+scorched, and the stone floor showed no traces of fire having passed.
+
+The spirits had burned vividly till the explosion took place, when the
+force of the powder seemed to have scattered everything, but it had been
+saving as well as destructive, separating the brandy kegs, some of which
+burst and added fuel to the flames, but many remained untouched.
+
+In fact, to the great delight of all, it was found that, though a great
+deal of destruction had been done, there was an ample supply of the
+smugglers' stores left to well load the cutter twice; and, jubilant with
+the discovery, the men returned on board, dreaming of prize-money, but
+not until a strong guard had been left over the place, in case any of
+the wasps should return.
+
+But they did not come back.  The nest had been burned out, and the
+smuggling in that part of the Freestone Shore had received so heavy a
+blow, that only one or two of the men cared to return, and then only for
+a temporary stay.
+
+Lieutenant Brough's despatch had of course been sent in, and he obtained
+praise and prize-money.
+
+"But no promotion, Mr Raystoke," he cried; "and of course you can have
+none until you have passed.  They have not even appointed you to another
+ship."
+
+"Well, if you are going to stay in the _White Hawk_, sir, I don't know
+that I want to change.  I'm very comfortable here."
+
+"That's very good of you, Raystoke, very good," said the lieutenant.
+"And then it's of no use to complain.  I shall never get my promotion.
+I'm too little and too fat."
+
+"No, that's not it," said Archy boldly; "they think you do the work so
+well that they will not remove you from the station."
+
+"No," said the lieutenant sadly; "it's because I am so stout.  I shall
+never be lifted now."
+
+Mr Brough was wrong, for two years later he was appointed to a frigate,
+and his first efforts were directed to getting Archy Raystoke and Ram
+berths in the same ship, where a long and successful career awaited
+them.
+
+But with that we have at present nought to do.  This is the chronicle of
+the expedition of the _White Hawk_ to crush the smuggling on the
+Freestone Shore, the most famous place for the doings of those who set
+the King's laws at defiance.
+
+It was some ten years later, when one of His Majesty King George's
+smartest frigates was homeward bound from the East Indies, where her
+captain had distinguished himself by many a gallant act, that, as she
+was making for Portsmouth, with the tall white cliffs of the Isle just
+in sight, a tall handsome young officer went to the side, where a
+sun-browned seaman was standing gazing shoreward, shading his eyes with
+his hand.
+
+"Why, Ram," said the officer; "looking out for the scene of some of your
+old villainies?"
+
+"No, sir," said the man, touching his cap.  "I was wondering whether my
+old mother was down on the cliff yonder, looking after the cows."
+
+"The cows!" cried the young lieutenant.  "Ah, to be sure.  Remember the
+cow falling off the cliff, Ram?"
+
+"Ay, sir, that I do.  But look yonder, sir.  You could make out the
+shelf on the big cliff if you had your glass.  Remember our tussle
+there?"
+
+"To be sure I do," said Lieutenant Raystoke, sheltering his eyes in a
+very deceptive fashion, for he was trying to make out the old grove of
+trees amidst which stood the Hoze.
+
+"Mr Raystoke!"
+
+"Captain calling you, sir," said a rugged-looking sailor, with a very
+swarthy face, that looked as if it would be all the better for a wash,
+but only seemed.
+
+"All right, Dick, my man," said the young officer; and he hurried to
+where a plump, rosy little man stood in full post-captain's uniform.
+
+"Ah, there you are, Mr Raystoke," said the captain, handing the
+lieutenant his glass.  "I've been sweeping the shore, and it brought
+back old days.  Look there; you can easily make out the range of cliffs.
+That highest one is where you and Mr Gurr were at the burning out of
+the smugglers ten years ago.  How time slips by!"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Lieutenant Archy Raystoke, returning the glass; "that's
+where the wasps' nest was destroyed."
+
+Then to himself,--
+
+"I wonder whether Celia will be glad to see me."
+
+She was: very glad indeed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Cutlass and Cudgel, by George Manville Fenn
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