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