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 advance