"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' store