ant
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 b