he 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 onl