rd the _Nancy_."

Adam, sending off a lad to summon his men, directed him at the same time
to beg that Mrs Brown would come down and stay with his missus, while
the two officers rode to the Texford Arms to leave their horses. They
then hurried to the quay, where Adam and most of his crew were
collected. As soon as the remainder arrived they went on board the
_Nancy_. She was quickly under weigh, and the wind being off-shore ran
out of the harbour.

"Is your boat a fast one?" asked Captain Headland of Adam.

"Yes, sir; not a faster out of the Tex, but I am afraid she has little
chance of overhauling the lugger."

"But if the wind falls light we may pull after her, and shall then have
the advantage," observed Captain Headland.

"She has got long sweeps too, sir. But we will try it, and my lads will
give way with a will. I can trust them for that."

"Ay, ay, no fear," answered the men, looking towards the smuggler as if
they were eager to be alongside her and to rescue Jacob.

"I believe that our best course would be to get on board the cutter, and
for her to go in chase of the lugger," said Harry; "though I do not
think the smugglers would dare to oppose us if we could get up with
them."

"Whether or not, we will try to get back our Jacob, and the lads would
make good play with the boat's stretchers in spite of the cutlasses and
pistols the villains have to fight with."

"They would scarcely venture to use them when they see two king's
officers in the boat," observed Headland.

"I am not so sure of that," said Adam. "But they have a bad cause and
we have a good one to fight for. We will get the oars out, lads," he
added, addressing his crew.

_The Nancy_ thus assisted made good way, for the wind being light and
off-shore, as has been said, the water was perfectly smooth, and the
oars helped her along. Still it became evident to Captain Headland that
she was not likely to overhaul the lugger. He therefore agreed with
Harry that it would be best to get on board the cutter if they could.

The cutter was, however, sailing away from them, apparently watching the
movements of the lugger. Their hope was that the _Nancy_ might be seen,
and that she might stand back to speak her.

The day was now drawing on, and Harry began to think of returning to
Downside. Still they were unwilling to abandon all hopes of rescuing
Jacob. They had no means of making a signal to draw the attention of
the cutter, and if