arrival; it was Graham, who had been dispatched by the
Jacobites to the court of St. Germain, with intelligence of great
importance, which was the death of the young Duke of Gloucester, the
only surviving son of King William. He had, it was said, died of a
malignant fever; but if the reader will call to mind the address of one
of the Jesuits on the meeting at Cherbourg, he may have some surmises as
to the cause of the duke's decease. As this event rendered the
succession uncertain, the hopes of the Jacobites were raised to the
highest pitch; the more so as the country was in a state of anxiety and
confusion, and King William was absent at the Hague. Graham had,
therefore, been dispatched to the exiled James, with the propositions
from his friends in England, and to press the necessity of an invasion
of the country. As Nancy had supposed, Sir Robert decided upon
immediately crossing over to Cherbourg, the crew were allowed a short
time to repose and refresh themselves, and once more returned to their
laborious employment; Jemmy Ducks satisfied Sir Robert that Smallbones
might be trusted and be useful, and Nancy corroborated his assertions.
He was, therefore, allowed to remain in the cave with the women, and Sir
Robert and his crew, long before Smallbones' garments were dry, were
again crossing the English Channel.

Now it must be observed, that Smallbones was never well off for clothes,
and, on this occasion, when he fell overboard, he had nothing on but an
old pair of thin linen trousers and a shirt, which, from dint of long
washing, from check had turned to a light cerulean blue: what with his
struggles at the net and the force used to pull him into the boat, the
shirt had more than one-half disappeared--that is to say, one sleeve and
the back were wholly gone, and the other sleeve was well prepared to
follow its fellow, on the first capful of wind. His trousers also were
in almost as bad a state. In hauling him in, when his head was over the
gunwale, one of the men had seized him by the seat of his trousers to
lift him into the boat, and the consequence was, that the seat of his
trousers having been too long sat upon, was also left in his muscular
gripe. All these items put together, the reader may infer, that,
although Smallbones might appear merely ragged in front, that in his
rear he could not be considered as decent, especially as he was the only
one of the masculine sex among a body of females. No notice