fists. Still, there's always the knives and deviltry of
they furriners to be reckoned with."

"They do tell as hit's a cruel country up yon, full o' thieves and
murderers, to say naught o' smuggling pirates," put in his wife;
"which, as I were saying to Miss Penny no longer ago than yesterday,
when me and 'er was looking in at company store, the same as Maister
Peril should be running this blessed minute if 'e 'ad 'is rights,
'Miss Penny,' sez I, 'that pore young man'll never get it in this
world, now 'e's gone for a sailor, mark my words,' little thinking
they'd so soon come true."

"If I was a man," said Nelly Trefethen, at the same time casting a
meaning glance at her sweetheart, "I'd not be sitting here wondering
how he's to be got out of trouble, especially if he'd done for me what
he has for some."

"No more will I," spoke up Mike Connell, "for I'm going to find him,
which is what I came to say along with telling the news."

"And I'll go with you!" exclaimed Tom Trefethen, springing to his
feet, as though for an immediate start.

"No, Tom; glad as I'd be of your company, it's best I should go alone,
seeing as I know that country well, and one man can get along in it
when two couldn't. Besides, you are needed here, while I'm not."

In spite of young Trefethen's protests, the Irishman remained firm in
his decision to set forth alone in search of his friend; and as he
left the house Nelly, who with the others accompanied him to the door,
managed to give his hand an approving squeeze.

Although Major Arkell gave orders for the tug to return to Laughing
Fish in search of the missing loggers the moment her services could be
spared, it was not until twenty-four hours after bringing in the raft
that it was possible for her to do so.

In the meantime Mike Connell, starting at the break of day, and
walking briskly northward, reached the cove that still held Peveril's
deserted camp that same afternoon.

Through an intimacy with several of his countrymen who were successful
peddlers of Ralph Darrell's smuggled goods, Connell had learned much
concerning that section of country, and the various operations
conducted within its limits. He had at one time seriously contemplated
going into the peddling business himself, and had made so many
inquiries in regard to its details that he was even familiar with
"Darrell's Folly," though it was a place he had never visited.

Knowing it to be a headquarters for smugglers, and b