opening by which I had
entered. Instead of that I found what felt like a step in the angle of
the wall, and above it another. An instinct of self-preservation
prompted me to clamber up here, and ensconce myself on a narrow ledge in
the chimney, some six feet above the level of the ground.

Here I waited with beating heart as the footsteps came nearer. I could
judge by the sound that they belonged not, like the last I had heard, to
a wandering woman, but to two men, advancing cautiously but with set
purpose, and exchanging words in whispers.

Presently, to my amazement, a ray of light shot through the blackness of
the recess below me, followed by a creaking noise as a part of the floor
of the hearth swung slowly upwards, and revealed to my view a dimly-lit,
rocky passage below, slanting downwards, and leading, as I could judge
by the hollow sound that came through it, towards the shore of the
lough.

I could now understand how it came that a house so closely barred and
bolted was yet so easily frequented. And, indeed, the whole mystery of
the smuggled arms became clear enough.

The two men who now clambered up, carrying a lantern, which illuminated
the whole of the recess, and (had they only thought of looking up) the
very ledge on which I sat, were sailors; and in one I recognised the
foreign-looking fellow who, years ago, had commanded the _Cigale_ and
attended my mother's wake. I knew from what I had overheard at his
honour's that, since my father had given himself up to the smuggling of
arms, and received charge of the _Cigale_, this worthy fellow had left,
that ship and devoted himself to the more perilous occupation of robbing
his Majesty's subjects indiscriminately on the high seas. His companion
was evidently, by his villainous looks, a desirable partner in the same
business.

"I told you so," said the latter, turning his lantern into the room.
"Guns enough for a regiment. Luck for us."

"We have room enough for the lot," growled the Frenchman in pretty plain
English. "Monsieur Gorman shall find that two can play at one game. He
smuggles the guns in in the _Cigale_, I smuggle them out in the _Arrow_.
_Parbleu_! we are quits."

And he laughed a loud laugh at his own jest. Then they proceeded to
count their booty, and while so engaged it seemed to me that I had
better escape before my position became more exposed, as it would be
sure to be as soon as the business of carrying the guns through the