account he had given of himself.

"Very fine!" was the answer; "but you must come up to the station, and
if Lieutenant Hilton knows you he will be able to state how far what you
tell us is true."

Dick, making no answer, walked on between his two captors. From what he
could make out, the men belonged to a revenue cutter, which had dropped
anchor off Hurst that evening, in consequence of information received of
some smuggling work likely to take place in the neighbourhood.

"My ill luck!" thought Dick. "If it hadn't been for that I should have
got down to Susan's without difficulty, and now, because I am known to
have been on board the _Nancy_, they'll accuse me of being concerned in
this matter, of which I never so much as heard, until this moment."

Dick was perfectly right in his conjectures. Lieutenant Hilton, who had
just returned from visiting the neighbouring posts, no sooner set eyes
on Dick, than he exclaimed, "Why, that's young Hargrave, the very fellow
Lord Reginald Oswald was speaking to me about, not an hour ago, a
deserter from the _Wolf_, a desperate young ruffian, by all accounts.
I'll hand him over to you Mason, to carry on board your cutter, but you
must take good care that he doesn't escape."

The commander of the cutter laughed. "I'll clap him in irons, and he'll
be clever if he gets his wrists out of them," he answered.

Dick was led down to the beach by the cutter's crew, who at once pulled
on board. Being hauled up the side without ceremony, he was handed down
below, and a pair of handcuffs were placed on his wrists.

"You've had a long run on shore, my lad, and it is to be hoped you
enjoyed yourself," said the seaman who was fastening them on. "I
wouldn't stand in your shoes for something, let me tell you. You've
heard tell of Tim Macarthy, who three times ran from his ship, and got
hanged. You must look out that the same doesn't happen to you if you
play that trick again."

Dick made no reply; his spirit was so utterly broken that he could have
burst into tears, had he not made a strong effort to restrain himself.

"They shan't see me play the woman, if I can help it," he said to
himself; "but if ever I have the chance I'll make that Lord Reginald pay
for it. If he hadn't informed against me, the chances are I should have
got off. He and his messmate hadn't the courage to stop me by
themselves, and so they must needs gallop off and tell that lieutenant
that they had seen me. W