as offered to
betray him, and who is to meet us off that point yonder, and to conduct
us where Myers and his gang are to be found. If we come to blows at any
time, just keep behind me, boy, and don't be after getting yourself
killed or hurt, or I'll never take you to see any more fun, remember
that."

It was clear, by this remark, that my uncle had not forgotten the old
country; and I promised to obey his directions.

In a few minutes the bow of the boat touched the shore, and we, by aid
of a boat-hook, jumped on the sand. Ordering two of the men to
accompany him, and giving directions to the others to keep silence, and
on no account to quit the boat, our commander advanced towards the foot
of the cliff. We went on some little way without meeting anybody.

"It is very extraordinary," he observed, in a low voice. "I cannot have
mistaken the spot or the hour. It was just here the man Langdon
appointed to meet me." We halted for some minutes and listened
attentively, but not a sound was to be heard except the low, soft, and
musical lap of the tide as it glided by the shingly beach. Above us was
the lofty cliff beetling over our heads, its dark outline well-defined
against the brilliant sky.

"Something, I'm afraid, is wrong," remarked my uncle; "or can the fellow
have been imposing on me?"

Having waited for some time in vain, we again advanced. We had not gone
many paces when a figure was seen leaning against the cliffs. The
person, apparently, from his not moving at our approach, was fast
asleep.

"That must be the fellow Langdon," said my uncle. "Why, what can he be
about?" On this he whistled twice, very softly, but there was no
answer. We then hurried up to the spot where the figure was observed.
It was no optical illusion; there certainly was a person, but he took no
notice of our presence. Our two men then went up to him, thinking to
awake him; but as they took him by the arms he slipped from their grasp,
and fell to the ground. An exclamation of horror made us hurry up to
them. It was a corpse we saw. A dark spot on the forehead, from which
a stream of blood, rapidly coagulating, oozed forth. His singed hair,
and the black marks on one side of his face, showed how the deed had
been done. It was evident that he had been shot by a pistol placed
close to his head.

"He hasn't been dead above a quarter of an hour," observed Stretcher,
one of the men, feeling his heart. "He is still warm, sir