espectable young woman. But whether she means to bide wi' the family
or has come to lodge while lookin' out for another place, I can't
certainly say--the Tregarthens bein' a close-tongued lot, as you know."

"A lady's-maid?" hazarded the Lord Proprietor.

"May be. Well, as I was tellin' you, half-a-dozen times did Phil Cara,
bidin' his time till the tide was low and the sand hard----"

"But it's impossible," said the Lord Proprietor, pursuing his own train
of thought.

Abe regarded his master rather in sorrow than in anger. "To be sure,
sir," said he, in a tone of delicate rebuke, "if you don't want to hear
my story----"

"Eh? Yes, certainly, my wits were wool-gathering, Abe, and I beg your
pardon. Let me see.... You were saying that Cara used to wait till the
tide was low----"

"Yes, sir. He'd creep along the sand, he and the two Leggos, and th'
old seal would lie there sleepin', innocent as a child, and let them
come close under the rock, and even climb it. But soon as ever they
made a pounce--c'lk!--he rolled off the slope and into deep water.
Regular as clockwork it happened; quiet and easy as a door on a greased
hinge; and every time it made the three look foolisher and foolisher.

"After half-a-dozen tries, Cara allowed that he couldn' go on bein'
mocked by a dumb animal; so he set his brain to work, and thought out a
new plan. The two Leggos were to take a boat and drop down wi' the tide
close in the shadow of the rock 'pon the seaward side, while Cara
himself crept, as usual, hands-an'-knees, across the beach. So they
planned, an' so they did; and sure enough when Cara made a pounce for
the seal, my gentleman rolled down the ledge and slap into the boat!
'Now you've got 'en!' yells Cara. 'Darn it all!' yells back old Leggo
from the scuffle, 'Seems more like he's got WE!' For that seal, sir,
fought like ten tom-cats; and before the Leggos got in a lucky stroke
and knocked him silly with a stretcher he'd ripped one leg off th' old
man's trousers and bitten the heel clean off Sam's right boot. They
took him home and skinned him, and sold the skin that same year to a
Dutch skipper for thirty shillin'. But Sam has told me more than twice
that he don't mean to tempt Providence again by catchin' any more
seals."

The Lord Proprietor looked at his watch. "I must get Leggo to show me
that adit this very afternoon. I've an appointment at three-thirty to
meet him and Tregarthen at the farm."

"Indeed, sir? Then