Don't you
think we might land, and let Minnie see some of the caves?"

"With all my heart, captain, and here is a convenient bay to run the
boat ashore."

As he spoke the boat shot past one of those bold promontories of red
sandstone which project along that coast in wild picturesque forms,
terminating in some instances in detached headlands, elsewhere in
natural arches. The cliffs were so close to the boat that they could
have been touched by the oars, while the rocks, rising to a considerable
height, almost overhung them. Just beyond this a beautiful bay opened
up to view, with a narrow strip of yellow shingle round the base of the
cliffs, which here lost for a short distance their rugged character,
though not their height, and were covered with herbage. A zigzag path
led to the top, and the whole neighbourhood was full of ocean-worn coves
and gullies, some of them dry, and many filled with water, while others
were filled at high tide, and left empty when the tides fell.

"O how beautiful! and what a place for smugglers!" was Minnie's
enthusiastic exclamation on first catching sight of the bay.

"The smugglers and you would appear to be of one mind," said Ruby, "for
they are particularly fond of this place."

"So fond of it," said the lieutenant, "that I mean to wait for them here
in anticipation of a moonlight visit this night, if my fair passenger
will consent to wander in such wild places at such late hours, guarded
from the night air by my boat-cloak, and assured of the protection of my
stout boatmen in case of any danger, although there is little prospect
of our meeting with any greater danger than a breeze or a shower of
rain."

Minnie said that she would like nothing better; that she did not mind
the night air; and, as to danger from men, she felt that she should be
well cared for in present circumstances.

As she uttered the last words she naturally glanced at Ruby, for Minnie
was of a dependent and trusting nature; but as Ruby happened to be
regarding her intently, though quite accidentally, at the moment, she
dropped her eyes and blushed.

It is wonderful the power of a little glance at times. The glance
referred to made Ruby perfectly happy. It conveyed to him the assurance
that Minnie regarded the protection of the entire boat's crew, including
the lieutenant, as quite unnecessary, and that she deemed his single arm
all that she required or wanted.

The sun was just dipping behind the tal