o', and
we have settled our line. Well, be dazed!'

The exclamation was caused by his perceiving that some of the searchers,
having got into the orchard, and begun stooping and creeping hither and
thither, were pausing in the middle, where a tree smaller than the rest
was growing. They drew closer, and bent lower than ever upon the ground.

'O, my tubs!' said Lizzy faintly, as she peered through the parapet at
them.

'They have got 'em, 'a b'lieve,' said Owlett.

The interest in the movements of the officers was so keen that not a
single eye was looking in any other direction; but at that moment a shout
from the church beneath them attracted the attention of the smugglers, as
it did also of the party in the orchard, who sprang to their feet and
went towards the churchyard wall. At the same time those of the
Government men who had entered the church unperceived by the smugglers
cried aloud, 'Here be some of 'em at last.'

The smugglers remained in a blank silence, uncertain whether 'some of
'em' meant tubs or men; but again peeping cautiously over the edge of the
tower they learnt that tubs were the things descried; and soon these
fated articles were brought one by one into the middle of the churchyard
from their hiding-place under the gallery-stairs.

'They are going to put 'em on Hinton's vault till they find the rest!'
said Lizzy hopelessly. The excisemen had, in fact, begun to pile up the
tubs on a large stone slab which was fixed there; and when all were
brought out from the tower, two or three of the men were left standing by
them, the rest of the party again proceeding to the orchard.

The interest of the smugglers in the next manoeuvres of their enemies
became painfully intense. Only about thirty tubs had been secreted in
the lumber of the tower, but seventy were hidden in the orchard, making
up all that they had brought ashore as yet, the remainder of the cargo
having been tied to a sinker and dropped overboard for another night's
operations. The excisemen, having re-entered the orchard, acted as if
they were positive that here lay hidden the rest of the tubs, which they
were determined to find before nightfall. They spread themselves out
round the field, and advancing on all fours as before, went anew round
every apple-tree in the enclosure. The young tree in the middle again
led them to pause, and at length the whole company gathered there in a
way which signified that a second chain of reasoni