ered the coffin to be shifted. A
sailor accordingly laid hold of each end.

"'Blazes!' said one, 'here is a body that weighs.'

"'Perhaps,' said the other, 'the coffin is lined with lead.'

"The trap-door was drawn up, and the lieutenant, pistol in hand,
descended alone.

"'Now, my lads,' said he, addressing some invisible personages, 'we
know you are here, and I call upon you to yield in the King's
name--resistance is useless, the house is surrounded, and we are in
force, so you had better give in without more ado.'

"No answer was returned to this exordium; but we heard the murmuring
of muffled voices, as if the rapscallions were deliberating. I now
descended with my lamp, followed by some of the seamen, and beheld my
friends of the night before either stretched on the ground or propped
up against the walls, like a lot of mummies in an Egyptian tomb.

"They were handcuffed one by one, pushed or hauled up the stairs, and
then tied to one another in a line. When we had secured the whole lot
of them in this way--

"'Lieutenant,' said I, winking, 'will you permit me to send a ball
into that coffin?'

"'Please yourself about that, young man,' said he.

"Here the old woman recommenced howling again and called upon all the
saints in the calendar to punish us for my sacrilegious design.

"'Shoot a dead body,' said I, 'where's the harm?' Besides, what is
that salt there for?'

"'To keep away evil spirits,' was the reply.

"'Very well,' said I, 'my pistol will scare them away as well.' Then,
cocking it with a loud clink, I presented it slowly at the coffin."

"The lid all at once flew off--the salt-was thrown on the ground with
a crash--the defunct suddenly returned from the other world in perfect
health, and sat half upright in his bier. I did not recognize the
individual at first, but, on closer inspection, found him to be my
communicative companion of the preceding night--the horse-stealer of
the 'Molly Bawn;' and, being a stout young fellow, he was harnessed to
the others, and we commenced our march to the boats."

"You do not appear to have had much trouble in effecting the capture,"
remarked Fritz.

"No; the men were unarmed, and were nearly all intoxicated. You never
saw such a troop; scarcely one of them could walk straight; they
assumed all sorts of figures; the file of prisoners was just like a
bar of music, it was a string of quavers, crotchets, and zig-zags.
Luckily, it was late at night, else we