they had got round a
corner, and the French did not see it.

"Fall and his brave men seem to have been upset altogether by these
warlike demonstrations, for the moment the big gun made its
appearance the sails were shaken loose, and the French privateer
sheered off, capturing as he left the bay, however, several small
vessels, which he carried off as prizes to France. And so,"
concluded the lieutenant, "Captain Fall sailed away, and never was
heard of more."

"Well told; well told, leftenant," cried the captain, whose eyes
sparkled at the concluding account of the defensive operations, "and
true every word of it."

"That's good testimony to my truthfulness, then," said Lindsay,
laughing, "for you were there yourself!"

"There yourself, uncle?" repeated Minnie, with a glance of surprise
that quickly changed into a look of intelligence, as she exclaimed,
with a merry laugh, "Ah! I see. It was you, uncle, who did it all;
who commanded on that occasion----"

"My child," said the captain, resuming his pipe with an expression of
mild reproof on his countenance, "don't go for to pry too deep into
things o' the past. I _may_ have been a fire-eater once--I _may_ have
been a gay young feller as could----; but no matter. Avast musin'! As
Lord Bacon says--

'The light of other days is faded,
An' all their glory 'a past;
My boots no longer look as they did,
But, like my coat, are goin' fast.'

But I say, leftenant, how long do you mean to keep pullin' about
here, without an enemy, or, as far as I can see, an object in view?
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 gull