eroism. It is the reproduction of a page of history, and a most
important one, when good men held not their lives dear to uphold and
defend that which was dearer than life--civil and religious liberty.

The example of Blake is held up to the boys of to-day, not because he
fought and conquered, but because he was a conscientious, God-fearing
man, and his conscience told him that the best interests of his country
demanded resistance to the Stuart rule. Such a man as Blake was a hero
everywhere, and needed not a quarter-deck to display his heroism.

CHAPTER ONE.

MY FRIENDS AND I.

"Hark! the bells of Saint Michael's are sending forth a jovial peal!"
exclaimed Lancelot Kerridge, as he, Dick Harvey, and I were one day on
board his boat fishing for mackerel, about two miles off the sea-port
town of Lyme. "What they are saying I should mightily like to know, for
depend on't it's something of importance. Haul in the lines, Ben!" he
continued, addressing me; "and, Dick, put an oar out to windward. I'll
take the helm. We shall fetch the Cob by keeping our luff."

The wind was off shore, but as we were to the westward of the Cob, and
the tide was making in the same direction, we could easily fetch it.
The water was smooth, the sea blue and bright as the eyes of sweet
Cicely Kerridge, my friend Lancelot's young sister, while scarcely a
cloud dimmed the clear sky overhead.

Lyme, then containing but one thousand inhabitants, where my two
companions and I lived, is situated in Dorsetshire, near its western
border, on the northern shore of a wide bay, formed by the Bill of
Portland on the east and the Start Point on the west. Along the coast
are several other towns, of which Dartmouth, owing to its excellent
harbour, is the most considerable, besides numerous villages, including
Charmouth and Uplyme. A line of cliffs of no great height extends away
on either side of Lyme, which stands at the bottom of a valley; while
beyond it rise the green slopes of Colway and Uplyme, hills overlooking
the town.

On the eastern side was the house of my father, Captain Roger Bracewell.
He had commanded several of the trading ships of Master Humphrey Blake,
of Bridgwater, at one time a merchant of renown, and the father of
Captain Robert Blake, who had already made his name famous for his
gallant defence of Prior's Hill when Bristol was besieged by Prince
Rupert, until it was yielded in a dastardly fashion by Governor Fiennes.
My