t. Tom wanted to lead, but Charley would not let
him.

"No," he answered, "make fast the rope you've got round my waist, then
if I slip you'll haul me up."

Tom did so, and they once more advanced. They had gone some way further
when Charley again stopped and listened. He heard a low, murmuring
sound--it was that of human voices. He and Tom crept on more cautiously
than ever. A gleam of light shone on them as if through a crevice.
There was evidently either a door or a curtain hung across the passage.
This would enable them perhaps to see what was going on within, before
entering. Shading their lantern and making as little noise as possible,
they got close up to what seemed to be a door or a number of planks
nailed together, and placed so as to lean against the entrance. Charley
was afraid that while searching for a hole to look through he might
knock it over.

At length he found a chink through which he could look into what
appeared to be a cavern of some size, but the hole allowed him the
command only of a very limited range of vision. In front of him were
two men seated on casks at a rough table, made apparently of pieces of
wreck. There was a lantern on the table, and they had account-books and
some piles of money, with a bottle or two and some tin mugs. From the
way in which they were occupied, Charley supposed that they were
principal men among the smugglers, settling their accounts. They were
both strangers to him. He was afraid to ask Tom whether he knew them,
for fear of his voice being heard. The plan he at once formed was to
rush out on them, seize and bind them, and hold them as hostages till
Margery should be given up; for it did not occur to him that a young lad
like himself and a one-armed man were scarcely likely to overpower two
stout, hardy ruffians like those before him. He drew Tom back a little
distance where it was safe to speak, and asked him if he would make the
attempt. The old sailor was ready for anything. It would certainly be
a grand matter to capture the leaders of the gang. He only wished that
the captain was there to lead them, then there would be no doubt about
it.

Charley's chief anxiety was with respect to Margery. If she was in the
cavern, and any of their pistols were discharged, she might be hurt. As
regarded the risk he and Tom ran, he did not reflect a moment. The
outlaws were to be captured, and he had undertaken the task of seizing
them if he could.