datory instincts, but for the stay-at-home
fashion in which they gave those instincts play. They did not scour the
seas for their victims, neither did they till their island. There was no
need for so much exertion. They lay supine upon their rocks and waited
until a sail appeared above the horizon. Even then they did not stir till
nightfall. But after it was dark, they lighted bonfires upon suitable
promontories, especially towards Brecqhou and the Gouliot channel, where
snags are numerous, and gathered in their harvest in the morning.

'But,' Drake interrupted, 'what on earth has that to do with--'

'Miss Le Mesurier? A great deal, as you will see if you listen patiently.
Lloyd's at that time had not been invented, and the Sarkese were
consequently unpopular with the trading community, and in the reign of
Henry the--well, the particular Henry is immaterial--an irate band of
merchants sailed from Winchelsea on a trip. They depopulated Sark in a
single night, as they thought. But they were mistaken. One family escaped
their attention,--the Le Mesuriers, who were the custodians of the silver
mines--' At this point Conway broke in with an impatient laugh. Fielding
turned a quiet eye upon him and repeated in an even voice, 'Who were the
custodians of the silver mines, and lived under the shelter of a little
cliff close by the main shaft. When Helier de Carteret, who, you know,'
and he inclined suavely towards Conway, 'was Seigneur of somewhere or
other in Jersey, came a few years later to colonise Sark, he found the Le
Mesuriers in possession, and while he confiscated the mines, he allowed
them to retain their ancient dignity of custodians.'

'Fudge!' said Conway rudely. Fielding waved a deprecating hand and
continued:

'Living where they did, it is not to be wondered at that the Le Mesuriers
became gradually rich, and the De Carterets gradually poor, so that when
the latter family was compelled to place the Seigneurie of Sark upon the
market, the Le Mesuriers were the highest bidders. The Le Mesuriers thus
became Seigneurs of Sark. But with their position they reversed their
conduct, and, instead of taking other people's money out of mines, they
put their own in, with the result that they sustained embarrassing
losses. I mention these details incidentally to show that Miss Le
Mesurier of to-day is directly descended from ancestors of predatory
instincts, who did not go a-hunting for victims, but unobtrusively
attracted