lk
about. Stephen again spoke of the vessels they had seen off the coast.
He was convinced that they portended something of importance, and he
proposed to Roger to ride into Lyme the next morning to learn any news
the people of that town might have obtained on the subject. Roger
gladly consented to accompany him, remarking, however, that he did not
feel deeply interested in the matter. "Captain Benbow says that a
sailor should stick to his ship and look after his men, and not trouble
himself with affairs on shore, and I intend to follow his example."

On getting back to Eversden, Roger had so much to talk about that he
kept the family, who were eager to listen to him, up to a later hour
than usual. Notwithstanding, he was on foot at an early hour, and
mounting his father's horse, he in a short time joined Stephen on the
road to Lyme. The road was somewhat circuitous, hilly, and rough, so
that it took them nearly two hours to reach the high ground above the
town, whereupon they gazed across it over the blue sea. Stephen
exclaimed, "Why, those must be the very three ships I saw yesterday
evening; then I was not wrong in my conjecture, they must be the ships;
they have, probably, troops and stores on board, and perhaps the Duke is
with them. Let us ride on and ascertain."

Riding down into the valley, on the sides and at the bottom of which the
town is built, the houses in outskirts being scattered somewhat
irregularly about, they proceeded to the "George Inn," where they put up
their horses, and to their surprise they found that no one was at all
certain as to the object of the vessels in the offing; they were said to
be Dutch, but they showed no colours. It was supposed that they were
about to proceed along the coast; still there was some excitement. A
boat had been seen to land at Seaton, some way to the east, and had put
some persons on shore; who they were, and where they had gone, no one
knew. Unable to gain any definite information in the town, Roger and
Stephen walked down towards the Cob, where they saw a boat pulling out
towards the ships.

"If we had been a little sooner we should have been able to go in her
and ascertain what those vessels really are," observed Stephen.

"We shall know soon enough when the boat returns," observed Roger.

But the morning went by, and still the boat did not come back to the
shore. This seemed to have created some suspicions in the minds of the
authorities. They t