wo small vessels or boats," she answered. "They have a very small
amount of canvas, and are running to the shore, while they appear to be
terribly tossed about. It is surprising that they can remain afloat in
such a sea."

"They must be in a desperate strait, or they would not stand in for this
coast," remarked the Colonel. "Unless they can manage to reach Lyme
they will to a certainty be lost."

"They are not steering for Lyme," said Alice, "but are coming on
directly for our bay."

"Can they be the craft reported to have been fallen in with by the Lyme
vessel?" observed the Colonel.

"I pray that they may not be, as those too likely contained fugitives
from Monmouth's army," said Alice.

"There must be some one on board who knows this bay, or they would not
be steering for it," said the Colonel. "As the vessels are small, the
crews may hope to run them up on the beach and escape through the surf."

In spite of the wind the Colonel and his adopted daughter were unwilling
to leave the Downs till they knew the fate of the boats. The pathway
down to the beach was too steep for the horses to descend, or in their
eagerness they would have gone down. The Colonel rode as close as he
could to the edge of the cliff, to see if he could observe old Ben
Rullock, or some other fisherman, in order to desire them to make
preparations for rescuing the storm-tossed crews, whosoever they might
be. While he was watching he observed several persons coming along the
cliff.

"The fellows are on the look-out for those boats," he said to himself.
"I wish they had not discovered them, for if the people on board are
fugitives, should they escape the waves, they will fall into their
scarcely less remorseless clutches." He watched the men as they
descended the cliffs, but could not see what had become of them. "I
verily believe they have hidden themselves, that they may pounce out on
their prey, and give them less chance of escaping."

The guards, who were all armed, seemed to have made signals to others,
who came hurrying up till nearly a dozen were collected about the same
spot. A reef of rocks ran off on the west side of the bay, which,
circling round, formed a sort of breakwater, which, in moderate weather,
enabled Ben Rullock and other fishermen to leave their boats at anchor
in security, though at present they were all hauled up. It required
nice steering to enter the bay so as to avoid the end of the reef; the
two boat