the measures they adopt--ah, you see, you are as quick as lightning.
This urgent message is upon official paper, which I have taken from the
desk of that very stupid Stubbard. Take the horse Jerry holds at the
corner, and the officer's hat and cape provided are ample disguise for
so dark a night. Take the lane behind the hills, and gallop two miles
eastward, till you come to the shore again, then turn back towards the
village by way of the beach, and you will meet the Coast-guard on duty,
a stupid fellow called Vickers. Your horse by that time will be piping
and roaring: he can go like the wind, but his own is broken. The moment
you see Vickers, begin to swear at your horse. I have practised you in
d--ns, for an emergency."

"Ten thousand thunders, I can say d--n now to equal and surpass the
purest born of all Britons."

"Not so loud, my friend, until by-and-by. The Coast-guard will come
to you, and you pull up with your horse hanging down his head, as if
dead-beaten. Using your accomplishment again, you say: 'Here, take
this on to Admiral Darling. My nag is quite done, and I must get to
Stonnington to call Colonel James. For your life, run, run. You'll get a
guinea, if you look sharp.' Before he can think of it, turn your horse,
and make back to the lane, as if for Stonnington. But instead of that,
gallop back to our ruins; and we'll go up the hill, and see what comes
of it."

"It is very good, it is magnificent. But will not the sentinel perceive
my voice and accent?"

"Not he; he is a very honest and therefore stupid fellow. Give him no
time, answer no questions. Be all in a rush, as you so generally are. I
would do it myself, but I am too well known. Say, will you undertake it?
It will be a fine joke for you."

About half an hour after this, the Lord-Lieutenant having hammered on
the table with an empty bottle, stood up to propose the chief toast
of the evening--the gallant crew of the Leda, and the bold sailors of
Springhaven. His lordship had scarcely had a bottle and a half, and
was now in the prime of his intellect. A very large man, with a long
brocaded coat of ruby-coloured cloth, and white satin breeches, a
waistcoat of primrose plush emblazoned with the Union-jack (then the
popular device) in gorgeous silks with a margin of bright gold, and a
neckcloth pointed and plaited in with the rarest lace, worth all the
rest put together--what a pity it seemed that such a man should get
drunk, or at any rate try