ccustomed to yachting, and a few others, kept
up their spirits, though all hailed with no little satisfaction the
lights which showed the entrance to Pencliffe harbour, into which they
were bound.

Mr Moreton's party had been at home some time, and most of the family
had retired to their rooms, when they began to wonder why David had not
appeared.

"He is probably still at the Rymers', or has accompanied Harry to Mrs
Merryweather's," said Mrs Moreton to her husband; still, as night drew
on, she became somewhat anxious. Her anxiety increased when a servant
came with a message from Mrs Merryweather to inquire why Mr Harry did
not come home.

Mr Moreton himself now became even more anxious than his wife. Neither
his daughters, nor some friends staying with them, remembered seeing
either Harry or David for some time before they embarked.

Mr Moreton, putting on a thick coat, for it was now blowing very hard,
went off to Captain Rymer's house, which was close down to the bay,
accompanied by Mrs Merryweather's servant, and greatly alarmed the
family by asking for his son and Harry.

"Why, did they not come back with you?" asked the captain. "No, we
thought they were on board the _Arrow_," answered Mr Moreton. "They
may have gone with the Trevanians, but I do not think that Harry would
have failed to come back to his mother. I will go back and see her.
They must have set off by land, and there may have been an upset or a
break-down. It will be all right tomorrow."

The morrow, however, came, but the boys did not appear. Mr Moreton
therefore rode over early to the Trevanians, but they knew nothing of
the boys.

He now became seriously alarmed. As it was blowing too hard to go by
sea, he sent a messenger to say that he should not be home for some
hours, and continued on to the bay where the picnic had been held. Then
he made inquiries at the nearest cottages, but no one had seen his son
or Harry Merryweather. He went from cottage to cottage in vain, making
inquiries.

At last a fisherman suggested that the beach should be searched. Mr
Moreton at once set out with a party quickly assembled to perform the
anxious task, dreading to find the mangled body of his son and his brave
young friend. No signs of them could be found. Still his anxiety was
in no respect lessened.

He stopped on his way back at one cottage which he had not before
visited. He found the inmate, an old woman, in deep affliction. Her
hu