nes, I suppose, as it was going down and stuck, making the old
shag come up there to sit and cough to get rid of it. If ever I'm along
with anyone who hears that noise and wants to know what it is I can tell
him it's a shag or a cormorant suffering from sore throat."

Aleck began to use the glass again, for the cutter's boat came into
sight for a few minutes, before gliding along close in once more, to be
hidden by the perpendicular cliffs.

"Gone," he said to himself. "Well, they will not find the poor fellow,
for I don't believe they can search any better than we did. It's very
dreadful. Nice, good-looking chap; as clever as clever. Cocky and
stuck-up; but what of that? Fellow gets into a uniform and has a cocked
hat and a sword, it makes him feel that he is someone of consequence.
How horrible, though! Comes along with the boat ashore over that
press-gang kidnapping business, and the boat goes back without him. I
wonder whether he was better off than I am, with a father and mother!
They'll have to know soon, and then I wonder what they'll say!"

Aleck gave another look round, sweeping the sea, and carrying his gaze
round to the land, and then starting.

"There it is again!" he said, eagerly, as his eyes rested upon the
distant black and white object inland. "Come, I can get a shot at you
this time," he muttered, as, carefully keeping his eyes fixed upon the
squat-looking object amongst the rocks, he slowly raised the glass. "I
believe it must be a black and white rabbit. There are brown and white
ones sometimes, for I've seen them, so I don't see why there shouldn't
be black and white. Got you at last, my fine fellow. Ha, ha, ha," he
laughed. "How absurd! Why, it's Eben Megg's wife; just her face with
the patch of black hair showing above that bit of rock she's hiding
behind. Why, she must be watching me. I know; poor thing, she's
watching for me to go away so that she can come and look out to sea
again for poor Eben."

Aleck closed his glass and rose to make his way back along the cliff and
leave the place clear, a feeling of gentlemanly delicacy urging him to
go right off and not intrude his presence upon one who must be suffering
terribly from anxiety and pain.

"It seems so dreadful," he mused, as he went right on without once
turning his head in the woman's direction; "but somehow it only seems
fair that both sides should suffer. She's all in misery because her
husband has been dragged aw