y father that she was a 'dangerous Papist,' and
the child of a convicted rebel, and as such should have no place in
a Protestant family. This so angered my mother that she wrote the
clergyman a very sharp letter and said she would take it as a favour if
he would not interfere with her servants. This was a great thing for her
to do; and my father said 'twas most indiscreet. But mother only smiled
and said that although she was sorry Ruth was a Papist, she (Ruth) was a
good, honest girl, and that her father was a good, honest man, and that
if Mr Sampson was wise he would not come near Ruth, who, being a free
woman, had said she would throw him down the garden well. At this time
Ruth was looking forward to the day of her marriage with Trenfield, who,
through my father's influence with the Governor, was expecting to be
pardoned.

But now I am forging ahead too fast, and must go back to where we boys
and Walter Trenfield were lying on the grassy bluff overlooking Little
Nobby's awaiting the return of my brother Harry.

CHAPTER III

'Walter,' said Harry, throwing down the pigeon which he had shot, and
pointing to Little Nobby's, 'this is the lowest tide I have ever seen.
Look, the topmost fringe of kelp on the rocks is quite dry, and six feet
above the water, and there is no surf. Let's swim across the gut into
the cave.'

'As you please, sir,' the young man answered, his sun-tanned face
lighting up with pleasure; 'the wind is westerly, and the water very
clear; so, if there are any sharks about we can easily see them.'

So presently down we trooped, and, clambering over the jagged pinnacles
of rock, soon reached the seaward face of Little Nobby's. The cave of
which my brother had spoken was in the very centre of the cone, and the
only known way of access to it was by swimming across the narrow gut
or channel which cleft in twain the base of the hill. A boat, in calm
weather, might have easily rowed up to the mouth of the cave, but only
during a very low tide. No one, so far, had attempted this, and 'King
Billy,' when he saw my brother and Trenfield strip and jump into the
water, seemed much disturbed. The cave, he said, was the home of a
'debbil-debbil,' and 'twas dangerous for any human being to enter
it. But Harry and Trenfield had already swum across, clambered up the
kelp-covered ledge of the cave and disappeared into the darkness beyond.

For nearly ten minutes, or perhaps a quarter of an hour, Will and I
w