n a state of anxiety and
confusion, and King William was absent at the Hague. Graham had,
therefore, been despatched to the exiled James, with the propositions
from his friends in England, and to press the necessity of an invasion
of the country. As Nancy had supposed, Sir Robert decided upon
immediately crossing over to Cherbourg, the crew were allowed a short
time to repose and refresh themselves, and once more returned to their
laborious employment; Jemmy Ducks satisfied Sir Robert that Smallbones
might be trusted and be useful, and Nancy corroborated his assertions.
He was, therefore, allowed to remain in the cave with the women, and Sir
Robert and his crew, long before Smallbones' garments were dry, were
again crossing the English Channel.

Now, it must be observed, that Smallbones was never well off for
clothes, and, on this occasion, when he fell overboard, he had nothing
on but an old pair of thin linen trousers and a shirt which, from dint
of long washing, from check had turned to a light cerulean blue: what
with his struggles at the net and the force used to pull him into the
boat, the shirt had more than one-half disappeared--that is to say, one
sleeve and the back were wholly gone, and the other sleeve was well
prepared to follow its fellow, on the first capful of wind. His trousers
also were in almost as bad a state. In hauling him in, when his head was
over the gunnel, one of the men had seized him by the seat of his
trousers to lift him into the boat, and the consequence was, that the
seat of his trousers having been too long set upon, was also left in his
muscular gripe. All these items put together, the reader may infer,
that, although Smallbones might appear merely ragged in front, that in
his rear he could not be considered as decent, especially as he was the
only one of the masculine sex among a body of females. No notice was
taken of this by others, nor did Smallbones observe it himself, during
the confusion and bustle previous to the departure of the smugglers; but
now they were gone, Smallbones perceived his deficiencies, and was very
much at a loss what to do, as he was aware that daylight would discover
them to others as well as to himself: so he fixed his back up against
one of the rocks, and remained idle while the women were busily employed
storing away the cargo in the various compartments of the cave.

Nancy, who had not forgotten that he was with them, came up to him.

"Why do you stay t