escended the path. No doubt the revenue men would be lying
in wait, a short distance off, and would allow the friends of the
smugglers to go down to the water, without letting them know of their
presence.

He kept his eyes fixed on the water to the east, watching anxiously for
the appearance of a light. Presently he started. Immediately in front
of him, about a mile at sea, a bright light was shown. In a second, it
disappeared. Three times it flashed out, and then all was dark. The
night was a very dark one. There was no moon, and the stars were
obscured, and although he strained his eyes to the utmost, he could not
make out the vessel from which the light had been shown.

"How foolish to show such a bright light!" he said to himself. "It
would have been almost sure to attract the attention of anyone on the
watch."

He made his way to the path, and descended to the edge of the water,
and waited, expecting momentarily to be joined by people from above.
But no one came. He strained his ears listening for the fall of
approaching oars; but all was silent.

Half an hour passed, and then it flashed across him that the signal
must have been made to deceive the revenue men, and to cause them to
assemble at that spot, and so leave the point really determined upon
free for operations.

With an exclamation of disgust at his own stupidity, in having been
deceived, James ran up the path again at the top of his speed, and then
took the road along the cliff. For two miles, he ran without
interruption, and then saw a dark mass in front of him. He turned off,
instantly, to the left. Doubtless he had been heard approaching, for
two or three men detached themselves from the rest, and started to cut
him off. James ran straight inland, and in the darkness soon lost sight
of his pursuers. Then he turned, and made for the cliff again. Two or
three hundred yards farther along, there was another path to the shore,
and this he had no doubt, now, was the one the smugglers were about to
use. He struck the cliff within a few yards of the spot. In an instant,
two men jumped up and seized him.

"Who are you?"

For an instant, James thought that his assailants were revenue men,
but, even in the darkness, he saw that they were countrymen.

"Quick!" he said. "The revenue men are close at hand. They are
watching, two or three hundred yards along. Listen! Here they come."

A tramping of feet coming rapidly along the cliff was clearly heard,
an