whither, without troubling his nob about what is to become of his lads."

66

"Why, you senseless grampus," said Tomkins,

as he told Davy that he had seen the state of matters from the cliffs, he must have naturally sup posed that we were all to be taken prisoners, in which case, any thought of his would have been but of little use to us. Fancy yourself peeping through the iron bars, Jem, what good would the Captain's thinking have done ye?—But he, no doubt, thought, that, if any of us did escape, we should come here, and lie snug till our consort arrives, and then get aboard of her till something else can be rigged up for us."

"A pretty comfortable birth we shall have of it truly!" said the man who had complained of the wound in his leg, "to be mewed up in such a devil's den as this! Why, damn it, one might as well be in prison at once. 'Tis very well as a storehouse for these bales and casks,-but for a habitation, methinks it is something of the dreariest, with nothing to do but to count one's fingers. "Twere better by half to take a turn upon the highway."

"Devil's den, indeed !" said another man. “It

seems to me to be fit for nothing but thieves and murderers."

"Well, an it were so," said Tomkins, "methinks you should not consider yourself ill lodged, Master Morris, after skivering that exciseman on the Welsh coast in the way you did. Do you remember that story ?”

"I do," said the other impatiently; "but don't talk of that. Besides, I don't hold the sticking of an exciseman to be any great matter to men in our line."

"Aye, aye, in fair fighting, I grant you,” said Tomkins ; "but to run the fellow through the back, during a parley, in mere wantonness!-Take care," continued he, winking to some of the others, "for they say the devil and the exciseman are great chums.-So look sharp that Old Nick doesn't pounce upon you in this den of his, as you call it, and carry you off to a warm birth among his hot coals."

Bill Handy, thinking he had now had enough of their conversation, prepared to steal away, by slowly and silently raising himself from his hands and knees. But as he was in the act of resuming the erect posture, the toe of his shoe, somehow or

other, got entangled among the reticulated fibres of the ivy, that mantled about the edges of the opening, he tripped, lost his balance, and sailor though he was, he went head foremost rumbling down upon the smugglers below, the pistols in his belt going off in his descent, just as the last speaker had ended his warning about the devil.

"Lord have mercy on us, there he is!” cried the murderer, and in terrible alarm, they all scrambled, over one another, into a corner, some calling out" the devil!" and others" the exciseman !"

Bill, though he fell on a heap of straw, was yet so stunned for some moments, that he was unable immediately to recover his legs; and Tom kins, who had been seized by the same panic as the rest, happening to look round, and seeing that it was nothing after all but a man, sprang towards him before he could rise, and seizing him, and calling loudly for assistance, they hastily bound his arms and feet, and proceeded to interrogate him. Bill, in the vain hope of deceiving them, began at first to put on an air of much simplicity:

"Lord, gemmen," said he, "I be's but a poor

coontry lad, as ha' coomed a bird-nesting, after the owls as builds in them 'are ould walls."

"None o' your tricks, master," said Tomkins, "that is not the sort of tongue you should have put into your chops, if you had wanted to humbug us. You must have been but a short time in Scotland, since you cannot ape the lingo better. Besides, do you usually go owl-catching with pistols in your belt, and a hanger by your side ?"

Bill seeing that his attempt at deception would not go down with them, resolved to maintain an obstinate silence, heroically making up his mind to whatever fate might befall him.

"May I never pull another rope !" said one of the fellows, looking at his face with some attention, and holding a bit of lighted wood to it that he might see it the better, "May I never see salt water again, if this be'nt a man belonging to that Kentish yacht as has been laying so long in the bay, and as helped to run us up to-night with its damned pop-guns."

"Let's murder him !"--cried Morris." Let's strangle him directly!"-" Let's shoot him through the head!"-" Let's pin him through

the guts with a sword!"-" Let's roast him alive!"-cried half a dozen of them at once.

Avast," said Tomkins interfering," that may be all very well by and by, but we had better stand to our arms now. I'll be bound this fellow hasn't come alone. You may depend up on it there's a party not far off. Stand to your arms I say, and let's try to gain the causeway without loss of time, for we're in a trap here. This here chap may have been sent forward as a scout, and if so, the rest of them may be still so far off, as to enable us to secure our retreat, should they prove too many for us. Bear a hand I say, my lads, and arm, for we have no time to lose !"

In an instant Bill Handy was forgotten amidst the bustle and confusion that ensued. All was clamour, and rattling of muskets, and seizing of swords, and bracing on of belts, and arming in all manner of ways, and in a few minutes the whole of them sallied forth, leaving Bill alone, lying upon the heap of straw where they had

thrown him.