under old Boscawen, and was killed by the very first shot fired; it must be five-and-forty years ago. How my mother did cry, to be sure! But I was too young to understand it. Ah, she had a bad time with us all! Matilda, what would you do without me?'

Why, Charles, you are not a bit like yourself. Don't go to-night; stay at home for once. And the weather is very uncertain too. They never will attempt their job to-night. Countermand the boats, dear; I will send word to stop them. You shall not even go out of the house yourself.'

'As if it were possible! I am not an old woman; nor even an old man yet, I hope. In half an hour I must be off. There will be good time for a pipe. One more pipe in the old home, Tilly. After all, I am well contented with it; although now and then I grumble, and I don't like so much cleaning.'

'The cleaning must be done; I could never leave off that. Your room is going to be turned out to-morrow, and before you go you must put away your papers, unless you wish me to do it. You really never seem to understand when things are really important. Do you wish me to have a great fever in the house? It is a fortnight since your boards were scrubbed; and how can you think of smoking?'

'Very well, Tilly, I can have it by-and-by, "upon the dancing waves," as little Tommy has picked up the song. Only I cannot let the men on duty; and to see them longing destroys my pleasure. Lord, how many times I should like to pass my pipe to Dick, or Ellis, if discipline allowed of it! A thing of that sort is not like feeding, which must be kept apart by nature; but this by custom only.'

'And a very good custom, and most needful,' answered Mrs. Carroway. 'I never can see why men should want to do all sorts of foolish things with tobacco-dirty stuff, and full of dust. No sooner do they begin, like a tinder-box, than one would think that it made them all alike. They want to see another body puffing two great streams of reeking smoke from pipe and from mouth, as if their own was not enough; and their good resolutions to be hard on one another float away, like so much smoke; and they fill themselves with bad charity. Sir Walter Raleigh deserved his head off, and Henry the Eighth knew what was right.'

My dear, I fancy that your history is wrong. The king only chopped off his own wives' heads. But the moral of the lesson is the same. I will go and put away my papers. It will very soon be dark enough for us to start.'

'Charles, I cannot bear your going. The weather is so dark, and the sea so lonely, and the waves are making such a melancholy sound. It is not like the summer nights, when I can see you six miles off, with the moon upon the sails, and the land out of the way. Let anybody catch him that has the luck. Don't go this time, Charley.'

Carroway kissed his wife and sent her to the baby, who was squalling well up stairs. And when she came down he was ready to

"Good-bye, little chap-good-bye, dear wife.' With his usual vigour and flourish, he said, 'I never knew how to kiss a baby; though I have had such a lot of them.'

"Good-bye, Charley dear. All your things are right; and here is the key of the locker. You are fitted out for three days; but you must on no account make that time of it. To-morrow I shall be very busy; but you must be home by the evening. Perhaps there will be a favourite thing of yours for supper. You are going a long way; but don't be long.'

'Good-bye, Tilly, darling-good-bye, Jerry dear-good-bye, Tommy, boy, and all my countless family. I am coming home tomorrow with a mint of money.'

CHAPTER XXIX.

TACTICS OF DEFENCE.

THE sea at this time was not pleasant; and nobody looking at it longed to employ upon it any members of a shorter reach than eyes. It was not rushing upon the land, nor running largely in the offing, nor making white streaks on the shoals; neither in any other places doing things remarkable. No sign whatever of coming storm or gathering fury moved it; only it was sullen, heavy, petulant, and out of sorts. It went about its business in a state of lumps irregular, without long billows and big furrows, as if it took the impulse more of distant waters than of wind; and its colour was a dirty green. Ancient fishermen hate this, and ancient mariners do the same; for then the fish lie sulking on their bellies, and then the ship wallows without gift of sail.'

6

'Bear off, Tomkins, and lay by till the ebb. I can only say, dash the whole of it!'

Commander Nettle bones, of the 'Swordfish,' gave this order in disgust at last; for the tide was against her, with a heavy pitch of sea, and the mainsail scarcely drew the sheet. What little wind there was came off the land, and would have been fair if it had been firm; but often it dropped altogether where the cliffs, or the clouds that lay upon them, held it. The cutter had slipped away from Scarborough as soon as it was dark last night, under orders for Robin Hood's Bay; where the Albatross' and Kestrel' were to meet her, bring tidings, and take orders. Partly by coast riding, and partly by coast signals, it had been arranged that these three revenue cruisers should come together in a lonely place during the haze of November morning, and hold privy council of importance. From Scarborough, with any wind at all, or even with ordinary tide-run, a coal-barge might almost make sure of getting to Robin Hood's Bay in six hours, if the sea was fit to swim in. Yet here was a cutter that valued herself

perpetually, like a donkey-plough. Commander Nettlebones could not understand it; and the more impatient he became the less could he enter into it. The sea was nasty, and the wind uncertain, also the tide against him; but how often had such things combined to hinder, and yet he had made much fairer way! Fore-and-aft he bestrode the planks, and cast keen eyes at everything, above, around, or underneath; but nothing showed him anything. Nettlebones was a Cornishman, and Cornishmen at that time had a reverent faith in witchcraft. Robin Lyth has bought the powers, or ancient Carroway has done it,' he said to himself, in stronger language than is now reportable. 'Old Carroway is against us, I know, from his confounded jealousy; and this cursed delay will floor all my plans.'

He deserved to have his best plans floored, for such vile, suspicion of Carroway. Whatever the brave lieutenant did was loyal, faithful, and well above-board. Against the enemy he had his plans, as every great commander must, and he certainly did not desire to have his glory stolen by Nettlebones. But that he would have suffered, with only a grin at the bad luck so habitual; to do any crooked thing against it was not in his nature. The cause of the grief of Commander Nettlebones lay far away from Carroway; and free trade was at the bottom of it.

For now this trim and lively craft was doing herself but scanty credit, either on or off a wind. She was like a poor cat with her tail in a gin, which sadly obstructs her progress; even more was she like to the little horse of wood who sits on the edge of a table and gallops, with a balancing weight limiting his energies. None of the crew could understand it, if they were to be believed; and the more sagacious talked of currents and mysterious 'undertow.' And sure enough it was undertow, the mystery of which was simple. One of the very best hands on board was a hardy seaman from Flamborough, akin to old Robin Cockscroft, and no stranger to his adopted son. This gallant seaman fully entered into the value of long leverage, and he made fine use of a plug-hole which had come to his knowledge behind his berth. It was just above the water-line, and out of sight from deck, because the hollow of the run was there. And long ere the lights of Scarborough died into the haze of night, as the cutter began to cleave watery way, the sailor passed a stout new rope from a belaying pin through this hole, and then he betrayed his watch on deck by hauling the end up with a clue, and gently returning it to the deep with a long grappling iron made fast to it. This had not fluke enough to lay fast hold and bring the vessel up; for in that case it would have been immediately discovered; but it dragged along the bottom like a trawl, and by its weight, and a hitch every now and then in some hole, it hampered quite sufficiently the objectionable voyage. Instead of meeting her consorts in the cloud of early morning, the Swordfish' was scarcely abreast of the Southern Cheek by the middle of the afternoon. No wonder if Commander Nettlebones was in a fury long ere that, and fitted neither to give

6

'Good-bye, little chap-good-bye, dear wife.' With his usual vigour and flourish, he said, "I never knew how to kiss a baby; though I have had such a lot of them.'

"Good-bye, Charley dear. All your things are right; and here is the key of the locker. You are fitted out for three days; but you must on no account make that time of it. To-morrow I shall be very busy; but you must be home by the evening. Perhaps there will be a favourite thing of yours for supper. You are going a long way; but don't be long.'

'Good-bye, Tilly, darling-good-bye, Jerry dear — good-bye, Tommy, boy, and all my countless family. I am coming home tomorrow with a mint of money.'

CHAPTER XXIX.

TACTICS OF DEFENCE.

THE sea at this time was not pleasant; and nobody looking at it longed to employ upon it any members of a shorter reach than eyes. It was not rushing upon the land, nor running largely in the offing, nor making white streaks on the shoals; neither in any other places doing things remarkable. No sign whatever of coming storm or gathering fury moved it; only it was sullen, heavy, petulant, and out of sorts. It went about its business in a state of lumps irregular, without long billows and big furrows, as if it took the impulse more of distant waters than of wind; and its colour was a dirty green. Ancient fishermen hate this, and ancient mariners do the same; for then the fish lie sulking on their bellies, and then the ship wallows without gift of sail.'

6

'Bear off, Tomkins, and lay by till the ebb. I can only say, dash the whole of it!'

Commander Nettlebones, of the 'Swordfish,' gave this order in disgust at last; for the tide was against her, with a heavy pitch of sea, and the mainsail scarcely drew the sheet. What little wind there was came off the land, and would have been fair if it had been firm; but often it dropped altogether where the cliffs, or the clouds that lay upon them, held it. The cutter had slipped away from Scarborough as soon as it was dark last night, under orders for Robin Hood's Bay; where the Albatross' and Kestrel' were to meet her, bring tidings, and take orders. Partly by coast riding, and partly by coast signals, it had been arranged that these three revenue cruisers should come together in a lonely place during the haze of November morning, and hold privy council of importance. From Scarborough, with any wind at all, or even with ordinary tide-run, a coal-barge might almost make sure of getting to Robin Hood's Bay in six hours, if the sea was fit to swim in. Yet here was a cutter that valued herself

perpetually, like a donkey-plough. Commander Nettlebones could not understand it; and the more impatient he became the less could he enter into it. The sea was nasty, and the wind uncertain, also the tide against him; but how often had such things combined to hinder, and yet he had made much fairer way! Fore-and-aft he bestrode the planks, and cast keen eyes at everything, above, around, or underneath; but nothing showed him anything. Nettlebones was a Cornishman, and Cornishmen at that time had a reverent faith in witchcraft. 'Robin Lyth has bought the powers, or ancient Carroway has done it,' he said to himself, in stronger language than is now reportable. 'Old Carroway is against us, I know, from his confounded jealousy; and this cursed delay will floor all my plans.'

He deserved to have his best plans floored, for such vile, suspicion of Carroway. Whatever the brave lieutenant did was loyal, faithful, and well above-board. Against the enemy he had his plans, as every great commander must, and he certainly did not desire to have his glory stolen by Nettlebones. But that he would have suffered, with only a grin at the bad luck so habitual; to do any crooked thing against it was not in his nature. The cause of the grief of Commander Nettlebones lay far away from Carroway; and free trade was at the bottom of it.

6

For now this trim and lively craft was doing herself but scanty credit, either on or off a wind. She was like a poor cat with her tail in a gin, which sadly obstructs her progress; even more was she like to the little horse of wood who sits on the edge of a table and gallops, with a balancing weight limiting his energies. None of the crew could understand it, if they were to be believed; and the more sagacious talked of currents and mysterious undertow.' And sure enough it was undertow, the mystery of which was simple. One of the very best hands on board was a hardy seaman from Flamborough, akin to old Robin Cockscroft, and no stranger to his adopted son. This gallant seaman fully entered into the value of long leverage, and he made fine use of a plug-hole which had come to his knowledge behind his berth. It was just above the water-line, and out of sight from deck, because the hollow of the run was there. And long ere the lights of Scarborough died into the haze of night, as the cutter began to cleave watery way, the sailor passed a stout new rope from a belaying pin through this hole, and then he betrayed his watch on deck by hauling the end up with a clue, and gently returning it to the deep with a long grappling iron made fast to it. This had not fluke enough to lay fast hold and bring the vessel up; for in that case it would have been immediately discovered; but it dragged along the bottom like a trawl, and by its weight, and a hitch every now and then in some hole, it hampered quite sufficiently the objectionable voyage. Instead of meeting her consorts in the cloud of early morning, the 'Swordfish' was scarcely abreast of the Southern Cheek by the middle of the afternoon. No wonder if Commander Nettlebones was in a fury long ere that, and fitted neither to give