eap that one Don
Alvarado, a Spaniard, made in Mexico, but surely never was a greater
leap than you two made that night, landing safely on the other side, and
making for the sea-shore. None of the coast guardsmen, not even Lancy,
could make the leap, for he was sick and trembling, though he had fired
upon his own brother. And so they made for the bridge some distance
above, just as the faint moon slipped behind a cloud and hid you from
their sight.

"That is no country to hide in, as you know well, no caves, or hills, or
mazy coombes, just a wide, flat, reedy place, broken by open woods. The
only refuge for both now was the sea. 'Twas a wild run you two made,
side by side, down that shore, keeping close within the gloom of the
sand-hills, the coast-guards coming after, pressing you closer than
they thought at the time, for Tom Doane had been wounded in the leg. But
Lancy sent one back for the horses, he and the other coming on; and so,
there you were, two and two. 'Twas a cruel task for Lancy that night,
enough to turn a man's hair grey. But duty was duty, though those two
lads were more to each other than most men ever are. You know how it
ended. But I want to go all over it just to show you that I understand.
You were within a mile of Mablethorpe, when you saw a little fishing
smack come riding in, and you made straight for it. Who should be in
the smack but Solby, the canting Baptist, who was no friend to you or my
uncle, or any of us. You had no time for bargaining or coaxing, and so,
at the musket's mouth, you drove him from the boat, and pushed it out
just as Lancy and his men came riding up. Your sail was up, and you
turned the lugger to the wind in as little time as could be, but the
coast-guardsmen rode after you, calling you to give in. No man will ever
know the bitter trouble in Laney's heart when he gave the order to fire
on you, though he did not fire himself. And you--do I not know, Cousin
Dick, what you did? Tom Doane was not the man to fire at the three dark
figures riding you down, not knowing which was his brother. But you, you
understood that; and you were in, you said to yourself, and you'd play
the game out, come what would. You raised your musket and drew upon a
figure. At that moment a coast-guard's musket blazed, and you saw the
man you had drawn on was Lancy Doane. You lowered your musket, and as
you did a ball struck you on the wrist.

"Oh, I have thanked God a hundred times, dear Cousin Dick,