e fishing-boat containing Ram
and Jemmy Dadd.

"Hold hard, my lads!" cried the midshipman, and the men ceased rowing,
holding their oars balanced, with the diamond-like drops falling
sparkling from their blades into the clear sea, while the boat glided
slowly on towards the ledge, which was just in front.

"Why, where's the boat?" cried Archy excitedly, as he swept the face of
the cliff with his eyes.

"She aren't here, sir," said Dick.

"Well, I can see that, my man. Can she have slipped aside and let us
pass?"

"No," said one of the other men. "'Sides, sir, she was just afore us
ten minutes ago, and we heard her lowering down her mast and sail."

"Could that have been a gull?"

"What, make a squeal like a wheel in a block? No, sir, not it."

"Then they have run her up on the ledge and dragged her into one of the
holes. Give way!"

The men pulled in quickly, and at the end of a few minutes they were as
close to the side of the ledge as it was safe to go, for, as the waves
ran in, the larger ones leaped right over the broad level space, washing
it from end to end. But there was no sign of the boat, and the
midshipman hesitated about believing that the man and boy could have
taken advantage of a good wave and run her right on.

"It's strange," said Archy aloud, as he sat there thinking that, if he
chose his time right, he might make his men pull the boat in upon a
wave, let them jump out and drag her up the rocks.

But he shook his head, for he knew that if everything was not done to
the moment, the boat would be stove in.

"Hullo! What are you shaking your head about?" he said sharply to Dick.

"Nothing sir, only you said it was strange."

"Well, isn't it strange?"

"Ay, sir; so's the _Flying Dutchman_!"

"What? Why, you do not think any of that superstitious nonsense about
the boat, do you?"

"Well, sir, I dunno. I only says, Where's the boat now? She couldn't
have got away."

"No," said another of the men. "She couldn't have landed there."

"Nonsense!" cried Archy angrily. "Absurd! Who ever heard of a phantom
lobster-boat?"

Dick shook his head, and then sat playing with the handle of his oar.

"You Dick," cried Archy, "you're a goose! There, it will not be safe to
land, my lads. Here, you two jump ashore as we back in. Mind, just as
the sea's off the ledge; and run up and have a good look round."

The boat was turned, backed in, and, seizing the right moment, the men
jumped