uptly.

For a moment I hesitated, not understanding this sudden move; then
seeing my friend already half-way across the room, I rose and followed.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Oh, anywhere," he answered, almost snappishly, and I wondered what
could have upset his temper.

A boy's thoughts turn quickly from one point to another, like a
weather-vane in a changing wind, and that afternoon our search for the
secret chamber was abandoned in favour of another form of amusement.
Miles had already learned to shoot, and promised to take me out with
him that evening in the hope that we might get a few rabbits. I was,
of course, eager for the expedition, though my own part in it would be
the comparatively humble one of carrying the flasks for powder and
shot. What a clumsy thing that old flintlock fowling-piece would
appear now beside the modern breechloader! Yet how I envied my friend
its possession while I watched him cleaning it, as we sat in the
garden, sheltered from the hot sun by the thick foliage of the old
mulberry tree!

"There!" said Miles at length, as he threw aside the oiled rag and
brought the weapon to his shoulder; "with a charge well rammed home,
I'll warrant her to kill as far as any gun in the county!"

The heat of the day was past when we set out, and the landscape
appeared bathed in warm evening sunshine. I wished that the "Foxes"
and "Eagles" could see us sallying forth armed with a real gun; and
when about two fields away from the house we halted to load and prime
the piece, I felt almost as though I were actually embarked on one of
the wild adventures of the hunter heroes of our Indian tales.

As far as actual sport went, we tramped a long way with very little
result. We should see rabbits feeding out in the fields as we crept up
under the hedges, but before we got within range they would suddenly
prick up their ears and scamper back to their holes.

"The ground is so hard in this hot weather that they hear us coming,"
muttered Miles; but he managed to get a few shots, and, much to my
delight, killed two, which he handed to me to carry.

So we went on, walking across the open, or creeping cautiously along
under the shadow of hedges and bushes, until we reached the summit of
the cliffs, where we sat down to rest.

"How many ships can you see?" asked Miles.

"Two," I replied.

"I can make out a third!" he answered, pointing with his finger. "My
eyes, I expect, are sharper than your