escape us."

"Iss," added Jim Cuttance, "ann remember, you chucklehead, that if you
do write or utter wan word 'bout it, after gettin' back to London, there
are here twelve Cornish men who will never rest till they have flayed
thee alive!"

"You need have no fear," said Clearemout with a bitter smile, as he
turned and walked away, followed by a groan from the whole party.

"Now, lads," said Cuttance after he was gone, "not wan word of this must
ever be breathed, and we'll howld 'ee responsible, David Hicks, for t'
wife's tongue; dost a hear?"

This was agreed to by all, and, to the credit of these honest smugglers,
and of Mrs Hicks, be it said, that not a syllable about the incident
was ever heard of in the parish of St. Just from that day to this!

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.

TOUCHES ON LOVE AND ON PILCHARD FISHING.

There can be no doubt that "Fortune favours the brave," and Maggot was
one of those braves whom, about this time, she took special delight in
favouring.

Wild and apparently reckless though he was, Maggot had long cherished an
ambitious hope, and had for some time past been laying by money for the
purpose of accomplishing his object, which was the procuring of a
seine-net and boats for the pilchard fishery. The recent successes he
had met with in Botallack enabled him to achieve his aim more rapidly
than he had anticipated, and on the day following that in which
Clearemout received his deserts, he went to Penberth Cove to see that
all was in readiness, for pilchards had recently appeared off the coast
in small shoals.

That same day Oliver Trembath, having spent a night of misery in
Penzance, made up his mind to return to St. Just and face his fate like
a man; but he found it so difficult to carry this resolve into effect
that he diverged from the highroad--as he had done on his first
memorable visit to that region--and, without knowing very well why,
sauntered in a very unenviable frame of mind towards Penberth Cove.

Old Mr Donnithorne possessed a pretty villa near the cove, to which he
was wont to migrate when Mrs D felt a desire for change of air, and in
which he frequently entertained large parties of friends in the summer
season. In his heart poor Mr Donnithorne had condemned this villa "to
the hammer," but the improved appearance of things in the mines had
induced him to suspend the execution of the sentence. News of the
appearance of pilchards, and a desire to give Rose a change after h