beach
at full speed, followed by the officers and men, who might have had
better sea legs, but certainly had not such good shore legs as we
possessed. We were some little way ahead of the rest, and our object
must have been very evident to any persons acquainted with the existence
of the cavern. Just then the report of a firearm was heard, and a
bullet whistled by us close to our ears. It did not stop us though, but
made us dart on still more rapidly; and as we did so we saw a man
climbing up the cliff above the cavern. Had any of the men with muskets
been with us, they might have shot him. He turned round for an instant,
and shook his fist at us; but before our companions came up he had
disappeared. It took some time before the seamen who volunteered to go
managed to climb up the slippery rock to the mouth of the cavern. When
once two or three had gained a footing, they let down ropes, by which
the rest easily got up. The forlorn hope, as the first party might be
called, then dashed into the cavern, expecting, perhaps, to meet with a
hot fire of musketry. Not a sound, however, was heard; no one appeared;
on they boldly went. The smugglers might have had still more deadly
intentions, and, it was possible, had prepared a mine to blow up anyone
venturing into their cave. They were capable, according to our salt
tutor's notion, of any atrocity. Still the forlorn hope went on without
meeting with any impediment. More seamen entered, led by Captain
Treenail, and others followed, till we were all inside; and torches
being lit, the cavern was thoroughly examined. Not a human being was
discovered, but the cave contained a far larger amount of bales of
silks, and ribbons, and tobacco, and kegs of spirits, than we had
supposed. It was, indeed, a far larger seizure than the coast guard on
that station had ever before made. They were proportionably delighted,
though they would have liked still more to have caught a dozen or two of
smugglers, though not quite so valuable a prize as they would have been
during the height of the war, when they would have been sent off to man
our ships, and to fight the naval battles of old England.

When we found that no one was inside we told Captain Treenail of the man
we had seen climbing up the cliff. He instantly ordered some of the
most active young men of the cutter's crew to go in chase; but after
hunting about for some time, they could find no possible way of getting
up, and