jumped into a boat
and pulled across the harbour to the village, where they disappeared.
Such was the termination of the adventure for that day; but the romance,
unfortunately for us, had not come to an end.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

OCTOBER SPORT--A BLACK JOKE.

Only two weeks more! Letters had come from our parents to us and to our
tutors, saying that we must return to Bristol on November the first.

Our great amusement at this time was shooting, as boating had become
somewhat cold work. Now and then we knocked down a few straggling wild
fowl, which at that early season had incautiously approached our cape,
not aware of the sportsmen residing on it. Our tutors entered
enthusiastically into the sport, borrowing guns from the town across the
bay, and joining Walter and Harry every afternoon. We other fellows
were also allowed to be there to take charge of Ugly, who entered into
the sport as warmly as any of us. We generally stayed on the neck until
near sunset, and just as the rabbits were out for their supper, started
for home. That was Ugly's half-hour of sport, in which he was always
sure to bring two or three rabbits round to the guns. Mr Clare could
not shoot as well as Walter, or even Harry, at flying game, but he was
first-rate at rabbits; let them jump as fast and high as they might,
with Ugly only ten feet behind, and if our fresh tute pulled on them;
they were sure to fall. With the Captain things went differently, much
to our amusement; for our salt tute cared not how much we laughed at his
failures, which all his shots were. He brought up his gun as if it were
a harpoon, and always gave it a jerk, to help it shoot farther, when he
pulled the trigger. The butt was seldom at his shoulder; and as he
insisted upon putting immense loads in his gun, the results were
sometimes disastrous to him and ridiculous to us. He often sprang back
after a shot, as if he had been kicked by a horse, or wrung his hands,
which had borne the recoil. His misses and misfortunes, however, never
made him angry or dejected. After each failure, out came the red
bandanna to wipe his brow, and as a shout of laughter greeted the
performance, he would say calmly, with only a gleam of a smile, "So,
boys, you think I missed, eh? Well, _perhaps_ I did."

Clump and Juno having been much alarmed and excited by the discovery of
the smugglers, we boys determined to profit by their disquieted state of
mind, and hatched a scheme to