im groan deeply.

"I hope, sir, you are not ill or wounded," said I; for I thought he must
be hurt.

"No, lad, no," he answered; "but it's a sad thing to have so many of
one's men killed and hurt by a rascally smuggler. But we must try and
catch the fellow, and then get the doctor's aid as fast as we can for
those to whom it may yet be of use. But what do you come for?"

I made my report. In an instant he shook off the feeling which was
oppressing him, and springing on deck, he ordered the helm to be kept up
and the mainsheet eased off till we were standing after the supposed
smuggler. This was our best point of sailing, and probably the lugger's
worst; at all events that rig of vessel has generally the greatest
advantage on a wind. Our square-sail, square-topsail, and every sail
the cutter could carry was now set, to overtake the chase; and the
breeze freshening as the day advanced, we bowled away at a famous rate.

"Do you think, Hanks, we have a chance of catching her?" I asked, as
the old mate and I were intently watching her.

"As to catching her, depends upon circumstances. If we get the strength
of the breeze before her, and she doesn't hide away in another fog; but
she has a long start, and we are out of luck this time, to my mind.
However, why is it, D'Arcy, you are so anxious to have another brush
with the chap? I thought you had had sufficient taste of his quality."

"To punish him for killing poor Thole there," answered I, for I felt
very bitter against the smugglers for the harm they had done.

"I thought so," answered Hanks. "It's the way with most people. Before
a blow is struck, they are all peaceable enough; but the moment blood is
drawn, they are all as blood-thirsty as a savage."

"I hope you don't think me a blood-thirsty savage," said I.

"I wouldn't trust you, D'Arcy, my boy," he replied. "When the blood
boils, all the ferocity of the heart bubbles up to the top, and we feel
more like wild beasts than men."

"Are we gaining on the chase, Mr Hanks, think you?" sung out my uncle
at this moment.

"A little, sir; but the sky has got so much clearer thereaway in the
last half-hour, that perhaps she only appears nearer," was the answer;
and then Hanks went aft, to walk the quarter-deck with his Commander.

There is off Portland Bill a race, or overfall of water, caused by a
shallow and rocky bottom, where the sea at times breaks so violently
that vessels have been known to be swam