proved, for at the end of a
few minutes we could distinctly see something large and black looming up
out of the darkness, and before long make out that it was quite a large
vessel that was being worked with sweeps or large oars till it was close
in; and then there was the noise of the oars being laid inboard, and the
sound of orders being given in a low firm voice.

"Keep perfectly still," my father whispered to us; but it was
unnecessary, and we sat together there on the rock shelf, the projecting
portion making our resting-place quite black, as we watched and listened
to what was going on.

Then for about three hours there was a busy scene below us. Men seemed
to have dropped down into the water from both sides of the vessel. Some
went up to the cliff-face away to our left where the caverns lay, and at
the end of a minute the light of a couple of lanthorns gleamed out and
then disappeared in the cave.

Hardly a word was spoken save on board the vessel, where those upon deck
seemed from time to time to be doing something with poles to keep her
from getting aground as the tide fell.

It must, I say, have been for nearly three hours that the busy scene
lasted, and a large body of men kept on plashing to and fro with loads
from the vessel to the cavern and back empty-handed. Everything seemed
to be done as quietly as if the men were well accustomed to the task.
Not a word was spoken, except by one who seemed to be leader, and the
only sounds we heard were the tramping upon the slate-sprinkled sand and
the splashing as they waded in to reach the vessel's side.

It was evident enough that they were landing quite a store of something
of another from the vessel, and I knew enough of such matters to be sure
that it was a smuggler running a cargo. For the first few minutes I
felt that it must be the French coming to take us unawares; but the
French would have landed men, not packages and little barrels.

It was a smuggler sure enough, and hence my father's strict order to be
silent, for the smugglers had not a very good character in our parts,
and ugly tales were told of how they had not scrupled to kill people who
had interfered with them when busy over their dangerous work.

I was watching them eagerly, when, all at once, I turned cold and
shivered, for it had suddenly struck me that old Jonas was away with his
lugger, and that this must be it landing its cargo, while all the time,
so close to me that I could have