oon be dark, too,
and father will run in and out among the rocks where the cutter daren't
follow."

"To be sure he will," said the old woman with a nod and a smile. "They
will get away if--if--Oh! There goes that horrible gun again!"

The poor creature turned white and hurried away from us to get a better
view of the chase, while Bigley and I climbed right up by degrees to the
very highest point of the headland and sat upon the rocks watching the
long chase, with the cutter, in spite of her superior rig and sailing
powers, seeming to get no nearer to her prey, while the evening shadows
were descending, and the two vessels kept growing more distant from the
Gap.

The cutter continued firing at regular intervals, and once we thought
that the lugger was hit. But if she was the shot made no difference to
her attempts at escape; and though we stayed up there in our windy
look-out, fully expecting to see her lying like a wounded bird upon the
water with broken wing, no spar came down, and at last the fugitive and
the pursuer had become specks in the distance, fading completely from
our sight.

"It's no use to stay any longer," I said. "Let's go down now."

Bigley strained his eyes westward and seemed unwilling to stir.

"It will be so dark directly we shall have a job to get down," I said.
"Your father's sure to get away."

"Yes," said Bigley; "they'll never catch him now. He'll get right away
in the darkness."

Just then there was a familiar hail from below.

"Chowne, ahoy!" I responded; and as we reached to about half-way down
we encountered Bob coming up panting and excited.

"You are a nice couple!" he began to grumble. "I do call it mean."

"What is mean?" I said.

"Why, to have all the fun to yourselves and never send for a fellow. If
it hadn't been for the firing I shouldn't have known anything about it.
I wouldn't have been so shabby to you."

"Why, I didn't think about you, Bob," I said.

"That's just like you, Sep Duncan. But I say, what a game!"

"I don't see much game in it," I said sadly. "Big's father is in the
lugger, and mine--"

"In the cutter trying to catch him," cried Bob. "Oh, I say, what a
game!"

"Look here!" said Bigley in a deep husky voice, "come down along with
me, Sep, and take hold of my arm. I feel as if I wanted to fight."

I did as he asked me and we went down, with Bob very silent coming
behind, evidently feeling that he had said too much.

Bigley went str