at all unless I bring him. But it may take two or three
hours."

With no more than a wave of his hat, he set off, as if the coast-riders
were after him, by the path along the cliffs toward Filey, for he knew
that Lord Keppel must be hoisted by the crane, and he could not manage
it without another man, and the tide would wait for none of them. Upon
the next headland he found one of his men, for the smugglers maintained
a much sharper look-out than did the forces of his Majesty, because they
were paid much better; and returning, they managed to strap Lord Keppel,
and hoist him like a big bale of contraband goods. For their crane had
been left in a brambled hole, and they very soon rigged it out again.
The little horse kicked pretty freely in the air, not perceiving his own
welfare; but a cross-beam and pulley kept him well out from the cliff,
and they swung him in over handsomely, and landed him well up on the
sward within the brink. Then they gave him three cheers for his great
adventure, which he scarcely seemed to appreciate.

CHAPTER XIX

A FARM TO LET

That storm on the festival of St. Michael broke up the short summer
weather of the north. A wet and tempestuous month set in, and the
harvest, in all but the very best places, lay flat on the ground,
without scythe or sickle. The men of the Riding were not disturbed by
this, as farmers would have been in Suffolk; for these were quite used
to walk over their crops, without much occasion to lift their feet. They
always expected their corn to be laid, and would have been afraid of it
if it stood upright. Even at Anerley Farm this salam of the wheat was
expected in bad seasons; and it suited the reapers of the neighborhood,
who scarcely knew what to make of knees unbent, and upright discipline
of stiff-cravated ranks.

In the northwest corner of the county, where the rocky land was mantled
so frequently with cloud, and the prevalence of western winds bore sway,
an upright harvest was a thing to talk of, as the legend of a century,
credible because it scarcely could have been imagined. And this year it
would have been hard to imagine any more prostrate and lowly position
than that of every kind of crop. The bright weather of August and
attentions of the sun, and gentle surprise of rich dews in the morning,
together with abundance of moisture underneath, had made things look as
they scarcely ever looked--clean, and straight, and elegant. But none of
them had foun