idge
along which they hastened. The Downs was crowded with hundreds of
vessels of every form and size, as well as of every country, all waiting
for a favourable breeze to enable them to quit the roadstead and put to
sea. Pilot luggers and other shore-boats of various kinds were moving
about among these; some on the look-out for employment, others intent on
doing a stroke of business in the smuggling way, if convenient. Far
away along the beach men of the coastguard might be seen, like little
black specks, with telescopes actively employed, ready to pounce on and
overhaul (more or less stringently according to circumstances) every
boat that touched the shingle. Everything in nature seemed silent and
motionless, with the exception of the sea-mews that wheeled round the
summits of the cliffs or dived into the glassy sea.

All these things were noted and appreciated in various degrees by the
members of the party who hastened towards Saint Margaret's Bay, but none
of them commented much on the scenery. They were too well accustomed to
the face of nature in every varying mood to be much struck with her face
on the present occasion. Perhaps we may except Guy Foster, who, being
more of a city man than his companions, besides being more highly
educated, was more deeply impressed by what he saw that evening. But
Guy was too much absorbed by the object of the expedition to venture any
remark on the beautiful aspect of nature.

"D'ye see that lugger, Bax?" said Bluenose, pointing to a particular
spot on the sea.

"Between the Yankee and the Frenchman?" said Bax, "I see it well enough.
What then?"

"That's Long Orrick's boat," replied the Captain, "I'd know it among a
thousand. Depend on it we'll nab him to-night with a rich cargo of
baccy and brandy a-board. The two B's are too much for him. He'd sell
his soul for baccy and brandy."

"That's not such an uncommon weakness as you seem to think," observed
Guy. "Every day men sell their souls for more worthless things."

"D'ye think so?" said Bluenose, with a philosophical twist in his
eyebrows.

"I know it," returned Guy; "men often sell both body and soul (as far as
we can judge) for a mere idea."

Here Bax, who had been examining the lugger in question with a
pocket-telescope, said that he had no doubt whatever Bluenose was right,
and hastened forward at a smarter pace than before.

In less than two hours they descended the steep cliffs to the shingle of
Saint