d out of her received a quantity of goods, bales
of silk, and ribbons, and lace, and then returned towards the shore.
Night had come on--certain lights were seen, a signal that all was
right, and without hesitation the smugglers pulled in towards the beach.
Suddenly from behind a point two revenue boats darted out and gave
chase. The smugglers' galley was put about and pulled away along the
coast. Jack's hitherto peaceable friends were suddenly transformed into
fierce savages. Their venture was a valuable one, and they swore that
sooner than yield it they would lose their own lives, or take those of
their opponents. Jack heartily wished that he had learned the object of
their expedition, and had avoided coming. He, by this time, knew enough
about the ways of smugglers to make him feel that he ought to have
suspected that his friends were about some unlawful work.

Scarcely had Jack left the tower than a post-chaise came rumbling up the
steep ascent which led to it. Had it come five minutes sooner Jack
would not have gone down to the beach. It contained an old friend of
his father's, Captain Summers, who had come to spend a few days at the
tower while his ship was refitting. She was a South Sea trader,
generally sailing to the western coasts of America and the islands of
the Pacific. Everybody in the household was so busy--Captain Askew in
talking to his friend, Mrs Askew and Margery in getting his room ready,
and Tom in preparing supper, that no one thought of Jack. It was not
till they were seated at their evening meal that Jack was missed. Tom
went out to make inquiries. He was not very well pleased when he at
length learned that Jack had been seen with Bob Herring and some other
men going off in Bill Starling's galley, Bill being, as Tom well knew,
one of the most determined smugglers belonging to Stormount Bay. "Well,
Bob Herring would give his life before any harm should come to the lad,
and Bill's a clever chap, and it's not likely that he'll be getting into
mischief," said Tom to himself as he returned homewards.

As long as daylight lasted Captain Askew or Tom had their eye at the
large telescope in the captain's own room, ranging over the ocean in
search of Bill Starling's galley, but no where was she to be seen, and
at length the captain became more anxious than he had ever before been
about Jack. He had done his best to prevent Mrs Askew from being
alarmed, but was on the point of going out hims