the lugger."

In another half hour Joe Markham returned with the French sailors.
"There is a big stir down in Weymouth," he said to Julian. "I heard from
our friend that the place is like a hive of bees. I tell you, Mr. Wyatt,
that it is a lucky thing for you that you found the trap-door and came
down here. You mayn't like being our prisoner; but it is a lot better
than being in a cell down in Weymouth with a charge of murder hanging
over you, which you would have been if you had gone straight back
again."

"A charge of murder!" Julian repeated, springing to his feet. "How could
such a charge be brought? It could not have been known so soon that I
was missing. I must go back and face it. If I run away, now I have been
openly accused, everyone will make sure of my guilt."

"Well, sir, I should say it is a sight better that they should suspect
you, and you safely over in France, than that they should suspect you
with you in their hands; but at any rate, you see you have no choice in
the matter. You could only clear yourself by bringing me into it; though
I doubt, as things have turned out, that that would help you a bit."

"I warn you that I shall make my escape, and come back again as soon as
I can," Julian said passionately.

"Well, sir, if you have a fancy for hanging, of course you can do so;
but from what I hear, hanging it would be, as sure as you stand there.
There is a warrant out against you, and the constables are scouring all
the country."

"But what possible ground can they have to go upon except that smuggling
affair?"

"Well, if what our friend told me is true, they have very good grounds,
as they think, to go on. He was talking with one of the constables, and
he told him that Faulkner is not dead yet, though he ain't expected to
last till morning. His servants came out to look for him when the horse
came back to the house without him. A man rode into Weymouth for the
doctor, and another went to Colonel Chambers and Mr. Harrington. By the
time they got there Faulkner was conscious, and they took his dying
deposition. He said that he had had a row with you a short distance
before he had got to his gate, and that you said you would be even with
him. As he was riding up through the wood to his house, he suddenly
heard a gun and at the same moment fell from his horse. A minute later
you came out from the wood at the point where the shot had been fired.
You had a gun in your hand. Feeling sure that your