we to do? You make us kill you. You push your own head
into ze trap. Zat is ze way wis boys. Zey are forever meddling in
affairs zat concern zem not, and zen we have ze trouble to kill zem. I
would give a hundred pounds if zis had not happened; but what can I
do? It is my life against yours, and alzough I am sorry to have to do
it--_parbleu!_ my life is of much more value zan zat of a fishing boy.
Bah! you are one meddlesome fool."

So exasperated was the Frenchman at the trouble which the prying of
this lad had brought upon him that he got up and angrily gave him a
kick. A few minutes later the smuggler returned.

"The men have all gone down to the boat," he said briefly. "Come
along, mounseer. Bring that tin case with you, and those pistols."

"Zere is no fear zat I forget ze tin case," the Frenchman said. "As to
ze pistols--zey are not of much use. However, I will take zem;" and he
thrust them into the pockets of his coat.

The smuggler stooped, picked up Harry, threw him onto a sail which he
had laid on the ground, wrapped this round him, and then cast him over
his shoulder.

"I'm not likely to meet anyone on my way to the boat," he said, "but
should I do so I'm taking the mainsail of the _Lucy_ down to her."

In another minute Harry heard the door slam, and then he felt himself
being carried steadily along, his weight being as nothing to the
smuggler. Not a word was spoken between the two men on their way down
to the shore. Presently Harry felt by the deadened sound of the
footsteps, and by the more uneven motion, that he was being carried
over the sandy slopes down to the edge of the sea, and through the
canvas he could hear the loud roar of the waves, which were now
breaking violently.

Presently he was flung roughly down on the sands. A minute later he
was lifted by the head and feet, and swung into a boat. Not a word was
spoken as it was shoved off through the breakers, and after ten
minutes' hard rowing he felt a shock, and knew that they were
alongside of the _Lucy_. He was hauled up on deck. He heard a few
words of command, and then felt the vessel was on her way. A minute or
two later the covering was unloosed. His cords were cut, and the
smuggler said to him, "You can't get away now, and may as well make
yourself handy for the present. Give a haul on that rope."

The _Lucy_ was, in fact, short-handed, two of the six men who composed
her crew being absent. She was a lugger of some twenty-five tons