a big
affair, my son, an' I telly this, ef you tried to git away to-night
you'd be a dead man afore to-morrow, for oal I'm a man of paice, and
send presents to the passon in place of tithes; I doan't stand no
nonsense, mind that, my son."

His white eyes shone with a strange light, and I knew he had his fears
about my loyalty.

"The truth es, Jasper," went on Cap'n Jack, "you've come wi' we, and wi'
we you must stay; that es, till you git 'nough to buy back Pennington.
Aw, aw!"

"And if I do?"

"I shell 'ave a squire for my friend, and--well, you'll still be one o'
we. You see, my sonny, we've got many ways o' doin' things, an' when I
once gits 'old ov a chap, well, I sticks. But theer, sonny, wot's the
use ov angry words. I'm a paicable man, and wen you knaw us better,
you'll knaw 'ow we stick to aich other through thick and thin. I like
'ee, Jasper, an' I've got need ov 'ee. A strong fella you be--Israel
Barnicoat and his brother Micah was just like little babbies to 'ee. A
schullard, too, and knaw figgers. Iss, a year on the _Flyin' Swan_ on an
expedishan I'm a thinkin' on will buy back Pennington, and then, well,
we shall see, Jasper. Why shudden I be the squire's father-in-law, eh,
sonny? An' Tamsin es a grand maid, ed'n she then?"

Slowly my mind grasped his meaning, but I did not speak.

"Still, tho' you be a fav'rite ov mine, Jasper, the booys be jillus,
that ev it. An' ther's a bit of work on to-night, sonny. There's a craft
a few miles out, an' to-night will be baisly and black. Well, the booys
insist on your takin' our ould mare, an' tyin' a lantern on to her neck,
an' leadin' 'er on the cliff toward the Lizard. It'll do thou'll mare
good, and be a light to the vessel."

"Such a light would lure her on to the rocks!" I cried.

"Wud et, Jasper? Well, some wud blaame Providence for these things. But
it must be done."

"And suppose the Preventive men see me?"

"Wot be a couple of sich chaps to you? You could knack their 'eads
together like you ded by Micah and Israel."

"And if I refuse?"

He looked at me steadily for a minute with his white eyes gleaming
strangely in the firelight; then he said, slowly, "Ef you refuse this
time, my sonny, you'll never refuse no more in this world."

All the same I made up my mind that I would escape from Cap'n Jack's
gang that very night, and that I would take no part in luring a vessel
on to destruction.

CHAPTER X

WHAT BECAME OF THE WRECKERS' LIGH