aping!
You don't want me to be took?"

"No, Eben; but--"

"Don't talk, my lad. I'm hard set. You're a gentleman, and won't
betray a poor fellow?"

"No, but I won't help to keep that poor young officer a prisoner."

"Ah, you've found out then--you know where he is?"

"Then it is true that you've got him shut up somewhere?"

"Somewhere?" cried the man, sharply, in a hoarse whisper. "Then you
haven't found the place?"

"No," said Aleck, frankly, "only guessed that he is somewhere hidden,
and keeps calling out."

"Look here, Master Aleck, it is true, and if I swear that as soon as all
is safe I'll help you to set him free and put him where he can get back
to his ship, will you swear, too, that you'll never tell where our
stores are?"

"I'm not going to swear anything, Eben."

The man made a fierce gesture, and the lad felt that he was at the
fellow's mercy, where a sharp thrust of the hand would send him headlong
down, most likely to his death. But he did not shrink.

"I promise you I won't betray you, Eben," he said, "if you give me your
word to set the poor young fellow free."

"Come on, then--if there's time," said the smuggler, hoarsely. "I can
hear 'em coming on fast. Now, then, I'm going to show you what all us
chaps have sworn on our lives never to let out. Quick! I know you've
got plenty of game in you, my lad. I'm going to jump down there."

He pointed down over the edge of the shelf as he spoke.

"Are you mad?" said Aleck, hoarsely, feeling that the man must be to
propose what seemed to be like a leap into the next world.

"Not me, my lad. Look! I trust you to come after me sharp--before the
cutter's men see you. Come, you won't shrink now?"

"He came along this way, I'll swear," came from overhead, quite loudly,
and a whistle rang out again.

Eben Megg seized Aleck's arm with his left hand, and with his right
caught the lad's fingers for a moment in a firm grip.

"Jump just as I do. I'll be ready to catch you."

Aleck nodded, and then felt ready to shut his eyes, for the man gave one
glance upward where a loud murmur of voices could be heard, and then
stepped close to the edge of the shelf, placed his feet close together,
drew himself up stiffly, and then made a little jump, just sufficient to
let himself drop, as it were, clear of the rock, his back being visible
just for a moment, and then there was a slight pat coming from below.

Aleck stood with his heart seeming to rise