the way yet," said Eben, coolly; "but when they do
they won't find out which way we've come. What do you say, sir?"

"Oh, no!" said Aleck, trying to conceal a shiver. "But what a horrible
leap!"

"Nothing when you're used to it, sir. All right if you keep your head,
and safe from being found out."

"But suppose anyone were on the opposite side?"

"No good to suppose that, master. Nothing ever comes there but the
gulls and mews, with a few sea parrots. Nobody could get there without
being let down by a line, and the birds never nest there, so it's quite
safe. Now, then, if you're ready we'll go down."

"Go down?"

"Yes, my lad; this is the way down to the shore."

"With an opening to the sea?" said Aleck, eagerly, for his curiosity was
beginning to overcome the tension caused by the shock his nerves had
suffered.

The smuggler laughed.

"Well, you're asking a good deal, youngster," he said, "but it's of no
use for me to play at hide-and-seek with you now. Yes; there's a way
open to the sea just for 'bout an hour at some tides. Then it's shut up
again by the water, and that's what makes it so safe."

Half a dozen more questions were bubbling up towards his lips, but the
smuggler made a movement and Aleck felt that the best way to satisfy his
curiosity would be to remain silent and use his eyes as much as he
could.

He was gazing sharply round, to see nothing that suggested a way down to
the sea but the great gully beneath his feet, when he became aware of
the fact that Eben was watching him quietly with a dry, amused look in
his eyes.

"Well," he said, "can you find it now?" Aleck shook his head.

"Come along, then."

The smuggler took a few steps along beside the great wall on their
right, and Aleck followed closely, till his companion stopped short and
faced him.

"Well," he said, "see it now?"

"No," said Aleck.

"Look back, then."

The lad turned, and found that without noticing it he had passed a spot
where a great piece of rock terminated in a sharp edge, which overlapped
a portion of the wall, and as he looked in the direction from which he
had come there was a wide opening, quite six feet in height, looking as
if a portion of the rock had scaled off the main mass, forming an
opening some three feet wide, and remained fixed. Into this the lad
stepped at once, shutting out a portion of the light, and for a few
moments it seemed to him that the place ended some seven or eight feet