u saved us from a
much worse mess than we got into. I have no doubt they meant to capture
the tubs, as they were loaded, without raising an alarm; and the
fellows on the shore would have come up quietly, and taken us by
surprise as we were landing the last boat loads. Thanks to you, we have
got well out of it, and have only lost one of our hands, and a score or
so of tubs."

"You can't put me ashore, I suppose?" James said.

"That I can't," the smuggler replied. "I have no doubt that cutter from
Weymouth is somewhere outside us, and we must get well off the coast
before morning. If we give her the slip, I will send you off in a boat
sometime tomorrow. I must go ashore, myself, to make fresh arrangements
for getting my cargo landed."

James went on deck again. The breeze was light, and the lugger was
slipping along quietly through the water. He could faintly see the loom
of the cliffs on his right, and knew that the lugger was running west,
keeping as close inshore as she could, to avoid the cutter watching for
her outside. He wondered what they would say at home, when it was found
that he was missing; but consoled himself by thinking that his mother,
who was still up at the Hall, would no doubt suppose that he had gone
out for a night's fishing, as he had often done before, and that, as
she was away, he had forgotten to leave word with the servant.

Suddenly, a blue light burned out on the top of the cliff. An angry
exclamation broke from the captain, who was standing at the helm.

"Confound it!" he exclaimed. "They have caught sight of us from the
cliff, and are signalling our whereabouts to the cutter."

As he spoke, he turned the vessel's head seaward, and, for a quarter of
an hour, sailed straight out.

"Now," he said quietly, "I think we must be out of sight of those
fellows on shore. Get her on the other tack, lads, but be as quiet as
you can about it. There's no saying how close the cutter may be to us."

The great sails were lowered, as the boat's head paid off to the east.
The yards were shifted to the other sides of the masts, and the sails
hoisted again, and the lugger began to retrace her way back along the
coast.

"It's just a chance, now," the captain said to James, who was standing
close by him, "whether the commander of the cutter guesses, or not,
that we shall change our course. He will know we are likely enough to
do it."

"What should you do if you were in his place?" James said.

"I sho