ry little
hope that it would ever reach his mother. Nor, indeed, did it ever do
so. When the cutter reached Weymouth with the lugger, the men captured
in her were at once sent to prison, where they remained until they were
tried at assizes three months afterwards; and, although all were
acquitted of the charge of unlawful resistance to the king's officers,
as there was no proof against any of the six men individually, they
were sentenced to a year's imprisonment for smuggling.

Whether Jim's hurriedly written letter was thrown overboard, or whether
it was carried in the pocket of the man to whom he gave it until worn
into fragments, James never knew, but it never reached his mother.

The news that James was missing was brought to her upon the day after
the event by Mr. Wilks. He had, as usual, gone down after breakfast to
report how Aggie was getting on, with a message from his mother that
her charge was now so completely restored that it was unnecessary for
her to stay longer at the Hall, and that she should come home that
evening at her usual time. Hearing from the girl that James had not
returned since he went out at nine o'clock on the previous evening, the
old soldier sauntered down to the beach, to inquire of the fishermen in
whose boat James had gone out.

To his surprise, he found that none of the boats had put to sea the
evening before. The men seemed less chatty and communicative than
usual. Most of them were preparing to go out with their boats, and none
seemed inclined to enter into a conversation. Rather wondering at their
unusual reticence, Mr. Wilks strolled along to where the officer of the
revenue men was standing, with his boatswain, watching the fishermen.

"A fine morning, lieutenant."

"Yes," the latter assented. "There will be wind presently. Have you
heard of the doings of last night?"

"No," Mr. Wilks said in surprise, "I have heard nothing. I was just
speaking to the fishermen, but they don't seem in as communicative a
mood as usual this morning."

"The scamps know it is safest for them to keep their mouths shut, just
at present," the officer said grimly. "I have no doubt a good many of
them were concerned in that affair last night. We had a fight with the
smugglers. Two of my men were shot and one of theirs, and there were a
good many cutlass wounds on each side. We have taken a score of
prisoners, but they are all country people who were assisting in the
landing; the smugglers themselv