es all got off. We made a mess of the
affair altogether, thanks to some fellow who rushed down and gave the
alarm, and upset all the plans we had laid.

"It is too provoking. I had got news of the exact spot and hour at
which the landing was to take place. I had my men all up on the cliff,
and, as the fellows came up with kegs, they were to have been allowed
to get a hundred yards or so inland and would there have been seized,
and any shout they made would not have been heard below. Lieutenant
Fisher, with his party from the next station, was to be a little way
along at the foot of the cliffs, and when the boats came with the
second batch, he was to rush forward and capture them, while we came
down from above. Then we intended to row off and take the lugger. There
was not wind enough for her to get away.

"All was going well, and the men were just coming up the cliff with the
tubs, when someone who had passed us on the cliff ran down shouting the
alarm. We rushed down at once, but arrived too late. They showed fight,
and kept us back till Fisher's party came up; but by that time the
boats were afloat, and the smugglers managed to get in and carry them
off, in spite of us. We caught, as I tell you, some of the countrymen,
and Fisher has taken them off to Weymouth, but most of them got away.
There are several places where the cliff can be climbed by men who know
it, and I have no doubt half those fishermen you see there were engaged
in the business."

"Then the smuggler got away?" Mr. Wilks asked.

"I don't know," the lieutenant said shortly. "I had sent word to
Weymouth, and I hope they will catch her in the offing. The lugger came
down this way first, but we made her out, and showed a blue light. She
must have turned and gone back again, for this morning at daylight we
made her out to the east. The cutter was giving chase, and at first ran
down fast towards her. Then the smugglers got the wind, and the last we
saw of them they were running up the Channel, the cutter some three
miles astern.

"I would give a couple of months' pay to know who it was that gave the
alarm. I expect it was one of those fishermen. As far as my men could
make out in the darkness, the fellow was dressed as a sailor. But I
must say good morning, for I am just going to turn in."

Mr. Wilks had been on the point of mentioning that James was missing,
but a vague idea that he might, in some way, be mixed up with the
events of the previous nigh