Lieutenant Lipscombe was so dissatisfied with the result of Hilary's
expedition that he landed himself the next day with a party of the
_Kestrels_ and went over and searched the old hall.
From thence he followed the lane down to the cliffs, where, as Billy
Waters afterwards told Hilary, they found the place where the smugglers
had been in the habit of landing their goods, and the cottage he had
described. But the people seemed stupid and ignorant, professing to
know nothing, and it was not until after a search that the rope was
found with the tackle and block lying amongst some stunted bushes; and
by means of this tackle the party descended, afterwards signalling to
the cutter and getting on board.
The next thing was to take the prize into port and report to the
superior officer what had been done, when orders were at once received
to put out to sea and watch the coast.
For the emissaries of the Pretender had, it seemed, been busy at work,
and there were rumours of risings and landings of men from France. In
spite of the watchfulness of the various war-vessels on the coast
messengers seemed to come and go with impunity. So angry were the
authorities that, instead of the lieutenant receiving praise for what he
had done, he only obtained a severe snubbing. He was told that the
capture of a lugger with some contraband cargo was nothing to the taking
of the political emissaries. These, it seemed, he had allowed to slip
through his fingers, and he returned on board with his sailing orders,
furious with the treatment he had received.
"Look here, Mr Leigh," he said sternly; "out of consideration for your
youth I refrained from reporting your late desertion."
"I was taken prisoner, sir."
"Well, there, call it taken prisoner if you like," said the lieutenant
impatiently. "I say I did not report it; but I consider that you are to
blame for our late ill success."
"Thank you, sir," said Hilary in an undertone.
"It seems," continued the lieutenant, "that there is a Sir Henry Norland
who comes and goes with fishermen and smugglers, and I am as certain as
can be that we had him once on board that fishing lugger when you were
stupid enough to let him go; I mean that ill-looking scoundrel with the
girl. There, there; it is of no use for you to try and defend yourself.
You were in fault, and the only way for you to amend your failing is by
placing this man in my hands."
"But really, sir--" began Hilary.
"Go to your duty, sir!" exclaimed the lieutenant sternly; and, biting
his lips as he felt how awkwardly he was situated, Hilary went forward,
and soon after the cutter was skimming over the waves with a brisk
breeze abeam.
Time glided on, with the young officer fully determined to do his duty
if he should again have an opportunity of arresting the emissary of the
would-be king; but somehow it seemed as if the opportunity was never to
come. They cruised here and they cruised there, with the usual
vicissitudes of storm and sunshine. Fishing-boats were rigorously
overhauled, great merchant ships bidden to heave-to while a boat was
sent on board, but no capture was made.
They put into port over and over again, always to hear the same news--
that the young Pretender's emissaries were as busy as ever, and that
they came and went with impunity, but how no one could say.
The lieutenant always returned on board, after going ashore to see the
port-admiral, in a furious temper, and his junior and the crew found
this to their cost.
Days and nights of cruising without avail. It seemed as if the
_Kestrel_ was watched out of sight, and then, with the coast clear, the
followers of the young Pretender's fortunes landed in England with
impunity. Hilary heard from time to time that Sir Henry had grown more
daring, and had had two or three narrow escapes from being taken ashore,
but he had always been too clever for his pursuers, and had got away.
Of Adela he had heard nothing, and he frequently hoped that she was safe
with some of their friends, and not leading a fugitive life with her
father.
It was on a gloomy night in November that the _Kestrel_ was well out in
mid-channel on the lookout for a small vessel, of whose coming they had
been warned by a message received the day before from the admiral.
A bright lookout was being kept, in spite of the feeling that it might
be, after all, only a false scent, and that while they were seeking in
one direction the enemy might make their way to the shore in another.
There was nothing for it but to watch, in the hope that this time they
might be right, and all that afternoon and evening the cutter had been
as it were disguised. Her sails had been allowed to hang loosely, her
customary smartness was hidden, and the carpenter had been over the bows
with a pot of white paint, and painted big letters and a couple of
figures on each side, to give the _Kestrel_ the appearance of a
fishing-boat. This done, the jollyboat was allowed to swing by her
painter behind, and thus they waited for night.
As the darkness came on, in place of hoisting the lights they were kept
under shelter of the bulwarks, and then, in spite of the preparations,
Hilary saw and said that their work would be in vain, for the night
would be too dark for them to see anything unless it came within a
cable's length.
It was not likely; and the young officer, as he leaned over the side,
after some hours' watching, talking in a low voice to the gunner, who
was with him, began to think how pleasant it would be to follow the
lieutenant's example and go below and have a good sleep, when he
suddenly started.
"What's that, Billy?" he whispered.
"Don't hear nothing, sir," said the gunner. "Yes, I do. It's a ship of
some kind, and not very far-off. I can hear the water under her bows."
"Far-off?--no. Look!" cried Hilary, in a hoarse whisper. "Down with
the helm! hard down!" he cried. "Hoist a light!"
But as he gave the orders he felt that they were in vain, for they had
so well chosen their place to intercept the French vessel they hoped to
meet, that it was coming, as it were, out of a bank of darkness not
fifty yards away; and in another minute Hilary, as he saw the size and
the cloud of sail, knew that the _Kestrel_ would be either cut down to
the water's edge or sunk by the coming craft.