The Lost Middy, being the Secret of the Smugglers' Gap, by George
Manville Fenn.
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This is yet another tension-packed teenagers' novel from the pen of G.
Manville Fenn. The hero is a sixteen-year-old called Aleck, who is an
orphan being brought up by his uncle, whose main interest in life is
writing a book of history. They live by the sea, and Aleck's great
pleasure is to take his little sailing boat along the coast, often in
the company of a pensioned-off man-o'-war's man, called Tom Bodger.
They get involved with a press-gang raid by one of HM sloops, which is
accompanied by a revenue cutter. Some of the men of the neighbouring
hamlets are taken by the press-gang, but a middy from the sloop is also
taken by the local smugglers, and hidden in the very cave where they
normally hide their spoils.
Unfortunately Aleck also stumbles on the track of the smugglers, and
gets shut up in the same cave. Both entrances of the cave are blocked
up. There is no possible escape. NH
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THE LOST MIDDY, OR THE SECRET OF THE SMUGGLERS' GAP, BY GEORGE MANVILLE
FENN.