pitch:  the more so as the country was in a state of anxiety and confusion, and King William was absent at the Hague.  Graham had, therefore, been despatched to the exiled James, with the propositions from his friends in England, and to press the necessity of an invasion of the country.  As Nancy had supposed, Sir Robert decided upon immediately crossing over to Cherbourg, the crew were allowed a short time to repose and refresh themselves, and once more returned to their laborious employment; Jemmy Ducks satisfied Sir Robert that Smallbones might be trusted and be useful, and Nancy corroborated his assertions.  He was, therefore, allowed to remain in the cave with the women, and Sir Robert and his crew, long before Smallbones’ garments were dry, were again crossing the English Channel.

Now, it must be observed, that Smallbones was never well off for clothes, and, on this occasion, when he fell overboard, he had nothing on but an old pair of thin linen trousers and a shirt which, from dint of long washing, from check had turned to a light cerulean blue:  what with his struggles at the net and the force used to pull him into the boat, the shirt had more than one-half disappeared—­that is to say, one sleeve and the back were wholly gone, and the other sleeve was well prepared to follow its fellow, on the first capful of wind.  His trousers also were in almost as bad a state.  In hauling him in, when his head was over the gunnel, one of the men had seized him by the seat of his trousers to lift him into the boat, and the consequence was, that the seat of his trousers having been too long set upon, was also left in his muscular gripe.  All these items put together, the reader may infer, that, although Smallbones might appear merely ragged in front, that in his rear he could not be considered as decent, especially as he was the only one of the masculine sex among a body of females.  No notice was taken of this by others, nor did Smallbones observe it himself, during the confusion and bustle previous to the departure of the smugglers; but now they were gone, Smallbones perceived his deficiencies, and was very much at a loss what to do, as he was aware that daylight would discover them to others as well as to himself:  so he fixed his back up against one of the rocks, and remained idle while the women were busily employed storing away the cargo in the various compartments of the cave.

Nancy, who had not forgotten that he was with them, came up to him.

“Why do you stay there, Smallbones? you must be hungry and cold, come in with me, and I will find you something to eat.”

“I can’t, Mistress Nancy, I want your advice first.  Has any of the men left any of their duds in this here cavern?”

“Duds, men!  No, they keep them all on the other side.  We have nothing but petticoats here and shimmeys.”

“Then what must I do?” exclaimed Smallbones.

“Oh, I see, your shirt is torn off your back.  Well, never mind, I’ll lend you a shimmey.”