“‘Blazes!’ said one, ‘here is a body that weighs.’

“‘Perhaps,’ said the other, ‘the coffin is lined with lead.’

“The trap-door was drawn up, and the lieutenant, pistol in hand, descended alone.

“‘Now, my lads,’ said he, addressing some invisible personages, ’we know you are here, and I call upon you to yield in the King’s name—­resistance is useless, the house is surrounded, and we are in force, so you had better give in without more ado.’

“No answer was returned to this exordium; but we heard the murmuring of muffled voices, as if the rapscallions were deliberating.  I now descended with my lamp, followed by some of the seamen, and beheld my friends of the night before either stretched on the ground or propped up against the walls, like a lot of mummies in an Egyptian tomb.

“They were handcuffed one by one, pushed or hauled up the stairs, and then tied to one another in a line.  When we had secured the whole lot of them in this way—­

“‘Lieutenant,’ said I, winking, ’will you permit me to send a ball into that coffin?’

“‘Please yourself about that, young man,’ said he.

“Here the old woman recommenced howling again and called upon all the saints in the calendar to punish us for my sacrilegious design.

“‘Shoot a dead body,’ said I, ‘where’s the harm?’ Besides, what is that salt there for?’

“‘To keep away evil spirits,’ was the reply.

“‘Very well,’ said I, ‘my pistol will scare them away as well.’  Then, cocking it with a loud clink, I presented it slowly at the coffin.”

“The lid all at once flew off—­the salt-was thrown on the ground with a crash—­the defunct suddenly returned from the other world in perfect health, and sat half upright in his bier.  I did not recognize the individual at first, but, on closer inspection, found him to be my communicative companion of the preceding night—­the horse-stealer of the ‘Molly Bawn;’ and, being a stout young fellow, he was harnessed to the others, and we commenced our march to the boats.”

“You do not appear to have had much trouble in effecting the capture,” remarked Fritz.

“No; the men were unarmed, and were nearly all intoxicated.  You never saw such a troop; scarcely one of them could walk straight; they assumed all sorts of figures; the file of prisoners was just like a bar of music, it was a string of quavers, crotchets, and zig-zags.  Luckily, it was late at night, else we might have had the village about our ears, and, instead of flakes of snow and screeching weathercocks, we might have had a shower of dead cats and rotten eggs.  Probably a rescue might have been attempted; at all events, we might have calculated on a volley of brickbats on our way to the boats.  There would have been no end of commotion, uproar, confusion, and hubbub, possibly smashed noses, blackened eyes, broken beads—­”

“Holloa, Willis!”

“You said just now that a little colouring was necessary.”