James went on deck again.  The breeze was light, and the lugger was slipping along quietly through the water.  He could faintly see the loom of the cliffs on his right, and knew that the lugger was running west, keeping as close inshore as she could, to avoid the cutter watching for her outside.  He wondered what they would say at home, when it was found that he was missing; but consoled himself by thinking that his mother, who was still up at the Hall, would no doubt suppose that he had gone out for a night’s fishing, as he had often done before, and that, as she was away, he had forgotten to leave word with the servant.

Suddenly, a blue light burned out on the top of the cliff.  An angry exclamation broke from the captain, who was standing at the helm.

“Confound it!” he exclaimed.  “They have caught sight of us from the cliff, and are signalling our whereabouts to the cutter.”

As he spoke, he turned the vessel’s head seaward, and, for a quarter of an hour, sailed straight out.

“Now,” he said quietly, “I think we must be out of sight of those fellows on shore.  Get her on the other tack, lads, but be as quiet as you can about it.  There’s no saying how close the cutter may be to us.”

The great sails were lowered, as the boat’s head paid off to the east.  The yards were shifted to the other sides of the masts, and the sails hoisted again, and the lugger began to retrace her way back along the coast.

“It’s just a chance, now,” the captain said to James, who was standing close by him, “whether the commander of the cutter guesses, or not, that we shall change our course.  He will know we are likely enough to do it.”

“What should you do if you were in his place?” James said.

“I should run straight out to sea, and lay to, eight or ten miles off.  He would be able to make us out then at daylight, whichever course we take; whereas, by trying to follow in the dark, he would run the chance of missing us altogether.  I wish the wind would get up a bit.  We are not moving through the water more than three knots an hour, and it’s dying away.  However, I fancy it will blow up again in the morning.”

“Do you know whether she is faster than you are?” James asked.

“There is not much difference,” the captain replied.  “If the wind is strong, we have the legs of her; but in a light breeze, she is the fastest.  She has chased us half a dozen times already, but we have always given her the slip.”

“Then, even if she does run out to sea, as you say,” James said, “we ought to be safe, as we should be a dozen miles or so along the coast.”

“Yes, but not that ahead of her,” the captain answered, “for she would be so much to the seaward.  Still, that would be far enough; but she will begin to fire long before we are in range, and will bring any other king’s ship within hearing down on us.  However, I daresay we shall give her the slip, as we have done before.”