] 16 THE SMUGGLER. 



"There they are! there they are!" cried half a dozen 

 voices ; and, all rushing out at the front door, they found the 

 two young men with several companions, and four led horses, 

 heavily laden. Jim the elder brother, with the assistance of 

 one of those who accompanied him, was busily engaged in 

 shutting the two great wooden gates which had been raised 

 by old Ramley some time before, nobody could tell why, in 

 place of a five-barred gate, which, with the tall stone wall, 

 formerly shut out the yard from the road. The other brother. 

 Edward, or Ned Ramley, as he was called, stood by the side 

 of his horse, holding his head down over a puddle, and, for 

 a moment, no one could make out what he was about. On 

 his sister Jane approaching him, however, she perceived a 

 drop of blood falling every second into the dirty water below, 

 and exclaimed, " How hast thou broken thy noddle, Ned?" 



"There, let me alone, Jinny" cried the young man, shaking 

 off the hand she had laid upon his arm, "or I shall bloody my 

 toggery. One of those fellows has nearly cracked my skull, 

 that's all; and he'd have done it, too, if he had but been a 

 bit nearer. This brute shied just as I was firing my pistol at 

 him, or he'd never have got within arm's length. It's no- 

 thing: it's but a scratch. Get the goods away, for they'll be 

 after us quick enough. They are chasing the major and his 

 people, and that's the way we got off." 



One of the usual stories of the day was then told by the 

 rest: of how a cargo had been run the night before, and got 

 safe up into the country; how, when they thought all danger 

 over, they had passed before old Bob Croyland's windows, and 

 how Jim had given him a shot as he stood at one of them ; 

 and then they went on to say that, whether it was the noise 

 of the gun, or that the old man had sent out to call the officers 

 upon them, they could not tell; but about three miles further 

 on, they saw a largish party of horse upon their right. Flight had 

 then become the order of the day ; but finding that they could 

 not effect it in one body, they were just upon the point of sepa- 

 rating, Ned Ramley declared, when two of the riding officers 

 overtook them, supported by a number of dragoons. Some 

 firing took place without much damage, and, dividing into 

 three bodies, the smugglers scampered off, the Ramleys and 

 their friends taking their way towards their own house, and 

 the others in different directions. The former might have 



