438 THE SMUGGLER. 



pistol-range immediately after, shot across upon her weather- 

 bow. 



A cloud of smoke ran all along the side of the frigate, as 

 this bold and extraordinary manoeuvre was executed. The 

 faint report of small arms was wafted by the wind to the 

 shore, as well as the sound of several cannon; but still, 

 whether Harding was wounded or not wounded, living or 

 dead, his gallant boat dashed steadily on, and lefc the frigate 

 far behind, apparently giving up the chase, as no longer pre- 

 senting any chance of success. On, on, went the lugger, 

 diminishing as it flew over the waves, till at length, to the 

 eyes even of those who watched from the heights, its dark, 

 tanned sails grouped themselves into one small speck, and 

 were then lost to the sight. 



The after-fate of that adventurous man, who thus, single 

 and unaided, trusted himself to the wide waves, is wrapped in 

 obscurity. The writer of these pages, indeed, did once see a 

 stern-looking old man of the same name, who had returned some 

 few years before from distant lands, no one well knew whence, 

 to spend the last few years of a life, which had been protracted 

 considerably beyond the ordinary term of human existence, in 

 a seaport not very far from Folkestone. The conversation of 

 the people of the place pointed him out as one who had done 

 extraordinary deeds, and seen strange sights ; but whether he 

 was, indeed, the Harding of this tale or not, I cannot say. 

 Of one thing, however, the reader may be certain, that in all 

 the statements regarding the smuggler's marvellous escape, 

 the most scrupulous accuracy has been observed, and that 

 every fact is as true as any part of history, and a great deal 

 more so than most. 



Having now disposed of one of our principal characters, let 

 me take the reader gently by the hand, and lead him back to 

 Harbourne House. The way is somewhat long, but still, not 

 more than a stout man can walk without fatigue upon a plea- 

 sant morning; and it lies, too, among sweet and interesting 

 scenes, which, to you and me are, I trust, embellished by some 

 of the charms of association. 



It was about six days after the attack upon the church at 

 Goudhurst, when a great number of those personages with 

 whom it has been necessary to make the reader acquainted, 

 were assembled in the drawing-room of Sir Robert Croyland's 



