intimation. I gave the necessary orders, and in a few minutes the prisoners were off, and we steering for Sidmouth.

Silas Hartley was unbound, I took the helm; he seated himself beside me, as he insisted on speaking in whispers only, out of earshot of the men.

'Davis knows nothing,' said he, of who are his employers, save Golding: I do. They are wealthy men, and Denbigh is their well-paid, confidential agent.'

'Ah! Then the story you told the officer was true?' 'Literally so; yes. There were thousands of pounds' worth of smuggled goods in Bauvale House when it was searched; but it was done to mislead of course.'

'Where or how could the goods have been hidden?' 'Very curiously. There is a deep round well in one of the cellars of the building, constructed no doubt when Bauvale House was a place of strength. It is now perfectly dry. The goods are thrown into it, a waterproof tub, exactly fitting the well, is then lowered down, filled with water; and no one suspects, after letting down an empty bucket and drawing it up full, that silks and laces are concealed beneath.'

'A famous contrivance, upon my word!'

'Yes; but you will not penetrate there with these goods, nor procure any evidence of Denbigh's and his confederates' complicity without my assistance. Till my voice is heard in the jargon agreed upon, the gates of his court-yard will not, depend upon it, be opened. He trusts no other, and that because I am hopelessly in the villain's power?

'Hopelessly in his power! How then '

'Hearken, Lieutenant Warneford, to a brief, sad tale, and then say if you will help me. You have noticed a young man of about twenty-five years of age at Bauvale House?'

'Yes; and I have also noticed that he is a lover of Mary Hartley?

'A lover! yes, truly, in one sense they are lovers: they are brother and sister!'

'Brother and sister?'

'Yes. That young man is never permitted to be five minutes out of the sight of either Denbigh or one of his partners, Barnes, who usually acts as servant. The reason is this,' continued Silas Hartley, so hurriedly as scarcely to be intelligible: 'my son, Richard, was given up for a time to wild courses: he became acquainted with Denbigh, who, with others in London, is, or was, proprietor of a "hell" there. Richard was there entrapped, and ruined. I supplied him as long as I could. Finally, as they say, he forged upon Bingley to a considerable amount, and they have the fatal document still in their possession. It has made me their slave, and till within the last half-hour, there seemed no hope of escape from the dreadful bondage.You do not answer!' he continued. It is well, perhaps, you should not, till all is told. The mad act was, I know, committed in a moment of intoxication, delirium-delirium purposely excited by Denbigh's agents. You know the penalty of forgery in this country, and must, I think, now understand me? Often, often has the callous villain promised me my son's deliverance as the reward of a successful run, and always refused to redeem his promise. He has sworn to do so if I succeed in this venture. He would, I doubt not, have violated that pledge also.-Still you do not speak! Look you, sir, we are not so poor as you may believe-nay, nay, I could not mean that we have enough, I meant to say, had we but twelve hours' start, to reach America. You see how you may help us in this fearful strait. But twelve hours' start for him, not me: I care not for myself; and he, sir, is not, alas! technically, but really innocent as yourself of the deed, for he was insane, mad when he committed it!'

Silas Hartley's hand pressed my arm with a gripe of steel, and his flaming eyes shone into mine with terrible intensity. I did not speak for many seconds-indeed I could not. At last I rose, and placing the tiller in his hand, said: 'You, Mr Hartley, know our course best. Should I, by your means, succeed in unkennelling this

nest of rascals, I do not see that I shall have any right to detain your son.'

The father's suspended breath burst forth almost in a scream as I ceased to speak, followed by a few brief, choking sobs. I went forward; and when I returned some minutes afterwards, his usual impassibility had returned, but there was a light in his eye I had never seen there before.

As we approached the coast, the usual signals were made, under Hartley's direction, and favourably answered by lights on the shore. A false alarm had, he told me, succeeded; and the preventive officers were on the lookout miles distant from the contemplated point of landing.

'Only four seamen, and they Frenchmen,' said Hartley as the decisive moment approached, 'will be allowed to enter Bauvale House with me. It is time, therefore, that you don these coats and hats.'

Tom Davis, I, and two seamen, did so; and nothing more was said, except a caution to the three men not to speak if questioned.

The run was completely successful. Four large carts were in attendance, the goods were speedily placed in them, and away we went, with the four carters-nine in all-towards Bauvale House. We halted within about 200 yards of the gate, where Hartley dismounted, went up, gave a peculiar whistle, and communicated with some one inside. The doors were immediately thrown open, and in we drove. The cellar opened on the court-yard, and the carts uptipped their loads into its mouth. We followed close upon Hartley's heels. The obscurity of the place, lighted only by two candles, one carried by Mr Denbigh, and the other by Barnes, greatly favoured us. The packages were tumbled into the well; the tub was lowered, twenty or thirty buckets of water were thrown in, and all was complete. Denbigh was all the time chuckling with delight. Shew these men into the kitchen, Maître Perchard,' he said, as he and Barnes walked away. 'And let them have some refreshment. This is a

capital night's work. And then do you come and receive their wages.

We followed Hartley in the dark, holding by each other's coats, to the kitchen. He left us for a moment or so, and then returned with a candle. His face was white as paper, but lustrous with exultation and triumph. We put our shoes off at his whispered request, and followed stealthily his footsteps. He opened the diningroom door, passed in, but did not close it, and we could hear distinctly all that passed where we stood, just outside.

There is the money,' said Denbigh's shrill voice, tossing at the same time, as we heard, a heavy purse on the table with an extra five sovereigns for yourself!'

'Yes, yes,' said Hartley; 'but my son's release, so often solemnly promised me

'For God's sake, gentlemen, do not deceive us this time!' said the meek, subdued voice of the son. You know well that in intention I was innocent as a child.' A brutal laugh was the answer. 'Innocent here, innocent there,' mocked the savage tones of Barnes, 'has nothing to do with it. We cannot part with you yet awhile.'

An exulting shout burst irrepressibly from the excited father. Hear the accursed traitors! Hear them, Lieutenant Warneford!-hear them, Davis!-hear them, my friends! They cannot part with him yet awhile-ha! ha! ha!'

The suddenness of this unexpected stroke was terrible, and Denbigh and Barnes looked more, as we entered, like startled ghosts than living beings. The men instantly, at a gesture from me, proceeded to secure and bind them. I looked hard at Silas Hartley: he comprehended my meaning, whispered hastily to his son, who instantly hurried out of the room. This broke Denbigh's trance of terror. 6 Stop that man, Lieutenant Warneford!' he screamed. 'Arrest him: he is a felon!'

"What man?'

'He who has just run off-Richard Hartley. He is a felon-a forger, I tell you, and I can prove it!'

'Possibly; but I have no authority to detain felons. You can prefer the charge hereafter.'

'But in the meantime he will escape!' shouted the miserably vindictive man, and then stamped and howled with baffled rage. There was, however, no help for it. The two prisoners were secured in the house for the night, and late the following evening, lodged in Exeter jail. A formidable conspiracy was effectually broken up, and enormous penalties were liquidated, out of court, by parties against whom legal proofs of complicity were obtained.

The Hartleys, both father and son-for Silas quietly slipped off unnoticed in the confusion-did escape to the United States. I often heard of them as thriving there. In 1840, the sister, then a Mrs Boydon, informed me of her father's death, since which I have received no tidings concerning them. I made a clean breast of the whole matter to the authorities, and can at least very confidently say, that the course I had taken with respect to young Hartley was not disapproved of. Tom Davis, I must not omit to state, has still got his fishing-vessel, his cottage, his houri, much plumper than she was thirty years ago and lots of bairns, three of whom are taller, but not, I think, better or braver men than their father.

ADVENTURE ON THE ST LAWRENCE. THE following narrative of a remarkable adventure on the St Lawrence, appeared a number of years ago in a Liverpool newspaper, where it was vouched for as true in every particular :

'On the 22d of April 1810, our party set sail in a large schooner from Fort George, or Niagara Town, in Upper Canada, and in two days crossed Lake Ontario to Kingston, at the head of the river St Lawrence, distant from Niagara about 200 miles. Here we hired