“You come along with me and I’ll show you something,” he said. They all tumbled in, and Jack and Mike took an oar each. George had two. They rowed out on the calm sea, bumping a little on the waves that ran round the rocks here and there.
“We’ve got to row a good way,” said George. “I reckon we can just do it before supper. Right round the cliff there, look - and beyond it - and then round the next crag too. It’s a goodish way.”
It was lovely on the sea in the evening. The children took turns at rowing. The sun sank lower. The boat rounded the big cliff, went across the next bay, and rounded a great craggy head of rock that stood well out into the sea. Beyond that the cliff fell almost down to sea-level before it rose again.
George took the boat well out to sea then - and suddenly he pulled in his oars, shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked over the land to the north-west.
“Now you look over there,” he said, “and tell me what you can see.”
The children looked. Jack gave a shout. “Why, we can see the topmost window of the Old House from here - and we can see the topmost window of our own tower too! The cliffs seem to fall away in a more or less straight line from here, and the towers can just be seen.”
“Yes,” said George. “And in smuggling days a ship could come and anchor out here. Right out of sight of Spiggy Holes, and could come in at night when a light shone in those towers! Old man Spiggy used to light the lamp when it was safe, and it used to wink out at the smuggling ships here, and in they’d ride on the tide, unseen by anyone!”
“It does sound exciting,” said Jack. “Do you suppose Mr. Felipe Diaz is going to use the tower for the same thing, George?”
“Oh no!” said George. “But we’ll keep our eyes open, shall we?”
“Yes, rather!” cried all the children, and rowed back to supper as fast as they could.