“You understand, bo’s’n, down with the first who tries to escape up the hole here.”
“Ay, ay.”
“Then, now, forward!” cried Gurr; and, closely followed by Archy and his men, he descended into the old quarry, and then stood listening at the top of the slope, before preparing to advance into the enemy-peopled darkness right ahead.
Chapter Thirty Nine.
Archy felt his heart throb as he led the way down the slope, every step of which seemed so familiar that he advanced without hesitation, the knowledge of how many sturdy men he had at his back keeping away the natural shrinking which under other circumstances he might have felt.
“Halt!” said the master suddenly, and then in a whisper to his guide, “Strikes me as they’ll have the best of it if they should fight, my lad.”
“Not much,” replied Archy; “it’s as dark for them as it is for us, so that they can’t take us at a disadvantage. Call on them to surrender again.”
“Ay, to be sure,” cried the master; and once more he summoned the smugglers to give in.