In a few minutes the Squire, Dick, and Sam were behind the parapet of the principal tower, the Squire with his telescope in his hand. Lofty as their perch was, the jetty and the lower part of the village were not in sight, being concealed by the contour of the hill. But they could see the upper houses and the cliffs beyond; the church tower and the red roof of the Parsonage away to the left; and almost every yard of ground between the hilltop and the Towers.
"Shall I ring bell, Maister?" asked Sam.
"No; wait a little. We don't want to make ourselves a laughing-stock. There's nothing in Polkerran to make it worth any Frenchman's while to—Ha! I see it all. 'Tis a trick of Mildmay's, the sly dog. Do you see, Dick? He has disguised himself and his men as Frenchmen, and pounced on Tonkin's lugger with a fine crop aboard. Ha! ha! The neatest feat I ever heard of."
"I'm rather doubtful about that, sir," said Dick. "The faces I saw weren't Cornish."
"It would be a poor disguise if they were. You may be sure I'm right, and we shall have Mildmay coming up to breakfast by-and-by with a fine tale of tubs. I slept badly, Dick; I'll return to my bed for an hour or two."
Dick remained with Sam on the roof. He was not at all convinced that his father was right. It was difficult to conceive what object a band of Frenchmen could have in attacking so small a village, yet he felt sure that they were Frenchmen, and that their visit was not an ordinary smuggling affair. After a long look through his spy-glass he said to Sam:
"There's no smoke, no sound of firing—-no noise at all. We can't see anything here, Sam; let us take a run to the Beal again."
But at that moment he saw a man rise over the crest of the hill; immediately behind him came others. They were armed with muskets and cutlasses, and advanced rapidly and in a manner that suggested a definite goal.
"Off to the turret and pull the bell, Sam!" cried Dick. He rushed downstairs to his father's room again.
"Thirty or forty armed men are marching from the village, sir," he said. "I think they're coming to attack us."