"Have you considered, my lord, that they may still signal to Charles Stuart farther up the coast?"
"What mean you, Trevanion?"
"Doubtless the Pretender set sail from the north of France, and is sailing down the Channel. Think you the Killigrews have not prepared for the present state of things? They have been too long plotting not to realize their danger, and they will not allow Charles to walk blindfold into your hands, especially now they know what hath been done. They will either have moved their forces farther up the coast, or if that be impossible they will have warned him not to land."
"I tell you their forces have been disturbed. They have heard of what has happened, and they have lost heart. As for the other, it is a dark murky night, and no signal could be seen from afar."
"But there is danger, my lord," I persisted; "and you would not like Charles to escape you?"
"No, by heaven, no! but what would you suggest?" and here the man revealed the fact that he should have taken counsel in the affair.
"I would suggest this, my lord. Give me a few men. I know the coast well; I will go northward, and if they are seeking to signal, either I will send you word, or, if I am able, take these Killigrews prisoners."
"The plan sounds well, Trevanion. It can do no harm, and it shall be done. Do you ride northward as you suggest."
Now all along I had been a free lance in the business. Lord Falmouth, of whom I have spoken as Hugh Boscawen, because our county people preferred this honoured old name to the title which had first been given to his father—Lord Falmouth, I say, had insisted that I was not in a fit condition to render him active service because of my wound. In truth, as I have before intimated, he urged that I should stay for some time at Tregothnan, and although I had managed to persuade him as to my fitness to travel and to meet him at Veryan Bay, I knew practically nothing of what he had done. That he should have been able to secure such a large number of men at such a short notice was indicative of his influence in the county. As far as that matter goes, there was no man better known or more respected, while the name of Boscawen was held in reverence from Land's End to the banks of the Tamar, and even beyond it. At one time he was believed to have much influence in Parliament, and no small amount of power over King George himself. But I, who am not a politician, cannot speak with authority on such matters. Of his kinsman, the great Admiral Boscawen, and his prowess, all the world knows. But Hugh did not possess the admiral's genius as a commander, and I could not help seeing, ignorant as I was in all matters pertaining to warfare, that the matter seemed sorely bungled, because of a failure to understand how wily Uncle Anthony and the Killigrews were.
However, I rode off with a few men, and found my way with all diligence along the coast. As Boscawen had said, it was a dark, murky night, and it would be difficult to see a signal from afar. I dared not ride very near the coast, as many parts of it were dangerous; indeed it was with difficulty that we made the journey at all. The country was thickly wooded, and pathways were few.