the mouth of the cavern without removing those substances which
the tide had drifted before it. For the purpose of further
concealment, it was usual with the contraband traders who
frequented this haunt, after they had entered, to stuff the mouth
with withered seaweed, loosely piled together as if carried there
by the waves. Dirk Hatteraick had not forgotten this precaution.

Glossin, though a bold and hardy man, felt his heart throb and his
knees knock together when he prepared to enter this den of secret
iniquity, in order to hold conference with a felon, whom he justly
accounted one of the most desperate and depraved of men. 'But he
has no interest to injure me,' was his consolatory reflection. He
examined his pocket-pistols, however, before removing the weeds
and entering the cavern, which he did upon hands and knees. The
passage, which at first was low and narrow, just admitting
entrance to a man in a creeping posture, expanded after a few
yards into a high arched vault of considerable width. The bottom,
ascending gradually, was covered with the purest sand. Ere Glossin
had got upon his feet, the hoarse yet suppressed voice of
Hatteraick growled through the recesses of the cave:--

'Hagel and donner! be'st du?'

'Are you in the dark?'

'Dark? der deyvil! ay,' said Dirk Hatteraick; 'where should I have
a glim?'

'I have brought light'; and Glossin accordingly produced a tinder-
box and lighted a small lantern.