Snatching from the booth his trusty Brown Bess musket, without
waiting to challenge, for he well knew that this was the vanguard
of the threatened invasion, he fired at the boat, more for the
purpose of giving the alarm than in the expectation of inflicting
any damage on the moving object in the uncertain light.

The sound of the musket shot echoed and re-echoed between the
rocky cliffs, and repeated in loud reverberations its thrilling
sound of warning.

"Curse him! we are discovered," exclaimed the steersman of the
foremost boat, with a brutal oath. "Spring to your oars, lads! We
must gain a footing before the guard turns out or it's all up with
us. Pull for your lives!"

No longer rowing cautiously with muffled oars, but with loud
shouts and fairly churning the surface of the water into foam,
they made the boat--a large flat-bottomed barge--bound through the
waves. Another and another emerged rapidly from the darkness, and
their prows successively grated upon the shingle as they were
forced upon the beach. The invading troops leaped lightly out with
a clash of arms, and at the quick, sharp word of command, formed
upon the beach.

Meanwhile, on the cliff above, the sharp challenge and reply of
the guard, the shrill _reveille_ of the bugle, and the quick
throbbing of the drums calling to arms is heard. The men turn out
with alacrity, and are soon seen, in the grey dawn, running from
their several billets to headquarters, buckling their belts and
adjusting their accoutrements as they run. Soon is heard the