Tom and St.Clair by his side pressed against the earthwork.
"What is it ?" they whispered.
"The moonlight is good," replied Harry, "but I don't see any ship.
It must be a signal of some kind." "Hush!" said Langdon, "there it goes again!" Another cannon thundered, and the echoes, as before, came back from sea and shore, followed, as the echoes died, by that strange, heavy silence.
But, straining their eyes to the utmost, the three boys could see nothing on the sea.

It swayed gently like a vast mass of molten silver in the starshine, and lapped softly against the shore.

The report of a third heavy gun came, and then the reports of several more.

After that the silence was complete.

It had seemed to Harry, his brain surcharged with excitement, like the tolling of great bells.