CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.
Archy felt his heart throb as he led the way down the slope, every step of which seemed so familiar that he advanced without hesitation, the knowledge of how many sturdy men he had at his back keeping away the natural shrinking which under other circumstances he might have felt.
"Halt!" said the master suddenly, and then in a whisper to his guide, "Strikes me as they'll have the best of it if they should fight, my lad." "Not much," replied Archy; "it's as dark for them as it is for us, so that they can't take us at a disadvantage.

Call on them to surrender again." "Ay, to be sure," cried the master; and once more he summoned the smugglers to give in.
There was not a sound to suggest that his orders were heard.
"Don't know what to do, my lad," whispered the master again.

"If we go forward, we're leaving the way open for the enemy to attack the watch at the entrance, and we don't want that.

Are you sure they're here ?" "I feel certain of it," said Archy in the same low tone.

"They must be, but they're hiding, so as to try to escape, or else to take us at a disadvantage." "Well," said Gurr, "let them.