Louise clung to his arm, and they stood there on the cliff-path listening, and each mentally asking the question, what to do? "If I could only get the faintest clue of his movements," muttered Vine. "Louise, my child, can you not suggest something?" She did not answer, for a terrible dread was upon her now. Her brother might have been taken; and if so, there was no need to hesitate as to the way to go. As if the same thoughts had impressed him, Vine suddenly exclaimed, "No, no, they would not have taken him. The man was a stranger, and Harry would be too quick." For the next hour they hurried here and there, passing Van Heldre's house, where a dim light in the window showed where the injured man lay. There was a vague kind of feeling that sooner or later they would meet Harry, but the minutes glided slowly by, and all was still. Out beyond the harbour light the faint gleam of a lantern could be seen, showing that Bob Perrow had kept faith with them, and that the lugger was swinging in the rapid current, fast to one of the many buoys used by the fishermen in fine weather. But there was no sign or sound apparent; and, with their hearts sinking beneath the impression that Harry had been taken, and yet not daring to go and ask, father and daughter still wandered to and fro along the various streets of the little town. "Can he have taken boat and gone?" whispered Vine at last. "No," said Louise, "there would not have been time, and we should have seen the lights had a boat gone out." "George!" Two figures suddenly appeared out of the darkness, and stopped before them. "Luke? You here?" "Yes; have you seen him?" "No; but is--is he--" "No, Mr Vine," said Leslie quickly. "I have been up to the station twice." "Sir!" "For Heaven's sake don't speak to me like that, Mr Vine," cried Leslie. "I know everything, and I am working for him as I would for my own brother." "Yes, it's all right, George," said Uncle Luke, with his voice softening a little. "Leslie's a good fellow. Look here; we must get the young dog away. Leslie has chartered a fast boat, and she lies in the head of the harbour ready." "Ah!" It was an involuntary ejaculation from Louise. "We'll have have him taken across the Channel if we can find him. Where can he be hidden?" "We have been twice on to your house, Mr Vine," said Leslie, who kept right away from Louise, and out of delicacy seemed to ignore her presence, but spoke so that she could hear every word. "I have three of my miners on the look-out--men I can trust, and law or no law, we must save him from arrest." "Heaven bless you, Mr Leslie. Forgive--" "Hush, sir. There is no time for words. The men from London with our own police are searching in every direction. He got right away, and he is hiding somewhere, for he certainly would not take to the hills or the road, and it would be madness to try the rail."