'Make haste and get away,' said Winefred. 'This has been a longer business than I thought. Leave me the light and I will dowse it at the least alarm. I can get the kegs in, and no one can see them when there.' 'You are a brave girl,' said Jack. 'I thank you, and you shall be well rewarded.' 'I want no reward,' she answered, 'except this, that you say "I won't" if this sort of thing is proposed again.' 'Well――I won't. I swear it. This is the last time.' [Illustration: WINEFRED HAD TAKEN THE LANTERN, AND HELD IT SO AS TO ASSIST HIM.] CHAPTER XIV BURIED ALIVE 'You cannot stay here alone,' said Jack; 'I will remain with you.' 'You must rejoin your men. Leave me. Your way is to the mouth of the Axe, and mine――I will go along the beach till I reach the path to the station――no, I dare not go that way. Some of the angry and disappointed men might meet and question me――Why out at night? I would confess nothing, but they might suspect something and search along the shore and find this rent. I will climb up by the way I came down, and get home as fast as may be, after I have got the kegs rolled into the cave and concealed.' 'I do not like to desert you here at this hour.' 'Time with you is precious. With me it is only a matter of concern to relieve my mother's anxiety and alarm should she chance to wake and miss me.' The young man laid his hands on the girl's shoulders. 'Winefred, I shall never forget what you have done for me to-night. I cannot find words in which to thank you, but my heart is full.' 'Well, go.' 'Good-night, Winefred. Henceforth we are no mere strangers, but friends.' 'Yes, till we quarrel.' 'For that there must be an occasion.' Then he started. She listened as his feet displaced the pebbles on the strand. She listened till the roar of the inrolling tide drowned his steps. Then she went back into the chasm. The lantern still threw a sickly light on the white wall opposite. She had to pick her way among the kegs that encumbered the floor, and lift or roll them up a heap of soil before the mouth of the cave. The barrels were happily small. A tubman carried a pair of them, one slung at his back and the other in front of him. They were heaped up where they had lodged on their descent. The loops of rope attached to each, and inseparable from such run tubs, loops furnished by the dealers in France who consigned the spirits to the smugglers――these greatly facilitated the transfer. Winefred got several into the cave, where they now encroached on the entrance. The girl entered and busied herself with arranging them along the side.