he, as soon as he found himself face to face with the intruder, who proved to be a sailor, in open jacket, loose shirt and slops, and flat, three-cornered hat.
"Oons, sir, 'tis a matter of life and death!" said the man, as he saluted the parson with becoming respect, and then pointed quickly back in the direction of the sea, which could be seen faintly glistening in the murky light of a clouded moon. "I'm from the revenue cutter in the offing yonder, where one of my mates lies with a bullet in's back, sent there by one of those rascally smugglers in a fray we've had with them but now. I've been in the village for help, but they say there's no doctor here but yourself. So I beg your honor'll come with me, and do what you can for him. And could you tell me of a woman that would watch by him? For we've all got our hands full, and he'll be wandering from his wits ere morning."
The parson, without a moment's delay, had begun, by the help of his daughter, to get into a rough brown riding-coat that hung from a nail on the whitewashed wall.
"Why, there you have me out," said he, as
