FOX-HILL When it was known in this fine old village that young Squire Carne from foreign parts was come back to live in the ancient castle, there was much larger outlay (both of words and thoughts) about that than about any French invasion.

"Let them land if they can," said the able-bodied men, in discussion of the latter question; "they won't find it so easy to get away again as they seem to put into their reckoning.

But the plague of it all is the damage to the fishing." Not that the squadron of Captain Tugwell was shorn as yet of its number, though all the young men were under notice to hold themselves ready as "Sea-Fencibles." The injury to their trade lay rather in the difficulty of getting to their fishing-grounds, and in the disturbance of these by cruisers, with little respect for their nets and lines.

Again, as the tidings of French preparation waxed more and more outrageous, Zebedee had as much as he could do to keep all his young hands loyal.

All their solid interest lay (as he told them every morning) in sticking to the Springhaven flag--a pair of soles couchant, herring salient, and mackerel regardant, all upon a bright sea-green--rather than in hankering after roll of drum and Union-Jack.