The Argosy, Vol. 17

# Argosy, January 1, 1874

"In the Dead of Night" (serialized) concerns Lionel Dering, who navigates a treacherous cliff path toward home during an approaching storm. A coastguardsman warns against the route, but Dering proceeds. During the storm, lightning reveals a stranger unknowingly approaching a dangerous chasm. Unable to warn him in time, Dering witnesses the man fall over the cliff edge. Despite the rising tide and the coastguardsman Bunce's protests, Dering descends the perilous "Smugglers' Staircase"—a narrow gully in the cliff face—to reach the beach. He struggles across boulder-strewn rocks through rising water and crashing waves. After an arduous search, he locates the stranger's body among debris at the cliff base, finding the man unconscious but possibly alive. Bunce has meanwhile run to the lighthouse for rescue equipment.