Through Russian Snows: A Story of Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow Read online

  CHAPTER I

  TWO BROTHERS

  When Colonel Wyatt died, all Weymouth agreed that it was a mostunfortunate thing for his sons Julian and Frank. The loss of a father isalways a misfortune to lads, but it was more than usually so in thiscase. They had lost their mother years before, and Colonel Wyatt'ssister had since kept house for him. As a housekeeper she was anefficient substitute, as a mother to the boys she was a completefailure. How she ever came to be Colonel Wyatt's sister was a puzzle toall their acquaintances. The Colonel was quick and alert, sharp anddecisive in speech, strong in his opinions, peremptory in his manner,kindly at heart, but irascible in temper. Mrs. Troutbeck was gentle andalmost timid in manner; report said that she had had a hard time of itin her married life, and that Troutbeck had frightened out of her anyvestige of spirit that she had ever possessed. Mrs. Troutbeck neverargued, and was always in perfect agreement with any opinion expressed,a habit that was constantly exciting the wrath and indignation of herbrother.

  The idea of controlling the boys never once entered her mind. So longas the Colonel was alive there was no occasion for such control, and inthis respect she did not attempt after his death to fill his place. Itseemed, indeed, that she simply transferred her allegiance from theColonel to them. Whatever they did was right in her eyes, and they wereallowed to do practically whatever they pleased. There was a differencein age of three years and a half between the brothers; Julian at thetime of his father's death being sixteen, while Frank was still a fewmonths short of thirteen. Casual acquaintances often remarked that therewas a great likeness between them; and, indeed, both werepleasant-looking lads with somewhat fair complexions, their brown hairhaving a tendency to stand up in a tuft on the forehead, while both hadgrey eyes, and square foreheads. Mrs. Troutbeck was always ready toassent to the remark as to their likeness, but would gently qualify itby saying that it did not strike her so much as it did other people.

  "Their dispositions are quite different," she said, "and knowing them asI do, I see the same differences in their faces."

  Any close observer would, indeed, have recognized it at once. Both faceswere pleasant, but while Julian's wore an expression of easy goodtemper, and a willingness to please and to be pleased, there was a lackof power and will in the lower part of the face; there was neitherfirmness in the mouth nor determination in the chin. Upon the otherhand, except when smiling or talking, Frank's lips were closely pressedtogether, and his square chin and jaw clearly indicated firmness of willand tenacity of purpose. Julian was his aunt's favourite, and was one ofthe most popular boys at his school. He liked being popular, and as longas it did not put him to any great personal trouble was always ready tofall in with any proposal, to take part in every prank, to lend or givemoney if he had it in his pocket, to sympathize with any one introuble.

  "He has the most generous disposition of any boy I ever saw!" his auntwould frequently declare. "He's always ready to oblige. No matter whathe is doing, he will throw it aside in a moment if I want anything done,or ask him to go on an errand into the town. Frank is very nice, he isvery kind and all that sort of thing, but he goes his own way more, andI don't find him quite so willing to oblige as Julian; but then, ofcourse, he is much younger, and one can't expect a boy of twelve to beas thoughtful to an old woman as a young fellow of nearly seventeen."

  As time went on the difference in their characters became still moremarked. Julian had left school a year after his father's death, and hadsince been doing nothing in particular. He had talked vaguely of goinginto the army, and his father's long services would have given him aclaim for a commission had he decided upon writing to ask for one, butJulian could never bring himself to decide upon anything. Had there beenan old friend of his father's at hand ready to settle the matter for himhe would have made no opposition whatever, but his aunt was altogetheropposed to the idea, and so far from urging him to move in the mattershe was always ready to say, whenever it happened to be mentioned,"There is no hurry, my dear Julian. We hear terrible stories of thehardships that the soldiers suffer in Spain; and although, if you decideupon going, of course I can't say no, still there can be no hurry aboutit."

  This was quite Julian's own opinion. He was very comfortable where hewas. He was his own master, and could do as he liked. He was amplysupplied with pocket-money by his aunt; he was fond of sailing, fishing,and shooting; and as he was a general favourite among the boatmen andfishermen he was able to indulge in his fondness for the sea to as largean extent as he pleased, though it was but seldom that he had a chanceof a day's shooting. Julian had other tastes of a less healthycharacter; he was fond of billiards and of society, he had a fine voiceand a taste for music, and the society he chose was not that mostcalculated to do him good. He spent less and less of his time at home,and rarely returned of an evening until the other members of thehousehold were in bed. Whatever his aunt thought of the matter she neverremonstrated with him, and was always ready to make the excuse toherself, "I can't expect a fine young fellow like that to be tied to anold woman's apron-strings. Young men will be young men, and it is onlynatural that he should find it dull at home."

  When Julian arrived at the age of nineteen it was tacitly understoodthat the idea of his going into the army had been altogether dropped,and that when a commission was asked for, it would be for Frank.Although Julian was still her favourite, Mrs. Troutbeck was morefavourably disposed towards Frank than of old. She knew from her friendsthat he was quite as popular among his schoolmates as his brother hadbeen, although in a different way. He was a hard and steady worker, buthe played as hard as he worked, and was a leader in every game. He,however, could say "no" with a decision that was at once recognized asbeing final, and was never to be persuaded into joining in any forbiddenamusement or to take share in any mischievous adventure. When his ownwork was done he was always willing to give a quarter of an hour toassist any younger lad who found his lessons too hard for him, andthough he was the last boy to whom any one would think of applying for aloan of money, he would give to the extent of his power in any casewhere a subscription was raised for a really meritorious purpose.

  Thus when the school contributed a handsome sum towards a fund that wasbeing raised for the relief of the families of the fishermen who hadbeen lost, when four of their boats were wrecked in a storm, no oneexcept the boys who got up the collection knew that nearly half theamount for which the school gained credit came from the pocket of FrankWyatt.

  The brothers, though differing so widely in disposition, were very fondof each other. In his younger years Frank had looked up to his bigbrother as a sort of hero, and Julian's good-nature and easy-goingtemper led him to be always kind to his young brother, and to give himwhat he valued most--assistance at his lessons and a patient attentionto all his difficulties. As the years went on, Frank came to perceiveclearly enough the weak points in his brother's character, and with hisusual outspokenness sometimes remonstrated with him strongly.

  "It is horrible to see a fellow like you wasting your life as you do,Julian. If you don't care for the army, why don't you do something else?I should not care what it was, so that it but gave you something tooccupy yourself, and if it took you out of here, all the better. Youknow that you are not doing yourself any good."

  "I am not doing myself any harm, you young beggar," Julian replied goodtemperedly.

  "I don't know, Julian," the boy said sturdily; "you are not looking halfas well as you used to do. I am sure late hours don't suit you, andthere is no good to be got out of billiards. I know the sort of fellowsyou meet there are not the kind to do you any good, or that father wouldhave liked to see you associate with if he had been alive. Just askyourself honestly if you think he would. If you can say 'yes,' I willshut up and say no more about it; but can you say 'yes'?"

  Julian was silent. "I don't know that I can," he said after a pause."There is no harm in any of them that I know of, but I suppose that inthe way you put it, they are not the set father would have fancied, withhis strict notions.
I have thought of giving it up a good many times,but it is an awkward thing, when you are mixed up with a lot offellows, to drop them without any reason."

  "You have only got to say that you find late hours don't agree with you,and that you have made up your mind to cut it altogether."

  "That is all very well for you, Frank, and I will do you justice to saythat if you determined to do a thing, you would do it without mindingwhat any one said."

  "Without minding what any one I did not care for, said," Frankinterrupted. "Certainly; why should I heed a bit what people I do notcare for say, so long as I feel that I am doing what is right."

  "I wish I were as strong-willed as you are, Frank," Julian said ratherruefully, "then I should not have to put up with being bullied by ayoung brother."

  "You are too good tempered, Julian," Frank said, almost angrily. "Hereare you, six feet high and as strong as a horse, and with plenty ofbrain for anything, just wasting your life. Look at the position fatherheld here, and ask yourself how many of his old friends do you know.Why, rather than go on as you are doing, I would enlist and go out tothe Peninsula and fight the French. That would put an end to all thissort of thing, and you could come back again and start afresh. You willhave money enough for anything you like. You come into half father'sL16,000 when you come of age, and I have no doubt that you will haveAunt's money."

  "Why should I?" Julian asked in a more aggrieved tone than he hadhitherto used.

  "Because you are her favourite, Julian, and quite right that you shouldbe. You have always been awfully good to her, and that is one reason whyI hate you to be out of an evening; for although she never says a wordagainst you, and certainly would not hear any one else do so, I tell youit gives me the blues to see her face as she sits there listening foryour footsteps."

  "It is a beastly shame, and I will give it up, Frank; honour bright, Iwill."

  "That is right, old fellow; I knew you would if you could only once peepin through the window of an evening and see her face."

  "As for her money," Julian went on, "if she does not divide it equallybetween us, I shall, you may be sure."

  "I sha'n't want it," Frank said decidedly. "You know I mean to go intothe army, and with the interest of my own money I shall have as much asI shall possibly want, and if I had more it would only bother me, and dome harm in my profession. With you it is just the other way. You are thehead of the family, and as Father's son ought to take a good place. Youcould buy an estate and settle down on it, and what with its management,and with horses and hunting and shooting, you would be just in yourelement."

  "Well, we will see about it when the time comes. I am sure I hope theold lady will be with us for a long time yet. She is as kind-hearted asoul as ever lived, though it would have been better for me, no doubt,if she held the reins a little tighter. Well, anyhow, Frank, I will cutthe billiards altogether."

  They exchanged a silent grip of the hand on the promise, and Julian,looking more serious than usual, put on his hat and went out. There wasa curious reversal of the usual relations between the brothers. Julian,although he always laughed at his young brother's assumption of the partof mentor, really leant upon his stronger will, and as often as not,even if unconsciously, yielded to his influence, while Frank'sadmiration for his brother was heightened by the unfailing good temperwith which the latter received his remonstrances and advice. "He is anawfully good fellow," he said to himself when Julian left the room."Anyone else would have got into a rage at my interference; but he hasonly one fault; he can't say no, and that is at the root of everything.I can't understand myself why a fellow finds it more difficult to say nothan to say yes. If it is right to do a thing one does it, if it is notright one leaves it alone, and the worst one has to stand, if you don'tdo what other fellows want, is a certain amount of chaff, and that hurtsno one."

  Frank, indeed, was just as good tempered as Julian, although in anentirely different way. He had never been known to be in a passion, butput remonstrance and chaff aside quietly, and went his own way withoutbeing in the slightest degree affected by them.

  Julian kept his promise, and was seen no more in the billiard saloon.Fortunately for him the young fellows with whom he was in the habit ofplaying were all townsmen, clerks, the sons of the richer tradesmen, orof men who owned fishing-boats or trading vessels, and others of thatclass--not, indeed, as Frank had said, the sort of men whom ColonelWyatt would have cared for his son to have associated with--but harmlessyoung fellows who frequented the billiard-rooms as a source of amusementand not of profit, and who therefore had no motive for urging Julian toplay. To Mrs. Troutbeck's delight he now spent four or five evenings athome, only going out for an hour to smoke a pipe and to have a chat withthe fishermen. Once or twice a week he would be absent all night, goingout, as he told his aunt, for a night's fishing, and generally returningin the morning with half a dozen mackerel or other fish as his share ofthe night's work.

  Sometimes he would ask Frank to accompany him, and the latter, when hehad no particular work on hand, would do so, and thoroughly enjoyed thesport.

  Smuggling was at the time carried on extensively, and nowhere moreactively than between Weymouth and Exmouth on the one hand, and Swanageon the other. Consequently, in spite of the vigilance of the revenuemen, cargoes were frequently run. The long projection of Chesil Beachand Portland afforded a great advantage to the smugglers; and LieutenantDownes, who commanded the revenue cutter _Boxer_, had been heard todeclare that he would gladly subscribe a year's pay if a channel couldbe cut through the beach. Even when he obtained information that a cargowas likely to be run to the west, unless the winds and tides were alikepropitious, it took so long a time to get round Portland Bill that hewas certain to arrive too late to interfere with the landing, while, attimes, an adverse wind and the terrors of the "race" with its tremendouscurrent and angry waves would keep the _Boxer_ lying for days to thewest of the Island, returning to Weymouth only to hear that during herabsence a lugger had landed her cargo somewhere to the east.

  "Job himself would have lost his temper if he had been a revenue officerat Weymouth," Lieutenant Downes would exclaim angrily. "Why, sir, Iwould rather lie for three months off the mouth of an African riverlooking for slavers, than be stationed at Weymouth in search ofsmuggling craft, for a month; it is enough to wear a man to athread-paper. Half the coast population seem to me to be in alliancewith these rascals, and I am so accustomed to false information now,that as a rule when one of my men gets a hint that a cargo is going tobe run near Swanage I start at once for the west, knowing well enoughthat wherever the affair is to come off it certainly will not be withinten miles of the point named. Even in Weymouth itself the sympathy ofthe population lies rather with the smugglers than the revenue men."

  The long war with France had rendered brandy, French wines, lace, andsilks fabulously dear, and the heavy duties charged reduced to aminimum the legitimate traffic that might otherwise have been carriedon; therefore, even well-to-do people favoured the men who brought theseluxuries to their doors, at a mere fraction of the price that they wouldotherwise have had to pay for them. Then, too, there was an element ofromance in the career of a smuggler who risked his life every day, andwhose adventures, escapes, and fights with the revenue men were toldround every fireside. The revenue officer was not far wrong when he saidthat the greater portion of the population round the coast, includingall classes, were friendly to, if not in actual alliance with, thesmugglers. Julian was well aware that many of the fishermen with whom hewent out often lent a hand to the smugglers in landing their goods andtaking them inland, or in hiding them in caves in the cliffs known onlyto the smugglers and themselves. He had heard many stories from them ofadventures in which they had been engaged, and the manner in which, byshowing signal lights from the sea, they had induced the revenue men tohurry to the spot at which they had seen a flash, and so to leave thecoast clear for the landing of the goods.

  "It must be great fun," he said one day. "I must say I should like tota
ke part in running a cargo, for once."

  "Well, Master Julian, there would not be much difficulty about that, ifso be you really mean it. We can put you up to it easy enough, but youknow, sir, it isn't all fun. Sometimes the revenue men come down upon usin spite of all the pains we take to throw them off the scent. CaptainDownes is getting that artful that one is never sure whether he has beengot safely away or not. A fortnight ago he pretty nigh came down on alugger that was landing a cargo in Lulworth Cove. We thought that it hadall been managed well. Word had gone round that the cargo was to be runthere, and the morning before, a woman went on to the cliffs and got intalk with one of the revenue men. She let out, as how her husband hadbeen beating her, and she had made up her mind to pay him out. There wasgoing, she said, to be a cargo run that night at a point half waybetween Weymouth and Lyme Regis.

  "I know she did the part well, as she acted it on three or four of usafterwards, and the way she pretended to be in a passion and as spitefulas a cat, would have taken any fellow in. In course the revenue chapasked her what her name was and where she lived, and I expect they didnot find her when they looked for her afterwards in the place she toldhim. He wanted her to go with him to the officer of the station, but shesaid that she would never do that, for if it got to be known that shehad peached about it, it would be as much as her life was worth. Well, aboy who was watching saw the revenue chap go off, as soon as she was outof sight, straight to the coast-guard station, and ten minutes later theofficer in charge there set off for Weymouth.

  "The boy followed and he saw him go on board the _Boxer_. Directlyafterwards Captain Downes came ashore with him and had a long talk withthe chief of the coast-guard there; then he went on board again, and weall chuckled when we saw the _Boxer_ get up her anchor, set all sail,make out to Portland, and go round the end of the rock. Two hours latera look-out on the hills saw her bearing out to sea to the southwest,meaning, in course, to run into the bay after it was dark. On shore theofficer at Weymouth got a horse and rode along the cliffs to theeastward. He stopped at each coast-guard station, right on pastLulworth, and soon afterwards three parts of the men at each of themturned out and marched away west.

  "We thought that we had fooled them nicely, and that evening half adozen of our boats sailed into Lulworth harbour and anchored therequiet. One of them rowed ashore and landed two hands to look round. Theybrought back news as there were only two or three revenue men left atthe station, and it would be easy enough to seize them and tie them uptill it was all over. In course, everything worked for a bit just as wethought it would. The lugger we were expecting showed her light in theoffing and was signalled that the coast was clear. It was a dark night,and the two revenue men on duty in the cove were seized and tied up bysome of the shore band without a blow being struck. Two or three chapswere placed at the door of the station, so that if the two men leftthere turned out they would be gagged at once. Everything was ready, anda big lot of carts came down to the water's edge. The lugger anchoredoutside the cove; we got up our kedges and rowed out to her, and a dozenshoreboats did the same. As soon as we got alongside they began tobundle the kegs in, when not three hundred yards away came a hail, 'Whatcraft is that?'

  "It struck us all into a heap, and you could have heard a pin drop. Thencame the hail again, 'If you don't answer I will sink you,' whereuponthe skipper of the lugger shouted out, 'the _Jennie_ of Portsmouth.''Lend a hand, lads, with the sails,' he whispered to us; 'slip thecable, Tom.' We ran up the sails in a jiffy, you may be sure, and allthe sharper that, as they were half-way up, four guns flashed out. Onehulled the lugger, the others flew overhead. Close as they were theycould not have seen us, for we could scarce see them and we were underthe shadow of the cliffs, but I suppose they fired at the voices. 'Sinkthe tubs, lads,' the skipper said as the lugger glided away from us.There was a nice little air blowing off shore, and she shot away intothe darkness in no time. We all rowed into the mouth of the cove forshelter, and were only just in time, for a shower of grape splashed thewater up a few yards behind us.

  "We talked it over for a minute or two, and settled that the _Boxer_would be off after the lugger and would not pay any more attention tous. Some of them were in favour of taking the kegs that we had gotashore, but the most of us were agin that, and the captain himself hadtold us to sink them, so we rowed out of the cove again and tied sinkersto the kegs and lowered them down three or four hundred yards west ofthe mouth of the cove. We went on board our boats and the other chapswent on shore, and you may guess we were not long in getting up oursails and creeping out of the cove. It was half an hour after the firstshots were fired before we heard the _Boxer_ at it again. I reckon thatin the darkness they could not make out whether the lugger had keptalong east or west under the cliffs, and I expect they went the wrongway at first, and only found her at last with their night-glasses whenshe was running out to sea.

  "Well, next morning we heard that the shore men had not landed fiveminutes when there was a rush of forty or fifty revenue men into thevillage. There ain't no doubt they had only gone west to throw us offour guard, and, as soon as it was dark, turned and went eastward. Theycould not have known that the job was to come off at Lulworth, but wereon the look-out all along, and I reckon that it was the same with the_Boxer_. She must have beaten back as soon as it was dark enough for hernot to be seen from the hills, and had been crawling along on thelook-out close to the shore, when she may have caught sight of thelugger's signal. Indeed, we heard afterwards that it called back thecoast-guard men, for they had passed Lulworth and were watching at aspot between that and St. Alban's Head, where a cargo had been run amonth or two before, when they caught sight of the signal off Lulworth.Well, you may guess they did not get much for their pains. The carts hadall made off as soon as they heard the _Boxer's_ guns, and knew that thegame was up, for the night anyhow, and they found every light out inLulworth, and everyone, as it seemed, fast asleep. I believe, from whatI have heard, that there was a great row afterwards between CaptainDownes and the revenue officer ashore. The chap ashore would have itthat it was all the captain's fault for being in such a hurry, and thatif he had waited an hour they would have got all the carts with thecargo, even if he had not caught the lugger.

  "Well, that was true enough; but I don't see that Downes was to blame,for until he came along he could not be sure where the lugger was, andindeed she was so close in under the cliff that it is like enough hewould have missed her altogether and have gone on another two or threemiles, if it had not been that they caught the noise of the boatsalongside her taking in the kegs. The lugger got away all right; she isa fast craft, and though the _Boxer_ can walk along in a strong wind, ina light breeze the lugger had the legs of her altogether. That showsyou, Mr. Julian, that Captain Downes has cut his eye-teeth, and that itis mighty hard to fool him. He was never nearer making a good capturethan he was that night. The lugger ran her cargo two nights afterwardsat the very spot where the woman had told the revenue man that she wasgoing to do it. There was a little bit of a fight, but the coast-guardwere not strong enough to do any good, and had to make off, and beforethey could bring up anything like a strong force, every bale and keg hadbeen carried inland, and before morning there was scarce a farmhousewithin ten miles that had not got some of it stowed away in their snughiding-places. Downes will be more vicious than ever after that job, andyou see, master, you are like to run a goodish risk of getting your headbroke and of being hauled off to jail. Still, if you would like to joinsome night in a run we can put you in the way."

  "Yes, I should like it very much," Julian said. "There can't be muchrisk, for there has not been anything like a regular fight anywherealong this part of the coast for the last two years, and from what Ihave heard, there must have been twenty cargoes run in that time."

  "All that, sir, all that; nigher thirty, I should say. There is threeluggers at it reg'lar."

  "Are they French or English?"

  "Two of them is French and one English, but the crews are all mixed.
They carry strong crews all of them, and a longish gun in their sterns,so that in case they are chased they may have a chance of knocking awaya spar out of anything after them. They would not fight if a cutter cameup alongside them--that might make a hanging matter of it, while if noneof the revenue chaps are killed it is only a case of long imprisonment,though the English part of the crew generally have the offer of enteringon a king's ship instead, and most of them take it. Life on board aman-of-war may not be a pleasant one, but after all it is better thanbeing boxed up in a prison for years. Anyhow, that is the light in whichI should look at it myself."

  "I should think so," Julian agreed. "However, you see there is no greatrisk in landing the kegs, for it is very seldom you get so nearly caughtas you did at Lulworth. Let me know when the next affair is coming off,Bill, and if it is anywhere within a moderate distance of Weymouth Iwill go with you if you will take me. Anyhow, whether I go or not, youmay be quite sure that I shall keep the matter to myself."

  "The most active chap about here," Bill said after he had hauled hisnets, and the boat was making her way back to Weymouth, "is thatFaulkner. He is a bitter bad one, he is. Most of the magistrates abouthere don't trouble their heads about smuggling, and if they find a kegof first class brandy quite accidental any morning on their doorstep,they don't ask where it comes from, but just put it down into theircellars. Sometimes information gets sworn before them, and they has tolet the revenue people know, but somehow or other, I can't say how itis," and the fisherman gave a portentous wink, "our fellows generallyget some sort of an idea that things ain't right, and the landing don'tcome off as expected; queer, ain't it? But that fellow Faulkner, heain't like that. He worries hisself about the smugglers just about asmuch as Captain Downes does. He is just as hard on smugglers as he is onpoachers, and he is wonderful down on them, he is. Do you know him,sir?"

  "I know him by sight. He is a big, pompous man; his place is about twomiles up the valley, and there are some large woods round it."

  "That is so, sir; and they say as they are chock-full of pheasants. Hehas a lot of keepers, and four years ago there was a desperate fightthere. Two keepers and three poachers got shot, and two others werecaught; they were tried at the 'sizes for murder and hanged. He is aregular bully, he is, but he ain't no coward. If he was he would neverstir out after sunset, but instead of that he is out night after nighton the cliffs, when there is any talk of a cargo being run. He is knownto carry pistols about with him, and so though his life has beenthreatened many times, nothing has ever come of it. One thing is, he hasgot a big black horse, about the best horse there is in this part of thecountry, and he always rides mighty fast down into the town or up on tothe cliffs, where he gets among the revenue men, and in course he issafe enough. He was down with that lot at Lulworth that night, and theysay he cussed and swore loud enough to be heard all over the village,when they found that they had got there too late. He is a bitter badweed, is Faulkner."

  "I know he is very unpopular even in the town," Julian said. "He is thehardest magistrate on the bench, and if it were not for the others not aman brought before him would ever get off. I have heard that he is verymuch disliked by the other magistrates, and that some time ago, when hewanted to join the club, they would not have him at any price. I can'tmake out why a fellow should go out of his way to make himself disliked.I can understand his being down on poachers; no one likes to be robbed,but the smuggling cannot make any difference to him one way or theother."

  "No; that is what we says. It don't concern him, 'cept that magistratesare bound in a sort of way to see that the law is not broken. But whyshouldn't he do like the others and go on his way quiet, unless he getsan information laid before him, or a warning from the revenue people ashe is wanted. You mark my words, Master Julian, some night that chapwill get a bullet or a charge of shot in his body."

  After this Julian went on more than one occasion with Bill and otherfishermen to look on at the landing of contraband cargoes. If thedistance was within a walk they would start from Weymouth straightinland, and come down by the road along which the carts were to fetchthe goods up, for it was only occasionally that the fishermen would taketheir boats. At Lulworth, of course, there had been no risk in theirdoing so, as boats, when fishing to the east, would often make their wayinto the cove and drop anchor there for a few hours. But when the runwas to be made at lonely spots, the sight of fishing boats making in toanchor would have excited the suspicions of the coast-guard on thecliffs. The number of fishermen who took part in the smugglers'proceedings was but small. All of these had either brothers or otherrelations on board the luggers, or were connected with some of thesmugglers' confederates on shore. They received a handsome sum for theirnight's work, which was at times very hard, as the kegs had often to becarried up steep and dangerous paths to the top of the cliffs, and thena considerable distance across the downs to the nearest points the cartscould come to.

  It was the excitement of the adventure, however, rather than the pay,and the satisfaction derived from outwitting the revenue men, that wasthe main attraction to the fishermen. Julian took no share in the work.He went dressed in the rough clothes he wore on the fishing excursionsat night, and heartily enjoyed the animated bustle of the scene, asscores of men carrying kegs or bales on their backs, made their way upsome narrow ravine, silently laid down their loads beside the carts andpack-horses, and then started back again for another trip. Heoccasionally lent a hand to lash the kegs on either side of the horses,or to lift a bale into the cart. No one ever asked any question; it wasassumed that he was there with one of the carts, and he recognized thewisdom of Bill's advice the first time he went out.

  "It is best not to speak till you are spoken to, Master Julian; there ismore chaps there besides yourself, as are thought to be sound asleep intheir beds at Weymouth, and it is just as well to keep yourself toyourself. There is never no knowing when things may go wrong, and thenit is as likely as not that some one may peach, and the fewer names ascomes out the better. Now you mind, sir, if there is an alarm, and therevenue chaps come down on us, you just make a bolt at once. It ain't nobusiness of yours, one way or the other. You ain't there to make moneyor to get hold of cheap brandy; you just go to look on and amuseyourself, and all you have got to do is to make off as hard as you cango directly there is an alarm. Everyone else does the same as gets achance, I can tell you. The country people never fight; though thesmugglers, if they are cornered, and can't get back to the luggerwithout it, will use their weapons if they see a chance; but you havegot nothing to do with that. Don't you wait a minute for me and mymates, for we shall bolt too. If we were on the shore when they came onus we should embark with the crew and get on board the lugger. Incourse, if just a few of the revenue men were fools enough to come onus, they would be tumbled over in double quick time, and tied up tillthe goods were all taken inland, and be left till some of their matesfound them in the morning.

  "That is how it is, you know, that we get most of our cargoes run. Oneof the chaps on the cliff may make us out, but you see it takes a longtime to send along the line and get enough of them together to interferewith us. Unless they have got a pretty good strong force together, theyain't such fools as to risk their lives by meddling with a hundred menor more, with a lot of valuable goods to land, and the knowledge that ifthey are caught it is a long term in jail. The men know well enough thatif there is anything on, there will be a watch kept over them, and thatif they were to fire a pistol as a signal, there would be news of itsent to the smugglers in no time. Sometimes, too, the coast-guardsnearest the point where the landing is to be, are pounced on suddenlyand tied up. I reckon, too, that a good many of them keep an eye shut aslong as they can, and then go off pretty leisurely to pass the wordalong that they have heard oars or have seen signals, especially if theyhave got a hot-headed boatswain in charge of their station, a sort ofchap who would want to go down to meddle with a hundred men, with onlyfive or six at his back. A man with a wife and some children, perhaps,don't relish
the thought of going into a bad scrimmage like that if hecan keep out of it; why should he? He gets a bit of money if they make agood seizure, but he knows well enough that he ain't going to make aseizure unless he has got a pretty strong party; and you take my wordfor it, four times out of five when we make a clear run, it is becausethe coast-guard keep an eye closed as long as they dare. They know wellenough that it ain't such an uncommon thing for a man to be found at thebottom of the cliff, without anything to show how he got there, and thecoroner's jury finds as it was a dark night and he tumbled over, andthey brings in a verdict according. But it ain't every man as caresabout taking the risk of accidents of that kind, and, somehow or other,they happens to just the chaps as is wonderful sharp and active. Theyhave all been sailors, you know, and are ready enough for a fight whenthey are strong enough to have a chance, but that is a very differentthing from walking backwards and forwards on a dark night close to theedge of a cliff, three or four hundred feet high, without a comradewithin a quarter of a mile, and the idea that an accident of this kindmight occur any time."