The Pirate, and The Three Cutters Part 31

But Lord B. was too much excited to pay attention. They shoved off, and pulled towards the smuggler.

At this time the revenue boats were about five miles astern of the _Happy-go-lucky_, and the yacht about three-quarters of a mile from her in the offing. Pickersgill had, of course, observed the motions of the yacht; had seen her wear on chase, hoist her ensign and pendant, and fire her gun.

'Well,' said he, 'this is the blackest ingrat.i.tude: to be attacked by the very people whom we smuggle for! I only wish she may come up with us; and, let her attempt to interfere, she shall rue the day. I don't much like this, though.'

As we before observed, it fell nearly calm, and the revenue boats were in chase. Pickersgill watched them as they came up.

'What shall we do?' said Corbett, 'get the boat out?'

'Yes,' replied Pickersgill, 'we will get the boat out, and have the goods in her all ready; but we can pull faster than they do, in the first place; and, in the next, they will be pretty well tired before they come up to us. We are fresh, and shall soon walk away from them; so I shall not leave the vessel till they are within half a mile. We must sink the ankers, that they may not seize the vessel, for it is not worth while taking them with us. Pa.s.s them along, ready to run them over the bows, that they may not see us and swear to it. But we have a good half-hour and more.'

'Ay, and you may hold all fast if you choose,' said Morrison, 'although it's better to be on the right side and get ready; otherwise, before half an hour, I'll swear that we are out of their sight. Look there,'

said he, pointing to the eastward at a heavy bank, 'it's coming right down upon us, as I said it would.'

'True enough; but still there is no saying which will come first, Morrison, the boats or the fog; so we must be prepared.'

'Hilloa! what's this? why, there's a boat coming from the yacht!'

Pickersgill took out his gla.s.s.

'Yes, and the yacht's own boat, with the name painted on her bows. Well, let them come--we will have no ceremony in resisting them; they are not in the Act of Parliament, and must take the consequences. We have nought to fear. Get stretchers, my lads, and handspikes; they row six oars, and are three in the stern-sheets: they must be good men if they take us.'

In a few minutes Lord B. was close to the smuggler.

'Boat ahoy! what do you want?'

'Surrender in the king's name.'

'To what, and to whom, and what are we to surrender? We are an English vessel coasting along sh.o.r.e.'

'Pull on board, my lads,' cried Stewart; 'I am a king's officer: we know her.'

The boat darted alongside, and Stewart and Lord B., followed by the men, jumped on the deck.

'Well, gentlemen, what do you want?' said Pickersgill.

'We seize you! you are a smuggler--there's no denying it: look at the casks of spirits stretched along the deck.'

'We never said that we were not smugglers,' replied Pickersgill; 'but what is that to you? You are not a king's s.h.i.+p, or employed by the revenue.'

'No; but we carry a pendant, and it is our duty to protect the laws.'

'And who are you?' said Pickersgill.

'I am Lord B.'

'Then, my lord, allow me to say that you would do much better to attend to the framing of laws, and leave people of less consequence, like those astern of me, to execute them. "Mind your own business" is an old adage. We shall not hurt you, my lord, as you have only employed words, but we shall put it out of your power to hurt us. Come aft, my lads.

Now, my lord, resistance is useless; we are double your numbers, and you have caught a Tartar.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: _'Well, gentlemen, what do you want?' said Pickersgill._]

Lord B. and Mr. Stewart perceived that they were in an awkward predicament.

'You may do what you please,' observed Mr. Stewart, 'but the revenue boats are coming up, recollect.'

'Look you, sir, do you see the revenue cutter?' said Pickersgill.

Stewart looked in that direction, and saw that she was hidden in the fog.

'In five minutes, sir, the boats will be out of sight also, and so will your vessel; we have nothing to fear from them.'

'Indeed, my lord, we had better return,' said Mr. Stewart, who perceived that Pickersgill was right.

'I beg your pardon, you will not go on board your yacht so soon as you expect. Take the oars out of the boat, my lads, two or three of you, and throw in a couple of our paddles for them to reach the sh.o.r.e with. The rest of you knock down the first man who offers to resist. You are not aware, perhaps, my lord, that you have attempted _piracy_ on the high seas?'

Stewart looked at Lord B. It was true enough. The men of the yacht could offer no resistance; the oars were taken out of the boat and the men put in again.

'My lord,' said Pickersgill, 'your boat is manned, do me the favour to step into it; and you, sir, do the same. I should be sorry to lay my hands upon a peer of the realm, or a king's officer even on half-pay.'

Remonstrance was vain; his lords.h.i.+p was led to the boat by two of the smugglers, and Stewart followed.

'I will leave your oars, my lord, at the Weymouth Custom-house, and I trust this will be a lesson to you in future to "mind your own business."'

The boat was shoved off from the sloop by the smugglers, and was soon lost sight of in the fog, which had now covered the revenue boats as well as the yacht, at the same time it brought down a breeze from the eastward.

'Haul to the wind, Morrison,' said Pickersgill, 'we will stand out to get rid of the boats; if they pull on they will take it for granted that we shall run into the bay, as will the revenue cutter.'

Pickersgill and Corbett were in conversation abaft for a short time, when the former desired the course to be altered two points.

'Keep silence all of you, my lads, and let me know if you hear a gun or a bell from the yacht,' said Pickersgill.

'There is a gun, sir, close to us,' said one of the men; 'the sound was right ahead.'

'That will do, keep her as she goes. Aft here, my lads; we cannot run our cargo in the bay, for the cutter has been seen to chase us, and they will all be on the look-out at the Preventive stations for us on sh.o.r.e.

Now, my lads, I have made up my mind that, as these yacht gentlemen have thought proper to interfere, I will take possession of the yacht for a few days. We shall then outsail everything, go where we like unsuspected, and land our cargo with ease. I shall run alongside of her--she can have but few hands on board; and mind, do not hurt anybody, but be civil and obey my orders. Morrison, you and your four men and the boy will remain on board as before, and take the vessel to Cherbourg, where we will join you.'

In a short time another gun was fired from the yacht.

Those on board, particularly the ladies, were alarmed; the fog was very thick, and they could not distinguish the length of the vessel. They had seen the boat board, but had not seen her turned adrift without oars, as the fog came on just at that time. The yacht was left with only three seamen on board, and should it come on bad weather, they were in an awkward predicament. Mr. Hautaine had taken the command, and ordered the guns to be fired that the boat might be enabled to find them. The fourth gun was loading, when they perceived the smuggler's cutter close to them looming through the fog.

'Here they are,' cried the seamen; 'and they have brought the prize along with them! Three cheers for the _Arrow_!'

'Hilloa! you'll be on board of us!' cried Hautaine.

'That's exactly what I intended to be, sir,' replied Pickersgill, jumping on the quarter-deck, followed by his men.

'Who the devil are you?'