ometimes he has been
from home for six weeks or two months at a time, either looking out for
a cargo or waiting for a good chance to run across and land one on the
English coast." Mrs Rudall did not hesitate to describe the doings of
the smugglers to Dick, though she would have been wonderfully reticent
to a stranger; yet she showed her anxiety by frequently going to the
door and looking round the corner in the direction she expected her
husband to appear. "Here he comes! here he comes!" she cried at length,
and Ben, with a sou'wester on his head, a thick flushing coat on his
back, and his legs encased in high boots, made his appearance.

"All right, Susan!" he said, as he reached the cottage. "We've done the
job neatly, and the goods are twenty miles inland by this time. We'd a
famous night for it, couldn't have had a better, got the revenue men
away on the wrong scent, and had the coast clear long enough to land a
dozen cargoes. If we get such another night for the next run, we shall
do well."

"I am thankful," said poor Susan, who thought more of her husband's
safety than probably of his share of the profits. "Now, come in; here's
a visitor you'll be glad to see."

Ben put out his hand and shook Dick's, but before asking questions he
kissed his children, who came jumping up round him.

"Now, let's have breakfast, for I am main hungry, and I dare say our
friend here is," he exclaimed. "Have you taken my advice, and made up
your mind for a trip on board the _Nancy_?" he asked, turning to Dick.

Dick replied in the affirmative, and described the visit Mr Gooch had
paid them the previous evening.

"The sooner you get on board and out of his way the better, for they'll
not think of looking for you there, and before to-morrow morning the
_Nancy_ will be away again across the Channel," said Ben. Breakfast was
just over, and Ben was smoking his pipe in front of his cottage door,
when, looking to the southward, he exclaimed, "There she comes; she is a
beauty!" and he pointed to a fine lugger, which, under all sail, having
rounded Hurst Point, was standing towards Yarmouth.

Ben having put up a few articles, led the way down to his boat,
accompanied by Dick, and followed by his elder children, one carrying a
boat-hook, another the oars, while he himself bore the boat's mast and
sails on his broad shoulders. The children stood on the beach, watching
them as they pulled away. The breeze being favourable, Ben soo