the
proprietor of the house in which he lived, and was reputed to be worth
money--nor was it any secret that he had obtained his property by
other means than those of the haddock hand-line and the herring-net.
Harry, at the period we take up his history, was between forty and
fifty years of age. He was a tall thin man, with long sandy hair
falling over his shoulders, and the colour of his countenance was
nearly as rosy as the brandy in which he dealt. But, if there was the
secrecy of midnight in his calling, his heart and his hand were open
as mid-day. It is too true that money always begets the outward show
of respect for him who possesses it, though in conduct he may be a
tyrant, and in capacity a fool; but Harry Teasdale was respected, not
because he was reputed to be rich, but because of the boldness and
warmness of his heart, the readiness of his hand, and the clearness of
his head. He was the king of fishermen, and the prince of smugglers,
from Holy Island to Hartlepool. Nevertheless, there was nothing
unusual in his appearance. Harry looked like his occupation. His dress
(save where disguise was necessary) consisted in a rudely-glazed
sou'-wester, the flap of which came over his shoulders, half covering
his long sandy hair. Around him was a coarse and open _monkey_ or
_pea_-jacket, with a Guernsey frock beneath, and a sort of canvas kilt
descending below the knee; and his feet were cased in a pair of
sea-boots. When not dressing his hand-lines or sorting his nets, he
might generally be seen upon the beach, with a long telescope under
his arm. As Harry was possessed of more of this world's substance than
his brother fishermen, so also was there a character of greater
comfort and neatness about his house. It consisted of three rooms; but
it also bore the distinguishing marks of a smuggler's habitation. At
the door hung the hand-line, the hooks, and the creel; and in a
corner of Harry's sleeping-room a "_keg_" was occasionally visible;
while over the chimneypiece hung a cutlass and four horse-pistols; and
in a cupboard there were more packages of powder and pistol-bullets
than it became a man of peace to have in his possession. But the third
room, which he called his daughter's, contained emblems of peace and
happiness. Around the walls were specimens of curious needlework, the
basket of fruit and of flowers, and the landscape--the "_sampler_,"
setting forth the genealogy of the family for three generations, and
th