led his yards, and is getting
his fore-tack aboard?" Ludlow, whose eye did not often turn from the
brigantine, nodded assent; and the master, having satisfied himself, by
actual inspection, that every sail in the Coquette did its duty,
continued--"The night is coming on thick, and we shall have occasion for
all our eyes to keep the rogue in view, when he begins to change his
bearings--but, as I was saying, if the commander of yonder half-rig is too
vain of her good looks, he may yet wreck her, in his pride! The rogue has
a desperate character as a smuggler, though, for my own part, I cannot say
that I look on such men with as unfavorable an eye as some others. This
business of trade seems to be a sort of chase between one man's wits and
another man's wits, and the dullest goer must be content to fall to
leeward. When it comes to be a question of revenue, why, he who goes free
is lucky, and he who is caught, a prize. I have known a flag-officer look
the other way, Captain Ludlow, when his own effects were passing
duty-free; and as to your admiral's lady, she is a great patroness of the
contraband. I do not deny, Sir, that a smuggler must be caught, and when
caught, condemned, after which there must be a fair distribution among the
captors; but all that I mean to say is, that there are worse men in the
world than your British smuggler--such, for instance, as your Frenchman,
your Dutchman, or your Don."

"These are heretodox opinions for a Queen's servant;" said Ludlow, as much
inclined to smile as to frown.

"I hope I know my duty too well to preach them to the ship's company, but
a man may say that, in a philosophical way, before his captain, that he
would not let run into a midshipman's ear. Though no lawyer, I know what
is meant by swearing a witness to the truth and nothing but the truth. I
wish the Queen got the last, God bless her! several worn-out ships would
then be broken up, and better vessels sent to sea in their places. But,
Sir, speaking in a religious point of view, what is the difference between
passing in a trunk of finery, with a duchess's name on the brass plate, or
in passing in gin enough to fill a cutter's hold?"

"One would think a man of your years, Mr. Trysail, would see the
difference between robbing the revenue of a guinea, and robbing it of a
thousand pounds."

"Which is just the difference between retail and wholesale,--and that is
no trifle, I admit, Captain Ludlow, in a commercial country,