m to me that I had any choice when I once found out that it
was wrong."

The sailor laughed again. "Well, you know, it is not what you could call a
crime, though it is against the law of the land, but everyone does a bit
of smuggling when they get the chance. Lord bless you! I have come home
from abroad when there was not one of the passengers and crew who did not
have a bit of something hidden about him or his luggage--brandy, 'baccy,
French wines, or knick-knacks of some sort. Pretty nigh half of them got
found out and fined, but the value of the things got ashore was six or
eight times as much as what was collared."

"Still it was not right," Will persisted.

"Oh, no! it was not right," the sailor said carelessly, "but everyone took
his chance. It is a sort of game, you see, between the passengers and crew
on one side and the custom-house officers on the other. It was enough to
make one laugh to see the passengers land. Women who had been as thin as
whistles came out as stout matrons, owing to the yards and yards of laces
and silk they had wound round them. All sorts of odd places were
choke-full of tobacco; there were cases that looked like baggage, but
really had a tin lining, which was full of brandy. It was a rare game for
those who got through, I can tell you, though I own it was not so pleasant
for those who got caught and had their contraband goods confiscated,
besides having to pay five times the proper duty. As a rule the men took
it quietly enough, they had played the game and lost; but as for the
women, they were just raging tigers.

"For myself, I laughed fit to split. If I lost anything it was a pound or
two of tobacco which I was taking home for my old father, and I felt that
things might have been a deal worse if they had searched the legs of my
trousers, where I had a couple of bladders filled with good brandy. You
see, young 'un, though everyone knows that it is against the law, no one
thinks it a crime. It is a game you play; if you lose you pay handsomely,
but if you win you get off scot-free. I think the lady who told you it was
wrong did you a very bad service, for if she lived near that village she
must have known that you would get into no end of trouble if you were to
say you would have nothing more to do with it. And how is it"--turning to
Tom--"that you came to go with him? You did not take it into your head that
smuggling was wrong too?"

"I never thought of it," Tom said, "and if I had