It may seem surprising that Uncle Boz should have had any enemies--that
he could have offended any one; but the fact that he had is only another
proof that men who act uprightly cannot at all times avoid giving
offence to the bad. This part of the coast was occasionally visited by
smugglers from Dunkirk, as well as from the coast of Holland. Their
vessels were manned by a mixture of Dutch, French, and English, and they
were in league with Englishmen of various grades, who took charge of the
goods they brought over. During the previous winter, a young man,
struck down by sickness, and brought to repentance, sent, just as he was
dying, to Uncle Boz, and revealed to him a plot, in which he was
concerned, to run a large cargo, in doing which there was great risk
that the lives both of coastguard men and smugglers would be sacrificed.
Uncle Boz instantly went off himself to the Inspecting Commander of the
district; and so strong a force was sent down to the spot, and so sharp
a look-out kept up along the coast, that the smugglers found their
design impracticable, and were compelled to abandon it. Had the young
smuggler survived, they would have wreaked their vengeance on him; but
he was safe from them in his grave. Their rage, therefore, was turned
towards Uncle Boz, as they had discovered that he had given the
information, and assisted to make the arrangements which had defeated
their plans. Although not wishing to act the part of a volunteer
coastguard man, Uncle Boz had always set his face against the smugglers,
and spoke of their proceedings as lawless and wicked. "Black is black,
and white is white; and it is because people will persist in calling
black white that the ignorant are left in their ignorance, and unable to
discern right from wrong," he used to observe, when speaking on the
subject. It seemed almost incredible, however, that the smugglers, bad
as they might be, would maliciously injure a young boy and a little
child, even though they might suppose, as they probably did, that they
were the children of the man who had offended them. Still, such things
had been done before. There was no other way of accounting for the
disappearance of Jack and Katty. Jack would never have put off in the
boat by himself. Had he done so she would still be visible, and there
had been no wind to upset her. He would certainly not have remained out
so long willingly; besides, the account given by the children, who had
se