glers appeared bearing between them the body of a man. It hung so
limp that I thought at first that he might be dead, but when they threw
him on the sand he moved, and at last sat up like one who is but half
awoken from a swoon. He was a square dogged-faced fellow, with a long
white scar down his cheek, and a close-fitting blue coat with brass
buttons.

'It's Gauger Westhouse!' cried a chorus of voices. 'Yes, it is Gauger
Westhouse,' said the man calmly, giving his neck a wriggle as though he
were in pain. 'I represent the King's law, and in its name I arrest ye
all, and declare all the contraband goods which I see around me to be
confiscate and forfeited, according to the second section of the first
clause of the statute upon illegal dealing. If there are any honest men
in this company, they will assist me in the execution of my duty.' He
staggered to his feet as he spoke, but his spirit was greater than his
strength, and he sank back upon the sand amid a roar of laughter from
the rough seamen.

'We found him lying on the road when we came from Daddy Mycroft's,' said
one of the new-comers, who were the same men who had led away my horse.
'He must have passed just after you left, and the rope caught him under
the chin and threw him a dozen paces. We saw the revenue button on his
coat, so we brought him down. Body o' me, but he kicked and plunged for
all that he was three-quarters stunned.'

'Have ye slacked the hawser?' the Captain asked.

'We cast one end loose and let it hang.'

''Tis well. We must keep him for Captain Venables. But now, as to our
other prisoner: we must overhaul him and examine his papers, for so many
craft are sailing under false colours that we must needs be careful.
Hark ye, Mister Soldier! What brings you to these parts, and what king
do you serve? for I hear there's a mutiny broke out, and two skippers
claim equal rating in the old British ship.'

'I am serving under King Monmouth,' I answered, seeing that the proposed
search must end in the finding of my papers.

'Under King Monmouth!' cried the smuggler. 'Nay, friend, that rings
somewhat false. The good King hath, I hear, too much need of his friends
in the south to let an able soldier go wandering along the sea coast
like a Cornish wrecker in a sou'-wester.'

'I bear despatches,' said I, 'from the King's own hand to Henry Duke
of Beaufort, at his castle at Badminton. Ye can find them in my inner
pocket, but I pray ye not to break the