348 The Smugglers of Algesiras. [Ocr, ; 
who reside here have consequently the power of introducing all the 
productions of other countries at little or nothing beyond their cost 
price. The market, therefore, is supplied with luxuries collected from 
all parts of the globe: the rarest works of the most distant factories are 
displayed here for sale; and the silks and the perfumes which we only. 
know as the representatives or the barters of wealth, are here exhibited 
on a moveable stall. or huddled up under the old handkerchief of a 
Moorish pedlar. The close neighbourhood of this great depot to the 
main land has encouraged a system of smuggling with all the surround- 
ing sea-ports ; and the contraband trade is a fertile source of riches, as 
well to many of our less conscientious countrymen, as to the thousand 
petty pirates, who laugh at the preventive efforts of their own govern- 
ment officers. Riding at anchor under the protection of the English 
guns, no cargo, however suspected, could be seized or scrutinized by 
the employés of the Spanish king; and, benefiting by a favourable 
moment of absence or forgetfulness, nothing is easier than to effect a 
landing for these illicit goods on some unprotected point of coast, whence 
they may be transferred to their destination, or some covert place of 
sale. It would require a greater man than Don Francisco Serafin to haye 
prevented this traffic. But he was one who knew the nature and cha- 
racter, better perhaps than any man, of the professed smugglers of the 
day. In his youth, and for many years, he had been engaged in transac- 
+ = of this very kind, but with greater success than most of his com- 
peers, and to a larger extent than any one on record in those seas. It 
was then a profession of more risk, and he had few competitors to rob 
him of his gains. After amassing a large fortune, the fear of dying as a 
disgraced man, or the weariness of a life so turbulent and uncertain, 
led him to abandon the black flag, and tender his services to his country, 
to crush the trade which had been his sole support. His name, and the 
appearance of sincerity in his offer, secured to him the appointment 
which he now held. He migrated from Gibraltar to the town of Alge- 
siras, just across the bay, and prosecuted his measures for the capture of: 
piratical vessels with a diligence and cunning which only his long fami- 
liarity with their plans and system could have imparted to him. It was- 
natural that he should now be a man feared, but not respected ; his exe- 
cution of his office with so much promptitude was in itself unpopular ; 
people whispered that the old hobby was not. thrown away, but that 
Don Francisco could still defraud his sovereign, as he used to do, and, 
sin beneath all his saintship. But this suspicion, which seemed to origi- 
nate in the malice of those to whom he was so formidable, was backed 
by the enmity of some of the local authorities, and particularly of the. 
governor of the land forces, to whom Don Francisco was above all things 
obnoxious for the privilege which he held of calling out the military 
whensoever, and in as great a body as he chose. If, then, the dark 
rumours that went abroad respecting his concealed practices were con- 
stant and stoutly affirmed, it should be inquired how much these acci-. 
dental causes might have contributed to the circulation of them. We shall 
hear more of this as onr narrative proceeds. , 
The Buena Ventura glided gently over the waters of the bay, no longer 
ruffled by the strong breeze, which was now screened from them by the 
heights of the rock. In a few minutes all hands were busy in taking in, «_ 
sail, and throwing out her anchor ;—in a few minutes the whole of the 
