THE SMUGGLER. 163 



effected, you will find within a circle of three miles, several 

 parties of dragoons, who, on the first call, will render you every 

 aid. With them, upon the system I have laid down for them, 

 you will be able to keep your adversaries in check, delay their 

 operations, and follow them up. Your first step, however, 

 should be, to send off a trooper to me with all speed, charging 

 him, if verbally, with as short and plain a message as possible : 

 first, stating the point where the ' run, ' as you call it, has been 

 effected; and secondly, in what direction, to the best of your 

 judgment, the enemy, that is to say, the smugglers, are 

 marching. If you do that, and are right in your conjecture, 

 they shall not go far without being attacked. If you are 

 wrong, as any man may be, in regard to their line of retreat, 

 they shall not be long unpursued. But as to putting the mili- 

 tary under the command of the customs, as I said before, I 

 have no orders to that effect, and do not think that any such 

 will ever be issued. In the next place, in order to obtain the 

 most speedy information yourself, and to ensure that I shall be 

 prepared, I would suggest that you direct each officer on the 

 coast, if a landing should be effected in his district, first, to 

 call for the aid of the nearest military party, and then to light 

 a beacon on the next high ground. As soon as the first bea- 

 con is lighted, let the next officer on the side of Hythe, light 

 one also, and, at the same time, with any force he can collect, 

 proceed towards the first. Easy means may be found to 

 transmit intelligence of the route of the smugglers to the bodies 

 coming up ; and, in a case like the present, I shall not scruple to 

 take the command myself, at any point where I may be as- 

 sured formidable resistance is likely to be offered." 



" Well, sir, I think the plan of the beacons is a good one," 

 answered Mowle, "and it would be still better if there were 

 any of the coast officers on whom we could depend, but a more 

 rascally set of mercenary knaves does not exist. Not one of 

 them who would not sell the whole of the king's revenue for a 

 twenty pound or so; and, however clear are the orders they 

 receive, they find means to mistake them. But I will go and 

 write the whole down, and have it copied out for each station, 

 so that if they do not choose to understand, it must be their 

 own fault. I am afraid, however, that all this preparation 

 will put our friends upon their guard, and that they will delay 

 their run till they can draw us off somewhere else." 



