d was from the southward, and she, choosing what was probably her
best point of sailing, made for the English coast. She sailed well; but
we kept her in sight, for daylight had just broke, and the mist had
partially cleared away. As soon as my uncle came on deck he ordered a
shot to be fired wide of her, to make her heave-to. She paid no
attention to it.

"Fire another, Stretcher, right into her this time, and we will make her
show her quality," said he.

The mists had now cleared off sufficiently to show that she was a
wherry, though rather a small one. The shot went through her foresail,
but still she held on. She was heavily laden, and her crew must have
seen that her chance of escape was small, if not impossible. To render
this still more difficult, it was every instant growing lighter and
lighter. There were numerous sharp eyes on board the cutter fixed on
her, and we now perceived her crew heaving the tubs overboard as fast as
they could. They fancied, probably, that we could not see them. There
were no weights attached to them, so they floated; but as we had no time
to stop and pick them up, we noted carefully our course as we passed
them, so as to be able to find them again.

"Fire away at her, my lads, till she heaves-to," cried my uncle, seeing
that she still held on.

"Surely she'll not get away from us," I remarked to Jack.

"Not so sure of that, Mr D'Arcy," he answered. "Now she's got her
cargo out of her, should the wind fall on a sudden, and the fog come on
thicker, she may contrive to hide herself away in it before we can get
our boats out."

The fog deceived us as to her true distance from us, for after the
first, none of our shot struck her, though that mattered nothing, for
the breeze freshening, we were now coming up with her hand over hand.

"Lower your canvas!" shouted my uncle, as we got near.

Her people thought it wise to obey, to avoid the shot, which could not
now well miss its aim. She was next ordered to pull alongside, which
she immediately did; but there was not a symptom of a cask or keg of
spirits in her. She had five hands in her. They were desired to come
on board. One of them acknowledged himself the skipper.

"We want to know why you chased and fired at us, sir," he said, in the
most innocent manner possible, addressing my uncle.

"For having contraband goods on board," he answered.

"Lord love ye, sir--we have contraband goods aboard, sir!" replied the
ski