ble. One of
them, a dapper little gentleman in black, with a bundle of papers in his
hand, took a seat at one end, and began busily spreading them out before
him. At the same time two men, whom I saw were constables, brought up a
prisoner, who was dressed as a seafaring man, handcuffed.

"Whom have you got here?" asked Sir Reginald, scrutinising the prisoner.

"Please, your honour, Sir Reginald, we took this man last night
assisting in running contraband goods, landed, as we have reason to
believe, from Dick Hargreave's boat the `Saucy Bess,' which had been
seen off the coast during the day between Milton Cove and Rock Head."

"Ah, I'm glad you've got one of them at last. We must put a stop to
this smuggling which is carried on under our noses to the great
detriment of the revenue. What became of the rest of the crew, and the
men engaged in landing the cargo?"

"Please, your worship, the cargo was sprighted away before we could get
hold of a single keg or bale, and all the fellows except this one made
their escape. The `Preventive' men had been put on a wrong scent, and
gone off in a different direction, so that we were left to do as best we
could, and we only captured this one prisoner with a keg on his
shoulders, making off across the downs, and we brought him along with
the keg as evidence against him."

"Half a loaf is better than no bread, and I hope by the punishment he
will receive to induce others now engaged in smuggling to abandon so low
a pursuit. What is your name, prisoner?"

"Jack Cope, your worship," answered the smuggler, who looked wonderfully
unconcerned, and spoke without the slightest hesitation or fear.

"Well, Mr Jack Cope, what have you to say for yourself to induce me to
refrain from making out a warrant to commit you to gaol?" asked the
magistrate.

"Please, your worship, I don't deny that I was captured as the
constables describe with a cask on my shoulders, for I had been down to
the sea to fill it with salt water to bathe one of my children whose
limbs require strengthening, and I was walking quietly along when these
men pounced down upon me, declaring that I had been engaged in running
the cargo of the `Saucy Bess,' with which I had no more to do than the
babe unborn."

"A very likely story, Master Cope. You were caught with a keg on your
shoulders; it's very evident that you were unlawfully employed in
assisting to run the cargo of the vessel you spoke of, and I shall
fort