or of illicit goods.

This man, Thomas Rideout, long had been the head-master of the smuggling
school. The poor sea-faring men could not find money to buy, or even
hire, the craft (with heavy deposit against forfeiture) which the
breadth and turbulence of the North Sea made needful for such ventures.
Across the narrow English Channel an open lobster boat might run, in
common summer weather, without much risk of life or goods. Smooth water,
sandy coves, and shelfy landings tempted comfortable jobs; and any man
owning a boat that would carry a sail as big as a shawl might smuggle,
with heed of the weather, and audacity. It is said that once upon the
Sussex coast a band of haymakers, when the rick was done, and their
wages in hand on a Saturday night, laid hold of a stout boat on the
beach, pushed off to sea in tipsy faith of luck, and hit upon Dieppe
with a set-fair breeze, having only a fisherman's boy for guide. There
on the Sunday they heartily enjoyed the hospitality of the natives; and
the dawn of Tuesday beheld them rapt in domestic bliss and breakfast,
with their money invested in old Cognac; and glad would they have been
to make such hay every season. But in Yorkshire a good solid capital
was needed to carry on free importation. Without broad bottoms and deep
sides, the long and turbulent and often foggy voyage, and the rocky
landing, could scarcely be attempted by sane folk; well-to-do people
found the money, and jeopardized neither their own bodies, consciences,
nor good repute. And perhaps this fact had more to do with the
comparative mildness of the men than difference of race, superior
culture, or a loftier mould of mind; for what man will fight for his
employer's goods with the ferocity inspired by his own? A thorough
good ducking, or a tow behind a boat, was the utmost penalty generally
exacted by the victors from the vanquished.

Now, however, it seemed too likely that harder measures must be meted.
The long success of that daring Lyth, and the large scale of his
operations, had compelled the authorities to stir at last. They began by
setting a high price upon him, and severely reprimanding Carroway, who
had long been doing his best in vain, and becoming flurried, did it
more vainly still; and now they had sent the sharp Nettlebones down, who
boasted largely, but as yet without result. The smugglers, however, were
aware of added peril, and raised their wages accordingly.

When the pending great venture w