es in their hands, at the foot of the ladder. An officer ran down
the ladder and joined them.

As soon as Charlie and Ping Wang saw the sailors, they guessed that the
coper had been captured in British waters, and in their delight they
jumped off the seat on which they had been sleeping and stood up on the
cushions. In a moment the officer covered Charlie with his revolver.

'All right,' Charlie exclaimed, 'we are not Dutchmen.'

'I didn't suspect your mate of being one,' the officer replied, smiling,
but still covering Charlie. 'Come over here and surrender.'

'With pleasure,' Charlie said. 'We are jolly glad you have boarded this
wretched coper.'

'The skipper denies that she is a coper. Possibly you can save us the
trouble of hunting for his liquor and tobacco?'

'That is where it is kept,' Charlie declared, pointing to the cupboard.
'The skipper has the key.'

'Throw down the skipper's keys,' Lieutenant Williams sang out to his men
on deck.

For two or three minutes the revenue officer sat on the saloon table,
dangling his legs and whistling cheerfully.

'The skipper says he hasn't any keys, sir,' a sailor called down. 'We
have searched him, and can't find any, sir.'

'Very well, then,' the officer said; 'we must do without them. Force
open that cupboard.'

One of the two sailors pulled out his knife and forced the lock with
little difficulty; then he slid back the shutter and displayed the
coper's stock of spirits, wines, tobacco, and cigars.

'A very nice collection indeed,' the revenue officer declared. 'I am
very much obliged to you for your assistance,' he continued, addressing
Charlie; 'but I must ask you to explain why you are on board this boat.
You are my prisoner, although you do not appear to be in league with the
skipper.'

Charlie related all that had happened to him. The story of his and Ping
Wang's adventures amused the revenue officer highly.

'Well,' he said, at the end of the story, 'I'm very glad to have met
both of you. After I have had a peep in the hold, I will take you aboard
my cutter.'

The hold, with its stock of nets and other stolen property, added to the
revenue officer's satisfaction at the capture he had made. Leaving five
men on the coper, to man it--three on deck and two in the saloon--he
returned to his cutter, taking Charlie and Ping Wang with him. As soon
as they were aboard, the cutter started, escorting the coper into
Grimsby.

'How did you manage to catch t