t in bargaining.
To make a long story short, they arranged to purchase from the
_Caroline_ 25 gallons of rum and some coffee, for which the West
Indiaman's skipper was well paid, the average price of rum in that
year being about 20s. a gallon. A cask of rum, 3 cwt. of coffee in a
barrel and 2 cwt. in a bag were accordingly lowered over the ship's
side into the boat and away went the little craft to the shore,
having, as it was supposed, cheated the Customs. The _Caroline_
continued her course and proceeded to London. The Customs authorities,
however, had got wind of the affair and the matter was brought to a
conclusion before one of his Majesty's judges.

[Illustration: "The _Caroline_ continued her course and proceeded to
London."]

But East Indiamen were just as bad, if not a great deal worse, for it
was their frequent practice to arrive in the Downs and sell quantities
of tea to the men who came out from Deal in small craft. The
commodity could then be kept either for the use of their families and
sold to their immediate friends, or sent up to London by the "duffers"
in the manner we spoke of in an earlier chapter. In the instances when
spirits were smuggled into the country there was usually some
arrangement between the publicans and the smugglers for disposing of
the stuff. But, you may ask, how did the Deal boatmen manage to get
the tea to their homes without being seen by the Customs officers? In
the first place it was always difficult to prove that the men really
were smugglers, for they would be quite wide-awake enough not to bring
obvious bales ashore; and, secondly, the Deal men had such a
reputation as desperate characters that no officer, unless he was
pretty sure that a smuggling transaction was being carried on and
could rely, too, on being well supported by other Customs men and the
soldiers, would think of meddling in the matter. But, lastly, the men
who came ashore from the East Indiamen had a smart little dodge of
their own for concealing the tea.

[Illustration: How the Deal Boatmen used to Smuggle Tea Ashore.]

The accompanying picture is no imaginary instance, but is actually
taken from an official document. The figure is supposed to represent
one of these Deal boatmen, and the numerals will explain the methods
of secreting the tea. (1) Indicates a cotton bag which was made to fit
the crown of his hat, and herein could be carried 2 lbs. of tea. He
would, of course, have his hat on as he came a