hese were put on board and the voyage back to England
commenced, the intention being to make for West Bay and land the goods
somewhere near Sidmouth. Having arrived off the Devonshire coast,
Rattenbury took the _Lyme Packet's_ boat and rowed himself ashore,
landing at Beer Head, his object being to get assistance from the men
of Sidmouth for landing his goods. It was then about 1 A.M. The
captain of the _Lyme Packet_ kept his ship standing off and on during
the night, and hovered about that part of the coast till daybreak. But
as Rattenbury had not returned by the time the daylight had come back,
Cawley became more than a little nervous and feared lest he might be
detected. Before very long--the exact time was 6.30 A.M.--Robert
Aleward, a mariner on the Revenue cutter _Scourge_, on turning his eye
into a certain direction not more than three miles away, espied this
_Lyme Packet_, informed his commander, and a chase was promptly begun.
Cawley, too, saw that the _Lyme Packet_ had been observed, and began
to make preparations accordingly.

He let draw his sheets, got the _Lyme Packet_ to foot it as fast as
she could, and as the three intervening miles became shorter and
shorter he busied himself by throwing his casks of spirits overboard
as quickly as he and his crew knew how. The distant sail he had
noticed in the early morning had all too truly turned out to be the
Revenue cutter, but he hoped yet to escape or at any rate to be found
with nothing contraband on board. It was no good, however, for the
cruiser soon came up, and as fast as the _Lyme Packet_ had dropped
over the half-ankers, so quickly did the _Scourge's_ men pick them up
again in the cutter's boats. Having come up alongside, the cutter's
commander, Captain M'Lean, went on board, seized Cawley and his ship
as prisoners, and eventually took both into Exmouth.

Judicial proceedings followed with a verdict for the King, so that
what with a broken bowsprit and the loss of time, cargo, ship, and
liberty the voyage had in nowise been profitable to Cawley.

CHAPTER XV

A TRAGIC INCIDENT

And now we must turn to an occurrence that was rather more tragic than
the last, though the smugglers had only themselves to blame.

The reader is already aware of the practice existing at this time of
actually rowing contraband across from France to England in large
boats pulling four or more oars. As one who have myself rowed a craft
most of the way from Calais to D