out twenty minutes past eleven on the
night of August 2 reports and flashes of pistols were heard and seen
on the Sidmouth station as far as Beer Head.

These were observed by Lieutenant Smith and his crew, who were in
hiding; but, unfortunately, just as one of the coastguards was moving
from his hiding-place he was discovered by a friend of the smugglers,
who instantly blazed off a fire on the highest point of the cliff.
However, Lieutenant Smith did not waste much time, and quickly had a
boat launched. They pulled along the shore for a distance of a mile
and a half from the beach, and continued so to do until 2.30 A.M., but
no vessel or boat could be seen anywhere. But as he believed a landing
was taking place not far away, he sent information east and west along
the coast. As a matter of fact a landing did occur not far away, but
it was not discovered. An excise officer, however, when driving along
the Lyme road, actually fell in with two carts of tubs escorted by
fifteen men. This was somewhere about midnight. He then turned off the
road and proceeded to Sidmouth as fast as he could, in order to get
assistance, as he was unarmed. From there the chief officer
accompanied him, having previously left instructions for the
coastguard crew to scour the country the following morning. But the
excise and chief officer after minutely searching the cross-roads
found nothing, and lost track of the carts and fifteen men.

[Illustration: "Taken completely by surprise."]

That time there had been no capture, and the smugglers had got clean
away. But the following night Lieutenant Smith went afloat with his
men soon after dark, and about half-past ten observed a signal blazed
off just as on the previous evening. Knowing that this was a warning
that the smuggling vessel should not approach the shore, Smith pulled
straight out to sea, hoping, with luck, to fall in with the smuggling
craft. Happily, before long he discovered her in the darkness. She
appeared to be cutter-rigged, and he promptly gave chase. At a
distance of only two miles from the shore he got up to her, for the
night was so dark that the cutter did not see the boat until it got
right alongside, whereupon the smugglers suddenly slipped a number of
heavy articles from her gunwale. Taken completely by surprise, and
very confused by the sudden arrival of the coastguard's boat,
Lieutenant Smith was able to get on board their ship and arrest her.
It was now about 11.15 P