oud and deep curse. `There goes the last link of the chain
that binds me to slavery!' he exclaimed. `Now, my lads, I'm once more
Jim Dore, the bold smuggler.'
"The men in the boat thought what he had done was very fine, and so did
I in those days, and so we all cheered him over and over again. When he
landed at Yarmouth, every one turned out to welcome him as if he had
been an admiral just come home after a great victory; and certainly the
people did make much of him. Those Yarmouth men are great smugglers,
there's no doubt about it. I don't think, however, myself, as I did in
those days. Dore was a brave man, and it's a great pity he had not been
taught better, and he might have been an ornament to the service he
deserted.
"When his leave was up, and he did not return, an officer with a boat's
crew was sent to look for him. He got notice of their coming, and got
stowed out of the way, for there were plenty of people to help him. He
had to keep in hiding for a long time, and often, I dare say, he wished
himself back aboard the brig. When the war was over he took to
smuggling again, and he soon got command of a large cutter. At last he
and some other Yarmouth men went away in her, and from that day to this
have never been heard of. It is supposed that the cutter was run down
or foundered in a tremendous gale of wind, which sprung up soon after
she was last seen."
One of our friends who came from Poole in Dorsetshire, told us a very
good story, when Jerry Vincent and one or two others sang out in chorus,
"Howe! howe! howe!"
I asked what they meant.
"That is what we always say to a Poole man," answered Jerry. "Did you
never hear tell of the Poole man and the owl?"
I told him that I never had, and asked him for the story.
"Well, you must know that once upon a time there was a homeward-bound
Poole man just coming up Channel, and not far off the land, when, the
night being somewhat dark, do ye see, an old owl flew by `Howe! howe!
howe!' cried the owl.
"The master, who had been dozing aft, thinking all the time, exactly as
many another man does, that he was wide awake, just heard the sound as
he roused up, and fancied that another skipper was hailing him.
"`From Newfoundland!' he sang out, rubbing his eyes, and dreaming that
he saw the strange ship abeam.
"`Howe! howe! howe!' hooted the owl again.
"`With fish,' answered the Poole man.
"`Howe! howe! howe!' once more cried the old owl, as h
|