might have
been a dangerous customer in a brush, for her armament consisted of
ten brass eighteens, and her crew of sixty picked seamen--an abundance
of men to work the brig, and serve her batteries with satisfaction and
credit.

Not to keep the reader any longer in suspense with regard to her
character and purpose, we will inform him that the Zanthe was a
smuggler, and for some years had been engaged in the illegal game of
defrauding the revenue of the Mexican republic. She was commanded by a
Scotchman named Morris, and her first mate was a Yankee, answering to
the hail of Pardon G. Simpkins, as gallant a fellow and as good a
seaman as ever trod a plank. It was her custom to land contraband
goods at different points upon the coast where lighters were kept
concealed, and where the merchandise was taken charge of by the
shore-gang, a numerous and well-appointed body of picked men, mounted
and armed to the teeth, and provided with a large number of mules for
transporting the goods into the interior. The merchandise, lightered
off from the brig, was hidden in the _chaparral_, if it came on shore
before the mule trains were ready, and it was piled up with
combustibles, in such a manner that, should the _vigilantes_ surprise
them in sufficient numbers to effect a seizure, and overcome
resistance, a match thrown among the booty secured its destruction in
a few moments. A smoke by day and a fire by night, upon the shore, was
the signal for the brig to approach and come to anchor.

The Zanthe, as we before said, slowly worked her way to her anchorage.
One by one, her white sails, on which the last flush of the sunset
fires had just faded, were all furled, and, her anchors dropped, she
swung round with the tide, and rode in safety. A Bengola light was
displayed for a moment from the foretop, and answered by another from
the shore.

"All right, cap'n," said the mate, walking aft to where Morris was
standing, near the wheel. "The critters have seen us, and that are
firework means that there aint no vigilantes round abeout. I spose we
shall hev the lighters along side airly in the mornin'."

"Yes," said the captain. "I wonder whether Don Martinez is with the
shore gang."

"Not knowin', can't say," replied the mate. "Most likely he is,
howsomdever--'cause our cargo is vallable, and he'd be likely to look
after it."

"You know, Pardon," said the captain, "this is to be our last voyage."

"Edxactly," answered the mate.

"