We caught, as I tell you, some of the countrymen,
and Fisher has taken them off to Weymouth, but most of them got away.
There are several places where the cliff can be climbed by men who know
it, and I have no doubt half those fishermen you see there were engaged
in the business."
"Then the smuggler got away?" Mr. Wilks asked.
"I don't know," the lieutenant said shortly. "I had sent word to
Weymouth, and I hope they will catch her in the offing. The lugger came
down this way first, but we made her out, and showed a blue light. She
must have turned and gone back again, for this morning at daylight we
made her out to the east. The cutter was giving chase, and at first ran
down fast towards her. Then the smugglers got the wind, and the last we
saw of them they were running up the Channel, the cutter some three
miles astern.
"I would give a couple of months' pay to know who it was that gave the
alarm. I expect it was one of those fishermen. As far as my men could
make out in the darkness, the fellow was dressed as a sailor. But I
must say good morning, for I am just going to turn in."
Mr. Wilks had been on the point of mentioning that James was missing,
but a vague idea that he might, in some way, be mixed up with the
events of the previous night, checked the question on his lips; and yet
he thought, as the officer walked away, it was not probable.
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