Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1889-03-22

brown solid dock rendered ugly by several
dark patches, which, scrape as we might, we
could not obltcratc We struck the guns
into the hold for the better ballasting of the
vessel, got studdingsal booms aloft, over
| hauled her suits of canvas, and found great
square sail which proved of incstimable i'm
p)rtance in light winds and in running.
After the ice was wholly melted out Of her
frame she made little water, yet not so
much but that half!hour's spell at the pump
twice a day easily freed her. But, curiously
enough, at the end of IA fortnight she became
tight again, which attribute TO the swelling
of her timbers 10y their direct contact with
the water
We were slender company, but we man
aged extraordinarily well. The men were
wonderfully content; never heard so much
as II murmur escape from one of them; they
never exceeded their rGtions nor asked for
a drop more of liquor then we had agrc Il
among us should be served out. But, as had
anticipated our security lay in our slender
ness. We were too few for disa1fecton. Tho
negroes were as Simple rs children, Wilkinson
looked to find his account in happy arrival;
and if ! was not, strictly speaking their cap
tain. was their navigator, without whom
their case would have been as perilous as
mine was on the ice
Il was on the 9TH Of December that we
sighted tn" Sicily Isles guessed what that
land was but so vague had been my naviCa-
ton that dl!;t not be sure, until, spying a
smack with her nets over, | stored for her
and got the information ! needed from her
people. They answered lis with an air of
fear, and i'll truth, the fellows had reason, for,
besides the singular appearance of the ship,
the four of us were npparclcd III odds and
! ends of the antique clothes, and have little
| doubt they considered lis lunatiCs of another
| country, who had run away with n ship be
| longing to parts where the tastes and fashions
were behind the age.
Now, as you may suppose by this time |
! had settled my plans: and as we sailed up
! channel unfoded them TO my companions.
! / pointed out that before we entered the
! river it would be necessary TO discharge our
! ladins into some little vessel that would
smuggle the booty ashore for us. The figure
the schooner made was so peculiar that she
would inevitably attract attention; she would
instantly be boarded in the Thames on our
coming to anchor, and if | told the truth she
would be seized as a pirate, and ourselves
dismissed with a small reward, and perhaps
with nothing.
My scheme, said I. ais this: have a rel
ative in London to whom | shall commune
I
story. You, Wilkinson, must be the bearer
of this letter He is "A shrewd, active man,
and | will leave it to him to engage the help
we want There is no lack Of the right kind
of serviceable men at Deal and if they are
promised a substantial interest in smuggling
our lading ashore, they will run the goods
successfully, do not fear. As there is sure
| to be a man-of-war stationed in the Downs,
we must keep clear of that anchorage. |
will land You Mt Lydd, whence you will
make your way to Dover and thence to Lon
! don. Cromwell and Pitt will return and
help me to keep cruising. My letter to my
relative will tell him where to seek me- and
l shall know his boat by her flying q jack.
When we have discharged our lading we
will sail TO the Thames. and then let who will
come aboard for we shall have a clean hold.
This continued |, lis tho best scheme |
can devise The risks of smuggling attend
| it, to be sure; but against those risks we
| havo to put the certainty of our FORGETTING
! our just claims to the property if we carry
the schooner to the Thames Even suppose,
when there, that We should not be immedi-
ately visited, and so be provided with an OPP
! portuty to land oar stuff, whom have We to
trust: The Thames abounds with river
thieves, with Jumpers, scuffle hunters, mud
/ larks, glutmen, rogues of all sorts, to hire
/ whom would mean to bride them with the
value of half the lading, and to risk their
Sealing the other half. But this is the lesser
! difficulty: the main one lies in this: There
are some 600 men employed in the London
| custom house, most of whom are on river
duty as watchmen thirty of these people are
Clapped aboard an East lndiaman, five or six
on West India ships, and like proportion in
other vessels. So strange a craft as ours
would be visited, depend ont, and smartly,
too. Dye see the danger, lads! What do
you say, then, to my schemcN
The negroes Immediately answered that
they left it to me--I know best they would
be satisfied with whatever did.
Wilkinson unused a while and then said:
| "SmuCCling was risky york. How would
it be if we represented tl-4 49, had found
the schooner washing about with nobody
| abOard:n
"'1he tale wouldn't be credited" said l.
| "The age Of the vessel would tell against
such story, even if You removed all other
evidence by throwing the clothes and small
arms overheard, and whatever else might go
to prove that the schooner must have been
floating about abandoned since the year
l75O."
Mustn't lose de clothes, massa, on no ac-
COUNT cried Pitt.
"Wcll, sir, says Wilkinson after another
, spell OF reflection, II reckon you're right
If so be the law would seize the vessel and
goods on the grounds that she had been a
pirate and all tlat's in her was plumber, why
| then, certainly, don't see nothn' else but
TO make a smuggling job of it, as you say,
! SIR
This being settled (Willlinson's concurrence
being rendered the easier by my telling him
that, providing the lading was safely run,
would adhere to my undertaking to give
them q 900 each for their share, | went
below and spent half an hour over letter to
Mr.. jeremiah Mason. There was no ink
but | found a pencil, and fer paper | used
the fly leaves of the books in my cabin
opened with a sketch Of my adventures, and
then went on to relate that the Boca was a
rich ship; that, as She had been II pirate,
risRed her seizure 10y carr ing her TO London:
that | stood grevously in l.cad Of his counsel
and help, and begged him not to lose a
moment in returning with The messenger to
Deal, and there hiring boat and coming TO
me, whom he would find cruising Off Beachy
IJaa1 That | rnipht l,naW his hoot | bnIa