Arthur Conan Doyle

“ Long John was with Cooper Dick when he was taken.'
'Aye,' growled the mate Silas. 'He got a wipe over the arm from the gauger's whinyard. He'll know his face, if any will.'
'Call him, then,' said Murgatroyd, and presently a long, loose-limbed seaman came up from the mouth of the cave, where he had been on watch. He wore a red kerchief round his forehead, and a blue jerkin, the sleeve of which he slowly rolled up as he came nigh.
'Where is Gauger Westhouse?' he cried; 'he has left his mark on my arm. Rat me, if the scar is healed yet. The sun is on our side of the wall now, gauger. ”

“ We charge little, and force our goods on no one. We are peaceful traders. Yet this man and his fellows are ever yelping at our heels, like so many dogfish on a cod bank. We have been harried, and chivied, and shot at until we are driven into such dens as this. A month ago, four of our men were bearing a keg up the hillside to Farmer Black, who hath dealt with us these five years back. Of a sudden, down came half a score of horse, led by this gauger, hacked and slashed with their broad-swords, cut Long John's arm open, and took Cooper Dick prisoner. ”

“ Farm horses leaned over wooden gates, and snorted a word of greeting to their glossy-coated brother. A great herd of snowy-fleeced sheep streamed towards us over the hillside and frisked and gambolled in the sunshine. All was innocent life, from the lark which sang on high to the little shrew-mouse which ran amongst the ripening corn, or the martin which dashed away at the sound of my approach. All alive and all innocent. What are we to think, my dear children, when we see the beasts of the field full of kindness and virtue and gratitude? ”

“ My one fear was lest my letters should be taken away from me, and my mission rendered of no avail. That in this, my first trust, I should be disarmed without a blow and lose the papers which had been confided to me, was a chance which made me flush and tingle with shame at the very thought.
The gang who had seized me were rough-bearded fellows in fur caps and fustian jackets, with buff belts round their waists, from which hung short straight whinyards. Their dark sun-dried faces and their great boots marked them as fishermen or seamen, as might be guessed from their rude sailor speech. ”

“ He may have such another job to do for us some day.'
'Zounds, man, are you in command or am I?' said the leader angrily. 'Bring the prisoner forward to the fire! Now, hark ye, dog of a land-shark; you are as surely a dead man as though you were laid out with the tapers burning. See here'--he lifted a torch, and showed by its red light a great crack in the floor across the far end of the cave--'you can judge of the Black Drop's depth!' he said, raising an empty keg and tossing it over into the yawning gulf. ”

“ As I wheeled my horse and sped upon my way I felt, my dears, that this was a land worth fighting for, and that a man's life was a small thing if he could but aid, in however trifling a degree, in working out its freedom and its happiness. ”

“ Why, man, at this rate you may have a lust-haus of your own in a year or two, with a trimmed lawn, and the trees all clipped like peacocks, and the flowers in pattern, and a canal by the door, and a great bouncing house-wife just like any Burgomeister. There's many such a fortune been made out of Mechlin and Cognac.'
'Aye, and there's many a broken kopf got over Mechlin and Cognac,' grumbled my enemy. 'Donner! There are other things beside lust-houses and flower-beds. ”

“ The road along which I had travelled was a lonely one, and yet a fair number of travellers bound from the West through Weston to Bristol must use it. The gang could not lie in perpetual guard over it. Why had they set a trap on this particular night, then? The smugglers were a lawless and desperate body, but they did not, as a rule, descend to foot-paddery or robbery. As long as no one interfered with them they were seldom the first to break the peace. ”

“ He'll take a plank of wood and turn it into a keg while another man would be thinking of it.'
'Oh, you remember that, Captain Murgatroyd,' said the Dutchman sulkily. 'But you see me knocked about and shlagged, and bullied, and called names, and what help have I? So help me, when the Maria is in the Texel next, I'll take to my old trade, I will, and never set foot on her again.'
'No fear,' the Captain answered, laughing. 'While the Maria brings in five thousand good pieces a year, and can show her heels to any cutter on the coast, there is no fear of greedy Pete losing his share of her. ”

“ This is not our man!'
'Not our man!' they cried, with a volley of curses.
'Why, this fellow would make two of the gauger, and leave enough over to fashion a magistrate's clerk. Ye may hang him to make sure, but still he's not the man.'
'Yes, hang him!' said Dutch Pete. 'Sapperment! is our cave to be the talk of all the country? Vere is the pretty Maria to go then, vid her silks and her satins, her kegs and her cases'? Are we to risk our cave for the sake of this fellow? Besides, has he not schlagged my kopf--schlagged your cooper's kopf--as if he had hit me mit mine own mallet? ”

“ Now with this breeze we could run up to Bristol and drop the Captain by morning, which would save him from being snapped up by any land-sharks on the road.'
'Aye, aye,' cried Long John. 'The King's horse are out beyond Weston, but he could give them the slip if he had the Maria under him.'
'Well,' said Murgatroyd, 'we could get back by three long tacks. Venables will need a day or so to get his goods ashore. If we are to sail back in company we shall have time on our hands. ”

“ Murgatroyd's face flushed with anger. 'You are a plain speaker, Captain Clarke,' said he. 'This is no murder. It is justice. What harm do we here? There is not an old housewife over the whole countryside who does not bless us. ”

“ There is scarcely a steeple in the whole country-side, which also seems strange to a man from any other part of England. Every church hath a square tower, with pinnacles upon the top, and they are mostly very large, with fine peals of bells. ”

“ I will set a man to tend him, though, truth to say, the rogues know more about studding-sails and halliards than they do of steeds and their requirements. Yet no harm can come to him, so you had best come down and turn in.'
I descended the steep stairs which led down into the low-roofed cabin of the lugger. ”

“ The cows, too, are mostly red. The cottages are built neither of brick nor of wood, but of some form of plaster, which they call cob, which is strong and smooth so long as no water comes near it. They shelter the walls from the rain, therefore, by great overhanging thatches. ”