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CHAPTER XLII
ANSWERING THE QUESTION
If Scudamore had not seen Dan Tugwell on board of the London Trader, and
heard from his own lips that he was one of her crew, it is certain that
he would have made a strict search of her hold, according to his orders
in suspicious cases. And if he had done this, it is probable that he
never would have set his nimble feet on deck again, for Perkins (the
American who passed as Sam Polwhele) had a heavy ship-pistol in his
great rough pocket, ready for the back of the young officer's head if
he had probed below the cheeses and firkins of butter. Only two men had
followed the lieutenant from their boat, the rest being needed for her
safety in the strong sea running, and those two at the signal would have
been flung overboard, and the schooner (put about for the mouth of the
Canche, where heavy batteries were mounted) would have had a fair chance
of escape, with a good start, while the gun-brig was picking up her
boat. Unless, indeed, a shot from the Delia should carry away an
important spar, which was not very likely at night, and with a quick
surf to baffle gunnery. However, none of these things came to pass, and
so the chances require no measurement.
Carne landed his freight with his usual luck, and resolved very wisely
to leave off that dangerous work until further urgency. He had now a
very fine stock of military stores for the ruin of his native land,
and especially of gunpowder, which the gallant Frenchmen were afraid of
stowing largely in their flat-bottomed craft.
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