"That's so," answered Tommy, still hesitating.
"Come, don't keep me waiting for your reply all day. Say yes or no," answered Wild Charley, impatiently.
"Yes."
Tommy had consented in his soft way to do what his better judgment told him might get him into trouble.
Lest he should have time for his decision to cool, he was called by Charley into their cabin and literally stuffed with bags containing thin, flat cakes of tightly pressed tobacco.
The duty on this tobacco is four shillings and six pence per pound, with five per cent. added, and when we say that Tommy was loaded or padded with over half a hundredweight, it can be imagined that he was smuggling on a large scale.
Wild Charley sewed the bags with a needle and thread to the lining of his pants, vest and coat, giving him a large pilot jacket to wear over all.
"Now," he said, "you'll do. We shall soon be off Birkenhead, when the officers of the customs will come on board. All you have to do is to loaf around here, and when we've landed our passengers, you and I will go ashore together, and I'll take you to a friend of mine, where you can unload your cargo."
"All right," replied Tommy.
"If anything should go wrong you won't squeal?"