'Then she has a cargo in her;' and Mr. Appleboy shaved himself, dressed, and went on deck.
'Yes,' said the lieutenant, rubbing his eyes again and again, and then looking through the glass, 'it is her, sure enough. Let draw the foresheet—hands make sail. What vessel's the other?'
'Don't know, sir—she's a cutter.'
'A cutter? yes; maybe a yacht, or maybe the new cutter ordered on the station. Make all sail, Mr. Tomkins; hoist our pendant, and fire a gun—they will understand what we mean then; they don't know the Happy-go-lucky as well as we do.'
In a few minutes the Active was under a press of sail; she hoisted her pendant, and fired a gun. The smuggler perceived that the Active had recognised her, and she also threw out more canvas, and ran off more to the westward.
'There's a gun, sir,' reported one of the men to Mr. Stewart, on board of the yacht.
'Yes; give me the glass—a revenue cutter; then this vessel inshore running towards us must be a smuggler.'
'She has just now made all sail, sir.'
'Yes, there's no doubt of it. I will go down to his lordship, keep her as she goes.'
Mr. Stewart then went down to inform Lord B. of the circumstance. Not only Lord B. but most of the gentlemen came on deck; as did soon afterwards the ladies, who had received the intelligence from Lord B., who spoke to them through the door of the cabin.