“No, nor five seconds either, and those precious rascals know all that quite as well as we do. For that reason, among others, they refrain from risking their valuable lives by venturing upon blue water.”
“Then how do they carry on their traffic?”
“I have often remonstrated with you, Larry, for your neglect to read the newspapers. But for that you might have been as well informed on this and other subjects as I am. About a month ago I read in a New York newspaper that fell in my way a somewhat detailed account of the way in which certain kinds of smuggling is carried on along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts wherever the conditions are favorable, and the conditions are nowhere so favorable as right here on this South Carolina coast, where deep, but often very narrow and crooked, inlets and creeks open from the broader waters of the sounds directly into densely wooded regions that are often wholly unpeopled for many miles in every direction.
“This is the way they do it: Schooners and other small sea-going craft load at West Indian ports and take out clearance papers for New York or Halifax or some other big port which can be best reached by skirting this coast. Under pretense of stress of weather, or shortness of water or provisions, they put into some harbor of refuge like that sound out there. They make no effort to land anything, and if questioned by the revenue officers they can show perfectly regular papers. Then when opportunity offers, their shore gangs—like the one over there—slip out in the darkness, take on full loads of freight, and land it in some secluded spot like the one down there, and the schooner sails away to her destination.”
“But how do they get their goods from the woods to market?” Tom asked.
“By wagons, I suppose, and a little at a time. That doesn’t concern us very deeply. What does concern us, is that we’ve got to get away from here as soon as this rain stops. The clouds seem to be breaking, by the way, and the wind has shifted to the northwest,” said Cal, stepping out of the shelter to observe the weather. “It will clear pretty early in the morning, I think, and in the meantime I for one want to get a little sleep.”
“But what’s the hurry, Cal?” asked Tom. “Why can’t we stay here a day or two longer? I’d like to see what the smugglers do when they come to.”
“There are several reasons for getting away at once,” answered Cal. “For one thing, we’re running short of some necessary supplies and must go to Beaufort to replenish our stores. Then there’s the question of water supply. After I finish filling the kegs we’ll have barely enough left to get through the day on.”