“Eh? That you, Master Aleck?”
“Yes, it is I, Ness. What are you doing out here at this time of night?”
“Mornin’, arn’t it, sir? Same as you, I s’pose. Who was to stop in bed with press-gangs coming and dragging folkses off to sea?”
“Then you heard them?”
“Heerd ’em, yes, sir! I was that feared o’ being took myself that I got into hiding.”
“You were not fighting, then?”
“Me? Fight? Not me! I lay low and listened.”
“The press-gang landed and surprised the smugglers, then?”
“Yes, sir, and they’ve nabbed Eben Megg and six of his mates. Did yer hear the women giving it to the sailors?”
“I heard something of it.”