"What made you put out those lights?" asked the latter. "I thought all ships carried lights at night."
"We don't," laughed Bonny. "They'd give us away to the cutters, and we'd be picked up in less'n no time. I'm mighty glad that steamer isn't a revenue-boat."
"Why?"
"Because she's so fast. There's only one craft on the Sound can beat her, and that's the Flyer, running between Tacoma and Seattle. This City of Kingston is a good one, though. She used to be a crack Hudson River boat, and came out here around the Horn; or, rather, not exactly that, but through the Strait of Magellan. That's a tough place, I can tell you."
"I suppose it is," replied Alaric. "But, Bonny, tell me something more about those cutters. Why should they want to catch us?"
"For running 'chinks' and 'dope.'"
"What harm is there in that? Is it against the law?"
"I should rather say it was. There's a duty of ten dollars a pound on one, and the others aren't allowed in at any price."
"Then I don't see how we are any different from regular smugglers."
"That's what some folks call us," replied Bonny, with a grin. "They are mostly on the other side, though. In Victoria they call us free-traders."