"Well," said Captain Avery, staring into the broadly smiling face of the handsome Irishman, "we've no liquid, but we've loads o' prime Cuba leaf, plug, and cigars. How are you off for beef and mutton, or, it might be, a little fresh pork?"
"No pork handy, the day," responded The McGahan. "Twinty head o' bafe, though, and all the mutton ye want. It's me sorrow that I couldn't lawfully sell ye huf or horn. The customs patrol is oll along the coast, looking after smoogglers and the like, and it's loyal to the king we are. God bless him!"
"I'm glad you're law abidin'," replied the captain. "I wouldn't ask you to sell me a pound! Guert Ten Eyck, you and the men have up that choice lot from the after cabin lockers. Mr. McGahan; come aboard and make your own selections. I'm not the kind of man to evade the customs. You'd better rob me of a lot of tobacco and whatever else there is. I couldn't help myself, you know."
"That's what I'll do," said McGahan, with a comical twist of his face. "I'd like to ploonder a privateer. Hurrah for King Garge! Doon wid all rebels!—exceptin' it may be Oirish rebels, and I'm wan o' thim. Ye may sind over a party wid goons and cutlashes to rob me o' the bafe and mutton. I'm thinking there's a good catch o' fish, along shore, but the fisher folk'd niver evade the coostoms to get a little 'baccy."
His boatmen had been listening, and he had not been whispering. One of them now sang out:—
"Your Worship! Plaze tell the bloody pirates to fetch along their plug, and sthale the fish! We're oll a wake sort o' people, riddy to be ploondhered."
It was a bargain! Boats came and went, after that, and when Captain Syme himself expressed his curiosity concerning them, he was sadly informed that the American freebooters had demanded supplies.
Captain Avery did not waste any time in carrying out his part of the contract. He led an overpowering party of well-armed men to the elegant country-seat of The McGahan, two miles away. A cart which was driven along with him contained a number of small boxes and bales.
"Some of McGahan's neighbors," he explained to Guert, "are as ready to be robbed as he is. I'll not have to pay a dollar of cash. The balance o' this trade'll come the other way. If we dared stay, we could sell out our whole cargo."
Guert was getting hold of several new ideas. One was, that a great many Irishmen were about as devoted to the British government as were the people of America. Another was, that war expenses were large and that British taxes were heavy. A great part of the revenue collected came from duties upon imported goods, and these imposts were such as to practically offer bribes to all smugglers.