One of these women was the sister of Jimmy Stone, and the other his wife, and it would have gone hard with them had Turnbull not conceived the humane idea of reclaiming and ultimately drafting them into the Service.  He convinced his colleagues that they would be invaluable adjutants.  They would take a deal of taming, as there was little to distinguish them from a species of wild animal.  He requested that they should be handed over to him for the purpose of trying the experiment.  The women and Jimmy were locked up in separate rooms in the Old Tower for a week.  Turnbull visited them daily, and detected on each visit the growth of penitence; his little talks had penetrated their stony, vicious natures, until at last they broke down and humbly solicited pardon and release, which was granted under well-defined conditions.  There was much talk in the village about the leniency extended to the fishers.  Tom Hitchings, the cartman, declared that they should have been sent to the Colonies, the same as the other smugglers; and Ted Robson said transportation was too good a punishment, they ought to have been shot or bayonetted, and had any other person but a ranter preacher been in charge it would have been done.

“How de we knaa, Tom,” said Ted, “that them fiends o’ smugglers winnot rise oot o’ theor beds in the deed hoor o’ the neet and break into wor homes and cut wor throats afore we’re awake?  We helped te catch them, whaat for shouldn’t we hev some say aboot theor punishment?”

“That’s whaat aa says,” replied Tom.  “But ye’ll heor o’ some queer things happenin’ varry syen.  He’ll be hevvin’ his meetin’s in Jenny’s hoose, and Jimmy’ll be preachin’ afore lang.  Ther’ll be fine scenes if it’s not throttled i’ the bud.”

“Get away, man,” said Ned; “they’re the biggest blackguards roond the countryside, and they’ll steal, rob, or morder, whichivver comes handiest.  What d’ye think that fellow Jimmy did once?  A ship was in the offin’.  She had distress signals flyin’.  He could get neebody te man a boat but women; the men wadn’t hev onythin’ te dee wiv him, so his awn wife, Ailsie’s Jenny, Nanny Dent, and Peggy Story went.  They pulled the boat through monster seas, and the brute was cursin’ at the women aal the way until they gat alangside, when the captain said, ’Ma ship’s sinkin’.’  The crew were telled to jump into the boat smart, and as syen as the captain said, ‘We’re aal heor,’ Jimmy sprang aboard like a cat, cast the boat adrift, shooted to his wife, ’She’s mine!  Pull the ——­ ashore, and then come off and we’ll take her in!’ The captain saa the trick and demanded to be taken back, but Jenny felled him with the tiller, and threatened to slay onny of the others.  They were nearly ashore when the captain exclaimed, ’She’s not his; Sancho, the dog, has been left behind!’ The crew were landed, and the boat went back to the ship.  The women gat aboard, and asked Jimmy if he had seen a dog.  He said, ‘There’s nee dog heor;