Presently, he heard voices behind him.  The position, in which he was lying, was a little distance down on the slopes, on the seaward side of the path, and, as a screen of bushes grew behind it, he could not be seen by anyone passing along.

“All the men, with their pistols and cutlasses, are to assemble here at ten o’clock tonight, Johnson.  But do not give them orders till late, and let them come up, one by one, so as not to attract attention.  Lipscombe’s men are to assemble at the same hour, and march to meet us.  This time, I think, there is no mistake.  The cargo is to be landed where I told you.  It will be high tide at twelve o’clock, and they are sure to choose that hour, so that the cutter can run close in.  I have sent off a man on horseback to Weymouth, for the revenue cutter to come round.  If she’s in time, we shall catch that troublesome lugger, as well as her cargo.  She has been a thorn in our side for the last year.  This time, I do hope we shall have her.”

The speakers then moved on out of hearing, but James Walsham recognized the voice, as that of the revenue officer commanding the force at Sidmouth.

Smuggling was, at that time, carried on on a large scale along the coast, and there were frequent collisions between those engaged in it and the revenue officers.  The sympathies of the population were wholly with the smugglers, and the cheating of the revenue was not at all considered in the light of a crime.

Many of the fishermen, from time to time, took a hand in smuggling cruises, and the country people were always ready to lend assistance in landing and carrying the cargoes.

When out in their boats at night, James had often heard the fishermen tell stories of their smuggling adventures, and more than once he had been with them, when they had boarded a lugger laden with contraband, to warn them that the revenue cutter was on the cruising ground, and it would not be safe to attempt to run cargo at present.  He now determined, at once, that he would warn the smugglers of their danger.  The question was, where was the cargo to be run?  The officer had not mentioned the spot, but, as the force from the next station to the east was to cooperate, it must be somewhere between the two.

Waiting till the speakers must have gone well along the cliff, he rose to his feet, and returned to Sidmouth.  He thought, at first, of telling some of the fishermen what he had heard, but as, in the event of an affray, it might come out how the smugglers had been warned of the intention of the revenue officers, he thought there would be less risk in giving them warning himself.  He knew every path down the cliff for miles, and trusted that he should be able to make his way down, and give the boats notice of their danger, before the revenue men reached the shore.