"At length, to our inexpressible relief, we felt a puff of wind; then came another and another, each one increasing in force, until the sails began to draw, and the schooner commenced moving slowly through the water. We stood off on the starboard tack, intending to give our invisible neighbor a wide berth; but he had also caught the wind, and we could hear him moving along almost in front of us. At length the fog lifted a little, and we saw a large revenue-cutter standing directly across our bows, scarcely a cable's length distant. We luffed, to allow him to pass, when a hail came from his deck:
"'Yah,' shouted father through his trumpet.
"We all held our breath in suspense, wondering what would be the result of this strange answer, when we distinctly heard the voice say:
"'It's that rascally Dutchman again.' Then, in a louder tone, came the question, 'Did you keep a good look-out for that smuggler, as we requested?'
"'O, shiver your ugly figure-head,' was the answer. 'I've a good notion to put a six-pound shot into you, you wooden-headed sour-krout eater. This makes twice that we have been fooled by you. Now off you go, and don't you cross our hawse again.'
"Father made no reply, and the cutter put her helm down, and started off. We passed under her stern, and in a few moments she disappeared in the fog. The next night we entered the channel, and landed our goods in safety. We afterward learned that the cutter, which had been closely watching our movements, had boarded the Dutch schooner, (which I have before mentioned, and which sailed about two hours in advance of us,) and so certain were they that they had at last gobbled the smuggler, that they seized the vessel, and unceremoniously slapped the captain and his crew in double irons. The skipper was so terrified that he forgot his English, and jabbered away in Dutch; and it was not until the ship's papers had been overhauled, that the cutter discovered her mistake. When the revenue fellows ran foul of us, they were again deceived by the resemblance between the two vessels, and the manner in which father had imitated the Dutch skipper's language. About a year after that we had a stopper put on our operations, by one of our own men.