So much, indeed, was the general
attention occupied that none of the men seemed to regard the
entrance of yet another person into the inn parlour. This was none
other than Tom Kinlay, who, with his great boots and pea jacket on
and his sou'wester hat, looked as big a man as any of them.
For a moment he hesitated, on seeing the young naval officer, but,
emboldened by Mr. Fox's disguised appearance, he took up a position
where he could hear all that was being said.
"I canna think what had put the revenue men on the track o' the
smugglers," a fisherman was saying. "Surely if any man carried the
game on secretly it was Harry Ewan."
"What's to hinder them finding out?" said Jack Paterson. "Why, I
ken'd it lang syne, though it isna ony business o' mine to ken."
"Ah!" put in Lothian, with the air of one who was well acquainted
with the subject, "it's not the most cautious that are least
suspected o' breakin' the law. Now, I ken a man that not one here
would suspect, an' he has been carryin' on the business underhand
this many a day. But tak' my word for it, the fox has his eye on
him for all that, and it isna long before he'll be dropped on the
same as Harry Ewan."
Lieutenant Fox stepped a little nearer to the speakers.
"Oho!" exclaimed Jack Paterson; "and who may that be now, Colin?"
"Weel," replied the wanderer, "it isna for me just to say, though I
wouldna lift a hand to save ony smuggling rogue.
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