pied a considerable time, particularly during winter, when the men became tired and drowsy from the fatigue of incessant walking, and the wearisome length of the night watches. The smugglers, aware of the circumstance, and being enabled by the withdrawal of the sentinels to land their goods without molestation in any of the little bays formed upon the beach by the projecting angles of the precipice- having previously, during daylight, fixed upon the exact spot for their enterprise, and notched or otherwise marked its cor responding point upon the edge of the cliff above, they seized the opportunity when the tide drove the watch men away from the beach, and before they could reach the summit, rushed to the appointed place, fixed a light wooden derrick upon the grass, securing it firmly by an iron crow-bar thrust through a hole at the end.
In the centre of this derrick was a hinge similar to that in the joint of a boot-jack, and at the outer extremity a running sheave inserted in a notch, which projected over the cliff, plumbing the bay below. Through the notch traversed a rope, by which a basket was rapidly lowered to the confederates on the beach ; and at the bottom of the basket hung a small hand-bell, the ringing of which, though inaudible above, was sufficient to indicate the descent and position of the basket to those beneath. Ten or twelve tubs were instantly crammed into it, the rope jerked as a signal to pull up, and the other end of it being fastened to an active horse, the -
Page:Reminiscences of Smugglers and Smuggling.pdf/105
From Historical Hastings
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