Produced by Al Haines. [Illustration: Cover] [Illustration: "Surrender, in the king’s name!" shouted Jack. _Page_ 121] JACK HARDY _A Story of English Smugglers in the Days of Napoleon_ _By_ HERBERT STRANG _Author of_ Fighting on the Congo In Clive’s Command On the Trail of the Arabs, etc. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY WILLIAM RAINEY, R. I. INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT 1906, 1907 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. *CONTENTS* CHAPTER I The Road to Luscombe II Monsieur De Fronsac III A Fight in Luscombe Market IV Congleton’s Hollow V A Midnight Excursion VI Signals VII The Best-Laid Schemes VIII Congleton’s Folly IX Close Quarters X A Prisoner of France XI A Break for Freedom XII The Capture of the *Glorieuse* XIII Off Luscombe XIV A Discovery XV Tar and Feathers XVI A Run at Sandy Cove XVII Diamond Cut Diamond XVIII The Battle of Binsey Cove XIX Some Appointments *LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS* "Surrender, in the king’s name!" shouted Jack . . . Frontispiece "Steady, Mr. Gudgeon, steady!" cried Jack Jack, with a straight right-hander, sent him spinning over "If you make a movement, I shall fire" *JACK HARDY* *CHAPTER I* *THE ROAD TO LUSCOMBE* The first time Jack Hardy met Mr. Nathaniel Gudgeon was also the occasion of his first visit to Luscombe. It happened in this way. "Good-by, my boy," said his father, as Jack clambered on to the roof of the coach at the _White Hart_, Southwark, "and be sure you don’t forget your Cousin Bastable, or your mother will never forgive you." "All right, father. I’ll take a look at him if I get a chance. I say, coachman, you’ll let me have a drive?" The coachman could not turn his head, because the collar of his coat was stiff and his neck brawny; but he screwed his left eye into the corner, winked, and gave a hoarse chuckle. "I’ve seed Jack Tars on donkeys, and orficers on hosses," said he. "Lor’ bless you, I knows ’em." Which was the beginning of an argument that lasted all the way to Guildford.