I brought Leigh up from Melbourne and made him sailing master and again began preying on the Chinkies, but in a more friendly way than when I was plundering their pirate junks in the China Sea. The Chinamen furnished their own food, and Quong Tart, a rich Chinese merchant of Sydney, paid me one hundred and fifty dollars for every one I landed in Victoria or New South Wales. He arranged for their shipment, so, when I arrived at Amoy or Shanghai, where they all came from, I had only to wait for the requisite number to come on board, and he also took charge of them when they were put ashore. In a spirit of dare-deviltry I landed the first shipload less than five miles north of Newcastle, the second largest city in New South Wales. The subsequent cargoes I unloaded on the beach north of Newcastle or south of Sydney, without ever feeling that I was in any serious danger of being discovered. Each time I sent word to Quong Tart where the next load would be put ashore and about the time I was expected he sent spies to the spot to see if any officers were hanging around and signal to me if there was danger of running into a trap. No two cargoes were ever landed at the same place and only Quong Tart knew where to look for me on the next trip. When Nourse and Wilson were released from prison the former scurried across Bass Strait to his old Tasmanian home with the money I had paid him for so successfully impersonating me. He considered that he had been well compensated for his compulsory retirement from active life and expected to invest his capital in some small business, to which affluent position, under ordinary conditions, he never could have aspired with any degree of confidence. Wilson’s disposition was to go back to the sea with me, so I bought the “Nettie H,” a handy little steamer, and put her into the Chinese smuggling trade. I took command of the steamer, with Leigh as sailing master, and put Wilson in charge of the schooner, as I could trust him with the least anxiety. He had none of Leigh’s love for liquor and the result of his carelessness with the “Ferret” had made him as careful as a Scot. While the “Nettie H” was being fitted out, the authorities warned me that they knew what I was up to and it would go hard with me if they secured proof of their suspicions, but, knowing they were only shooting in the air, I laughed at them.