'Boat ahoy!' cried the voice again. 'Row in at once! D'ye hear? Row in at once or I shall fire on you.' Marah didn't answer. 'Present arms!' cried the voice again after a pause; and at that Marah bowed down in the stern sheets under the gunwale. 'Fire!' said the voice; and a volley ripped up the sea all around us, knocking off splinters from the planks... For the next half-hour we were just within extreme range of the carbines and musketoons. During that half-hour we were slowly slipping by the long two miles of Slapton Sands. We could not go fast, for the only sail was a coat, and, though the wind was pretty fresh, the set of the tide was against us. So for half an hour we crouched below that row-boat's gunwale, just peeping up now and then to see the white outline of the breakers on the sand, and beyond that the black outlines of the horsemen, who followed us... When Jim Davis stumbles upon a smuggling ring his life takes a terrifying new turn... He is press-ganged into joining a fierce band of smugglers led by Marah, a frightening and sea-scarred buccaneer. Under Marah's watchful eye, he has many hair-raising adventures and close escapes while learning about the perils of the sea and living the life of an outlaw.