Enraged at their bad luck, the smugglers took counsel together. They
assembled in Charlton Forest, and Perin suggested that they should go
in a body and, well-armed, break open the Poole Custom House. So the
next day they met at Rowland's Castle with swords and firearms, and
were presently joined by Kingsmill and the Hawkhurst gang. Till night
had fallen they secreted themselves in a wood, and eventually reached
Poole at eleven o'clock at night. Two of their members were sent
ahead to reconnoitre, and reported that a sloop-of-war lay opposite to
the quay, so that her guns could be pointed against the doors of the
Custom House; but afterwards it was found that, owing to the ebb-tide,
the guns of the sloop could not be made to bear on that spot. The
band, numbering about thirty, therefore rode down to spot, and while
Perin and one other man looked after their horses, the rest proceeded
to the Custom House, forced open the door with hatchets and other
implements, rescued the tea, fastening packages of the latter on to
their horses, with the exception only of 5 lbs. The next morning they
passed through Fordingbridge in Hampshire, where hundreds of the
inhabitants stood and watched the cavalcade. Now among the latter was
a man named Daniel Chater, a shoemaker by trade. He was known to
Diamond, one of the gang then passing, for they had both worked
together once at harvest time. Recognising each other, Diamond
extended his arm, shook hands, and threw him a bag of tea, for the
booty had been divided up so that each man carried five bags of 27
lbs.

[Illustration: _A Representation of ye Smugglers breaking open ye_
KING'S _Custom House at Poole_.]

After the Poole officers discovered what had happened to their Custom