One of Canning's best short stories, closely related in date and subject matter to his novel A Forest of Eyes. Set in a nameless country which is, presumably, Yugoslavia. The Great Man (Tito?) interrogates a fisherman, Tasso, suspected of smuggling. He catches him out in a lie, but releases him on the grounds that one day he might himself need a friend on that island with a boat.
The incident which may have inspired this story is narrated in "You are a Spy".
Lilliput, July 1951.
Reprinted in Magpie, the complete story magazine, Vol 2, No 10, January, 1953.
Reprinted as “The Smuggler” in Pageant (USA), September 1954.
Included in Patterns of Literature: America Reads ed. Farrell, Clapp and Kuehner, 1989, Scott Foresman.