d told him what he had heard. At this, the
captain sat up, and listened.

"Sure enough," he remarked. "Somebody's astir at a queer hour. Guess
we might as well look into this. Come on, let's go and find out. But
we must be very careful, and not talk out loud."

Together they made their way cautiously along the shore, keeping as
close as possible to the edge of the forest. They had not gone far,
however, before the motor-boat drew into the island on their right.
Then the engine slowed down and at last stopped, showing that those on
board were about to land.

"Quick, let's get behind this rock," Captain Josh whispered. "They
must not know that anybody is here."

Thus safely concealed, the two watchers waited and listened to find out
what would take place. They soon heard the boat grate upon the gravel,
then a lantern flashed, and two men were seen walking up the beach.

"We might as well stay here," one of them said. "I'm dead beat. Let's
build a fire and get warm."

"Where's the stuff?" the other asked. "That'll warm ye better'n
anything else. We can't afford to light a fire. It will be seen from
the mainland, and we can't tell who might be prowlin' around."

With an oath, the first speaker brought forth a bottle, and took a long
deep drink, and then handed it to his companion. After this, they both
went to the boat, got several blankets, carried them a short distance
from the water, and spread them out upon the sand.

"My, this is a better place than we spent last night," one of the men
remarked.

"Should say so," replied the other. "But didn't we give the cops a
slip, though? I thought fer sure they had us one time, when they were
pokin' around that old ware-house. Lucky fer us we were able to swipe
that boat. Suppose we divvy up now. You've got all the swag."

With the lantern between them, the two men bent their heads, while one
of them brought forth a pocket-book, and began to count out a number of
bills. His voice was so low that the concealed watchers could not hear
the amount.

"There, that's better," the other at length ejaculated, thrusting the
money into his pocket. "Didn't we do that chap up fine? He put up
quite a fight, though. But we landed him and his wad all right. I'd
like to have got a rap at them kids at the same time. They nearly
queered our job. Now fer another drink, and then fer a good sleep. We
must be out of this before daylight."

For a few moments ther