* * * * *

Ruth stopped reading there, and looked brightly at her chum.

"What do you think of that?" asked the latter, wiping her eyes.

"Well, my dear, I shouldn't cry about it," said Ruth. "I think it is an
occasion to be joyful."

"But, Chess--"

"Is of a forgiving nature, I think," Ruth said. "At any rate, I would not
let the matter stand between me and a nice boy friend any longer. I could
never suspect Chess of doing an unkind thing."

"But I have wronged him!" cried Helen, who was, after all, tender-hearted.

"Do you know," said her friend, "I believe you can make it up to him very
nicely, if you want to, Helen?"

The _Gem_ returned to the island just at daybreak. The girls ran down to
the dock to meet the returned young men and Willie. Chess Copley had come
to get his own motor-boat, and the report they made of the end of the
smuggling affair was very satisfactory.

The sheriff and his posse in a big motor-boat had gone to the Kingdom of
Pipes and relieved Chess of his duty as guardian of the cave. The
Chinamen, who were hiding there until they could be shipped into the
States dressed in feminine garments, were all handcuffed, together with
the owner of the launch and Horatio Bilby, and loaded into the sheriff's
launch.

"And you should have heard Bilby squeal," said Tom. "There is one bad egg
who is likely to pay a considerable penalty for his crimes. He'll not get
out of the mess very easy."

"What of the King of the Pipes?" asked Ruth.

"Poor old Charley-Horse Pond," Willie, the boatman, said, "will be
detained as a witness. Already he has got a new name for himself. He
isn't 'King of the Pipes' any longer."

"What do you mean?" Ruth inquired, for she was interested in the queer
old man and his fate.

"He told me that he was Major Andre," chuckled Willie. "He is a Number
One spy. The sheriff knows him well and knows there isn't a mite of harm
in him."

Later it came out that the old man had been living on the island for some
time, having found the cave there. The smugglers of opium and the Chinese
found him there and made use of him. But when the court proceedings came
on, Pond was merely used by the prosecution as a witness. His
harmlessness was too apparent for the court to doubt him.

That particular day had to be a day of rest for Ruth and her friends, for
they had had no sleep the night before. But while they slept Mr.
Hammond's representative went in search o