Chinks dropped
inter the middle o' the gulf, I hate 'em so, but thar's good money in
the game, we happens tuh know, Zeb, which I jest caint hold back on
nowhow. Les go!"

Greatly to the relief of the listening Perk he heard the sound of
splashing gradually recede until finally it died away completely. This
gave him a feeling bordering on relief, for while Perk was an old hand
at the fighting game and stood ready to give a good account of his
ability to defend their prize; at the same time he had no violent desire
to open up on the two occupants of the unseen rowboat nor yet was the
idea of the sloop being discovered at all to his taste.

"Lucky lads you might count yourselves if on'y you knew how I was layin'
right here in ambush, ready to sink that boat an' make the biggest sort
o' a splash. An' I'm guessin' I got off right smart 'bout that cookin'
fire racket, come to think of it--might a'spilled the beans all right,
and made all sort o' trouble for our crowd."

Talking in this fashion to himself, Perk again set about taking things
comfortably nor did he ever hear of that pair again. Still, he treasured
up in his mind what he had heard the man with the harsh voice say in
connection with the smuggling of unwelcome Chinese immigrants who were
ready to pay so well for an opportunity to beat the Government
regulations in their eagerness to join the foreign colony in Mott
Street, New York City, where the vast majority of them were bound. It
would naturally interest Jack when he heard the news, although it could
hardly be considered startling, since they already knew full well this
sort of thing was being carried on by daring airplane pilots in the
service of the far-flung smuggling combine.

By now it was well past the middle of the afternoon. Light fleecy, white
clouds had been drifting up from the direction of the Dry Tortugas and
Key West but this far they did not look at all portentous, as though any
kind of a storm might be brewing. Perk hoped that would not turn out to
be the case since they had work planned for a part of the coming night,
which would be greatly hampered by unsettled weather.

Then, on making one of his habitual observations of the upper air, he
discovered a moving speck that he soon decided must be a plane heading
in his direction. At first Perk fancied it must be Jack on his way back,
but later on he realized the air craft bore a great resemblance to the
Curtiss-Robin boat which they had figur