r o' us, eh, what?"

"Right you are!" snapped Jack, without hesitating a second.

"Which, I take it, would mean there might a'been some sort o' little
leak up at Headquarters, hang the luck, when we figured we'd got the
gang buffaloed right smart. Don't think they c'n lamp us lyin' here, do
you, Boss?"

"Small chance of that, boy, if only we lie low, and make no move apt to
attract their attention," Perk was told in a confident tone that
effectually calmed his rising alarm.

He hastened to settle down in a position where he could thrust his
glasses between interstices in the green covering of the fusilage and
wings so as to keep close tabs on the advancing plane without making any
particular movement of arms or body.

"How?" asked Jack, a few seconds later, when he fancied his mate must
have made up his mind as to the identity of the flying ship.

"Curtiss-Robin crate, that's right, Jack an' the same we saw before,"
replied the observer, excitedly. "Hey! guess now they got a glass up
there too. I sure saw the sun shinin' on somethin' bright, 'cause the
old boy's still on deck to chaps that high up."

"I've discounted that fact long ago, Perk; men engaged in the desperate
game they're playing night after night would need such a useful
instrument, so's to keep a sharp lookout for Coast Guard boats or
bunches of revenue men lying in ambush close to the place they expected
to land a wet cargo, or a couple of high-pay Chinks, it might be."

"Then you got an idea they must have a spy up in Washington--a sneaker
who c'n find out what's bein' hatched up so's to cook their goose an'
that he manages to get warnin' down here to the workin' crews so's to
put 'em on their guard--is that it, partner?"

"Looks that way--that's all I can say, Perk. Now lie low and don't do
any talking, though with their crate kicking up all that row I reckon
there'd be small chance of their hearing us even if we shouted."

Perk was chuckling to himself at a great rate and could not keep from
taking advantage of the invitation Jack had really extended to say:

"Yeah! an' I kinder guess now we got one thing they ain't, which is a
silencer on our engine that'll keep it muzzled, even if it does knock
off a bit o' our speed when we happen to use it. Luckiest thing ever you
managed to get the Big Boss to send us such a bully contrivance that
seems to work jest great. Listen to the racket they're kickin' up right
now--enough to tell any chump ten