e any perticular difference with our billet, is it--jest 'cause he's
got this funny streak runnin' through his doin's we don't reckon to
throw up our hands an' call it all off, do we?"

Jack chuckled.

"Not any, buddy--we only know that Uncle Sam wants his activities cut
short--it may be exciting sport for him to ferry Chinks across from Cuba
or Honduras, land big cargoes of booze on our shores with his thumb to
his nose insofar as the Government is concerned, and such capers as
that, but it means heaps of trouble for the revenue boys as well as
holding our laws up to contempt. He must be brought to book, and his
game stopped without any more delay than is necessary, no matter how
many other innocent recreations he's engaged in."

"Hot ziggetty! that gives me a warm feelin' again, partner an' I guess
we're the boys to knock the underpinnin' loose so's to make him drop
with a splash." Saying which, Perk relapsed into utter silence.

For some further time they stuck it out, watching every little movement
of the remarkable character proceeding with his labor, not a hundred
feet distant. Jack himself began to grow a bit nervous, for the sun was
just hovering above the western horizon and twilight does not last any
length of time in the South. If they delayed much longer it would mean a
walk in the dark over that dangerous dimly marked trail.

They could have no further doubt concerning the nature of the work that
was giving the suspected man so much genuine pleasure, he had held up
the object of his labor several times so they could plainly identify it
as a birdskin with the most lovely rosy-tinted feathery plumage, long
legs and a spoon-shaped bill.

Then greatly to the relief of the uneasy Perk, the short man came out of
the shack and said something that caused the other to accompany him
back, thus clearing the field.

"Now let's skip out," Jack said softly.

Accordingly both watchers commenced sliding and creeping for all the
world copying the movements of a cat ambushing a feeding sparrow in the
back yard of a suburban place. Although so anxious to get started on
their way back to where they had left their camouflaged ship, neither
Jack nor his comrade would take chances in trying to make haste; they
had long ago learned the folly of one false move when engaged in their
accustomed job of spying upon a suspected law-breaker whom they had
tracked down after an arduous chase.

When finally they reached a point wh