they could do was to continue to crouch there in the
shadow of the well curbing, and await whatever was scheduled to come to
pass.

If Perk had been so eagerly praying for something to breeze along that
would give him the thrill he loved so well, his wish seemed well on the
road of being realized since everything was set for a dramatic discovery
with its attendant speedy action.

It was apparent that after all the man could not have glimpsed their
vanishing faces as they ducked so swiftly, for he continued to advance
in the direction of the well and Perk could hear him softly singing,
just as though he might be a "musical cuss," as Perk told himself with
one of his customary chuckles since his first stab of alarm had passed
off under the realization that they had another chance.

Jack, too, was telling himself what a peculiar state of affairs had come
upon the stage--here, with an ambush lying in wait before him, this man
could step blithely along, swinging his aluminum bucket and softly
warbling one of the most recent hits from a comic opera--Jack had
himself heard the song on the boards of a great metropolitan theatre in
New York--had even caught himself whistling the catchy air more than a
few times since.

The man who seemed to be so well pleased with his fortunes while basking
in the favor of the wealthy chief of smugglers had a little surprise
waiting for him at the end of his rainbow--if those lurking shadowy
figures knew their business and managed it as they should, he would be
singing quite a different air before a great while, perhaps interlarding
his humming with a choice variety of expletives concerning the cruelty
of Fate.

A few more steps and he would have reached the well--then what must take
place? Perk was asking himself as he crouched there, his muscles set and
his breath coming in little noiseless gasps--he resembled nothing so
much as a cat ready poised to make a deadly leap upon a fat robin
struggling with a worm that it had pulled halfway out of its hole.

There was not one chance in twenty that the man could actually reach the
well, drop the bucket down, switch it around in order to induce water to
enter and then make use of the windlass so as to draw it to the top,
without discovering the presence of those two huddled forms; so Perk did
not deceive himself in the least with any extravagant hopes of the
affair passing off smoothly and their plans being uninterrupted.

Now the man had set