f the cabin to call:

"Lieutenant Terry!"

"Here, sir."

"Be good enough to inspect the cargo that this craft may carry, as
speedily as you can. But we will begin here, and see what these piles
are that have been covered with canvas at the forward end of the cabin."

"Rifle cases, beyond any doubt," nodded Noll, as he and Hal switched
away the canvas covers.

"Cases that appear built to hold rifles and ammunition, up forward,
Overton," called Prescott, coming to the cabin door.

"Yes; this boat is a gun-smuggler beyond a doubt," nodded Lieutenant
Hal. "Even if we found no guns aboard we could hold the craft for a
pirate, for the conduct of her commander in having his fellows fire on
us."

"A pirate? Father, is that true?" called the young woman, in a startling
voice.

"Hush, child. You don't understand such things," replied the man.

"But, if this be true? Oh, I must get out of here and get air. I am
stifling."

"I shall be glad to assist you to the deck, madam, if you will permit
me," offered Prescott, gravely, removing his cap.

At an almost imperceptible sign from her father the girl quickly moved
forward and vanished with Lieutenant Prescott.

"I take it you're in command here," muttered the father.

"I am," Hal nodded.

"Then I want to talk with you," continued the stranger. "Lieutenant, of
course I know that you've got me in a nasty position. I want to see how
you can help me to get out of it."

"If you really are in a bad position," Hal responded, gazing into the
other's eyes, "I do not see how I can help you, for I am only the
officer concerned with seizing this craft. I am not going to be your
judge."

"Oh, yes, you can," continued the other, sinking his voice still lower.
"We can fix it all, I know, with money!"

CHAPTER XX

AN OFFICER AND HIS HONOR

"I'm afraid you're as badly off as the hunter's dog," observed
Lieutenant Hal coldly.

"How is that?"

"You're barking up the wrong tree."

The purple-faced man looked searchingly into the clear, steady eyes of
the young Army officer. Then he answered laughingly:

"Oh, come, now. Don't try to keep me guessing too long, or I may lose my
patience, and you may lose some money that you'd rather have. Up forward
there's a stateroom, and the light is turned on in there. Just step into
the stateroom, by yourself, and count--this."

From a trousers pocket the purple-faced one had drawn a huge roll of
bank-notes. Before Hal Overton