belled. There were
"agricultural implements," a "cream separator," a "windmill," and
half a dozen "sewing-machines," in addition to a considerable
number of kegs alleged to contain nails. Most of it came down
after five o'clock in the afternoon after the wharfinger had left
the dock, and as nothing but a disordered brain would have
suspected the steamer _Maggie_ of an attempt to break the
neutrality laws, the entire cargo was gotten aboard safely and
without a jot of suspicion attaching to the vessel.

When all was in readiness, Captain Scraggs incontinently "fired" his
deckhand and engineer and inducted aboard a new crew, carefully
selected for their filibuster virtues by Scab Johnny himself. Then
while the new engineer got up steam, Captain Scraggs went up to Scab
Johnny's office for his final instructions and the balance of the
first instalment due him.

Briefly, his instructions were as follows: Upon arrival off Point
Dume on the southern California coast, he was to stand in close
to Dume Cove under cover of darkness and show two green lights
on the masthead. A man would come alongside presently in a small
boat, and climb aboard. This man would be the supercargo and the
confidential envoy of the insurrecto junta in Los Angeles.
Captain Scraggs was to look to this man for orders and to obey
him implicitly, as upon this depended the success of the
expedition. This agent of the insurrecto forces would pay him the
balance of five thousand dollars due him immediately upon
discharge of the cargo at Descanso Bay. There was a body of
insurrecto troops encamped at Megano rancho, a mile from the
beach, and they would have a barge and small boats in readiness
to lighter the cargo. Scab Johnny explained that he had promised
the crew double wages and a bonus of a hundred dollars each for
the trip. Don Manuel Garcia Lopez paid over the requisite amount
of cash, and half an hour later the _Maggie_ was steaming down
the bay on her perilous mission.

The sun was setting as they passed out the Golden Gate and swung
down the south channel, and with the wind on her beam, the aged
_Maggie_ did nine knots. Late in the afternoon of the following
day she was off the Santa Barbara channel, and about midnight she
ran in under the lee of Point Dume and lay to. The mate hung out
the green signal lights, and in about an hour Captain Scraggs
heard the sound of oars grating in rowlocks. A few minutes later
a stentorian voice hailed them out