"What would the negro want of Nicolas?" queried the foreman.

"Revenge," Tom replied. "It makes a big bully like him furious to be
handled the way Nicolas treated him. But I can't understand how Nicolas
failed to repeat his clever trick with the black."

Arrived at the water front the magneto was dumped into the motor boat.

"Seems to me I would smash that thing all to pieces," Suggested Foreman
Corbett. "It has done harm enough around this wall."

"I don't believe in destroying anything that is useful," Reade answered,
shaking his head. "Besides, we are going to capture Sambo yet, and then
we shall want that magneto for evidence."

"What are you going to do to find Nicolas?" Corbett wanted to know.

"I wish I had even an idea," Tom sighed. "Corbett, I wish you would hurry
over to Blixton and rout out the police. I've an idea that Sambo may have
a hiding place in the town. Nicolas, too, may have been taken that way.
I'll sit down and write out a good description of the rascal."

This Reade did, handing the paper to the foreman.

"Who'll take charge here? Corbett asked.

"I will, until you get back, but hurry."

As soon as the foreman had gone Tom stepped into the motor boat, taking
the wheel.

"Tune up the engine, Conlon," Reade directed the engine tender. "I'm going
to take a run around to the west side of the wall. I'm going to try to
find the tubes of high explosive that I'm satisfied were planted in the
wall."

"That's a fine job for a dark night, sir," grumbled Conlon. "Suppose we
run into the bombs, and they prove to be contact exploders, too?"

"That's one of the risks of the business," Tom retorted grimly.

Before the motor boat had gone far Tom called one of the men aboard to take
the wheel. Then the young chief engineer began to experiment with the
searchlight.

"What's the idea, sir?" asked Conlon, looking on.

"I want to depress the light, so that we can use it to look down into the
water."

"And try to find the bombs?"

"Exactly," Reade nodded.

"Lucky if we don't find the bombs with the keel of the boat," observed
Conlon.

Tom succeeded in rigging the light so that he could use it. By the time
that the boat was around at the west side of the retaining wall Tom ordered
the boat in close alongside. Then, with the depressed searchlight he
discovered that he could see the sides of the wall to a depth of some eight
feet under the surface.

"That may be enough for our nee