pale.

"Pirates!" echoed Margery Brown in consternation. "Why, we might have
been killed and no one would have known what became of us!"

"Who said anything about pirates!" retorted the revenue captain,
smiling.

"Why, you thaid--" began Tommy wonderingly.

"I spoke of 'business,'" came the answer of the man in uniform, "and
that was what I meant to say. In these days, in Latin-American
countries, revolution appears to be one of the leading forms of
business."

"_Revolution?_" echoed Margery, quickly reviving, while Tommy listened
in amazement. "Why, revolutions are romantic; there's nothing awful
about 'em."

"Nothing awful," laughed Captain Rupert. "In the countries to the
south of us most of the revolutions are very tame affairs, so far as
actual fighting goes. The crowd that makes the most noise, whether
government or insurgent, usually wins the day. For that matter, I
never could understand why blank cartridges wouldn't do as well as the
real ammunition in these Latin-American revolutions."

"Yet if these rifles and cartridges were intended for use in a
revolution," Harriet broke in, "doesn't it seem odd to land them on
this short strip of New Hampshire coast?"

"Not at all odd when you understand the reason," Captain Rupert went
on. "These rifles are intended to be used in another projected
uprising of the blacks in Cuba. The blacks there are always ready to
fight, provided some selfseeking white man offers them the weapons,
and a prosperous time, without work, in the event of victory. Such
another uprising of the blacks in Cuba has been planned. The secret
service men of the Cuban government got wind of the affair and trailed
some of the plotters to this country.

"Now, the United States is the place where nearly all of the supplies
for these revolutions are bought. So our government, watching,
discovered that the arms were being slyly shipped to Portsmouth,
instead of being directly shipped from New York to Cuba. It was, of
course, quite plain that Portsmouth was the port from which the arms
and ammunition were to be shipped. So the cutter that I command was
ordered to Portsmouth. As soon as the plotters there found the
'Terrapin' cruising off that port they knew they must find some other
way of getting the goods out of the country, for it is against the law
to ship arms from this country for use against any other established
government.

"So the plotters hit upon a new plan. They engaged the skipp