ld like to buy one like
this at the same price. But when are you going out again?"

"Out where?"

"O, I understand all about this business; you needn't roll your eyes at
me," laughed the detective. "I know all about it; and when Captain
Chinks runs in another lot of brandy, I intend to take it off his hands,
if he isn't too sharp; and I want to know when to be on the lookout for
it."

"O, you do?" grinned Ben.

"When do you go?"

"I donno; you must ask the cap'n. When he gets a letter he will be off."

The conversation was continued till it was quite dark, and then Ben went
back to his boat. Little Bobtail laughed till his sides ached at the
tactics of Mr. Hines, as they walked up to the hotel, or boarding-house,
where the late owner of the Skylark lodged.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE CHASE.

Mr. Hines and Little Bobtail walked up to the hotel. The former had
possessed himself of sufficient evidence to convict Captain Chinks of
smuggling, and also of intense stupidity in employing a simpleton like
Ben Chinks in such a dangerous business, though rogues and villains
almost always leave a screw loose somewhere.

"We shall make a good case of it, Bobtail," said Mr. Hines.

"I could hardly keep from laughing while you were pumping Ben Chinks,"
replied the skipper. "The idea of your taking the stuff off Captain
Chinks's hands!"

"I did take it off his hands, and he will have no trouble now in getting
rid of it."

"I wouldn't have said anything if I had been Ben."

"Very likely you would, Bobtail; for with all the information I have
obtained from you, and from other sources, I spoke by the book, and he
had every reason to suppose I was in the captain's confidence."

"But do you really think Captain Chinks will come down here?" asked
Bobtail.

"I am almost sure of it."

"I should stay away, if I were him."

"He must come to unsnarl the tangle he has made here," replied the
detective. "He must have been more astonished and disconcerted when
Squire Gilfilian showed him the bill he had paid for the boat, than any
one else was. Very likely he will have another explanation to make to
show how he came by it, and he may trace it back to you in some way. But
we will keep an eye on him."

At the hotel they met Mr. Brooks, but the gentleman who had sold the
Skylark, being in feeble health, had retired early. Nothing could be
done, and Bobtail returned to the yacht, while his passengers took rooms
at the hotel, an