er o' the
troop standin' on top o' a high peak--makes me think I'm back on the
front, with Signal Corps men wigwaggin' for all that's out. Huh! There
goes them twin lights, showin' the chinnin' must be over with both sides
posted on the program. Say, ain't this the boss job though? I guess I
never did get half as much fun outen any game I tackled before."

Just then Jack signalled that he wished to handle the stick once more,
which the other was indeed not sorry for, since it began to look as
though they were close to a critical moment when considerable skill
would be required in manipulating the ship so as to accomplish their
ends without unduly alarming those they spied upon.

Already they had managed to collect a certain amount of valuable facts
which were only guessed at previously, so cleverly had these transfer
bases been kept concealed from the most skillful of the Government
agents. Perk himself felt confident that they were as yet only on the
threshold of still more important discoveries.

It was one of Perk's peculiar little eccentricities that he could do
better thinking if only he had a bit of chewing gum between his teeth,
just to keep some muscles at work, he said, and in some mysterious
fashion having this energy pass from his working jaws to his brain and
hasten its activities.

So what did he do now but fumble in a pocket of his oily dungarees and
produce a slab of his favorite brand, Perk thrusting it into his mouth
and savagely rolling it between his teeth, really believed this helped
his brain to function more easily.

Perhaps it may have done so--some people have all manner of strange
hallucinations, which, being favored, bring satisfaction to their train
of thought. If Perk actually believed in his remedy that was half the
battle and no other person's business whatsoever.

Looking out to sea he could still find that lone beacon, even without
the aid of his binoculars. It was easy for such an imaginative fellow to
picture in his mind the lingering sloop, loaded to the gunwales with
case goods, worth almost a millionaire's ransom--the dark sailors from
Bimimi lolling around on deck, ready to up-sail and flee should the
slightest sign of a Coast Guard raid make itself manifest. From off
toward the distant shore line there came dully to their listening ears
the repeated throb of one or more speed boats hastening to lay alongside
and transfer their prearranged quota of cases, after which the burde