been obtained and the rooms entered and
inspected. But no papers of any sort that would give a clue to
Higginbotham's connections in the liquor traffic were found. A canny
man, he had avoided keeping any such incriminating documents about.
Ryan and the other prisoners had been released on bail, Ryan himself
putting up the bond money which amounted to a large sum.

"If only I could lay my hands on the principals behind this plot,"
said Captain Folsom, thoughtfully. "The liquor smuggling is growing,
and there is every evidence that some organizing genius with a great
deal of money at his command is behind it. The newest manifestation of
the smugglers' activities came the other day when an airplane which
fell into a field near Croton-on-Hudson and was abandoned by the
aviator, who was unhurt, was found to have carried 200 bottles of
expensive Canadian liquor. And a map of the route from an island in
the St. Lawrence near Montreal to Glen Falls, New York, thence to New
York City was found in the cockpit. It was well-thumbed, and showed
the trip must have been made many times of late."

"But, if you do catch the principal, won't that merely result in
curtailing activities of the smugglers for the time being, but not in
putting a permanent stop to them?" asked Frank. "Aren't the profits so
large that somebody else with money, some other organizing genius as
you say, will take up the work?"

"Perhaps, you are right," said Captain Folsom. "This prohibition law
has brought to pass a mighty queer state of affairs in our country. It
is one law that many people feel no compunctions at violating.
Nevertheless, I feel that behind all these liquor violations in and
around New York City to-day there is a man of prominence, someone who
has united most of the small operators under his control, and who
virtually has organized a Liquor Smugglers' Trust.

"If we can land that man," he added, "we will strike a blow that will
deter others for a long time to come from trying to follow his
example. And I have the feeling that the events which you boys
precipitated will lead us to that man--the Man Higher Up."

So interested were the boys in this conversation that they failed to
note the near approach of the Nark to an ancient schooner. They stood
gazing at the creaming water under the bow, caps pulled low over their
eyes to protect them from the sun's glare, and their radius of vision
was strictly limited. Now, however, the speed of the N