d.

"Place where the lumbermen land," Jo had remarked upon this occasion,
pointing to the trunk of a cedar near the edge. There was a slightly
worn place in the bark where a ship's rope had been fastened.

Afterwards they had remembered that the island was part of an Indian
reservation, where no lumberman had any right to touch the timber.

Until the incident of the night before they had, however, given this no
thought. But it had occurred to Tom then that the mysterious trail in
the uninhabited island might possibly have some connection with the
strange vessel.

"What are the customs officers going to do?" Jo asked.

"From the little I could hear I expect that the _Madrona_ will keep
watch for the smugglers in the open waters of the Sound. The slough
won't be guarded at all, in that case, and I'm going to wait here till
towards morning; then, if nothing passes, we can put into the bay, and
see if there are any signs of anybody having been on the trail the last
few hours."

"Not likely."

"Well, I'm not so sure of that--at all events we'll wait here through
the night, and see if anything does happen."

"But if it isn't an opium smuggler at all; if it's a--a--"

"A what?" Tom asked shortly, familiar with the other's superstitious
nature.

"Have we the gun?" said Jo, changing the subject.

"I don't know."

"Yes, it's here," answered the Indian, rummaging for it among a lot of
odds and ends at the bow. "I wonder if it's--"

"Don't bang it off into me to find out if it is."

Some hours after midnight the boat of the boys was standing in for the
little bay spoken of. They had waited further up the slough, but Tom,
who of the two was the one who had kept awake, had heard nothing pass.
It was still quite dark.

Jo suddenly started.

"Say, did you see that? There--there it is again!"

The boys looked upwards, and a great white bar of light, like a comet,
swung across the sky above them. Then it swung slowly back again,
faltering here and there, and appearing to rise and fall in certain
places.

"It must be the _Madrona_'s search-light," said Tom, "and they are right
south of here."

They still had a full view of the open waters of Puget Sound.

"They seem to be coming this way," muttered the Indian; "there it goes
again!"

As he spoke, an intensely bright cone of light leaped forth suddenly
into the darkness, and moved from place to place along the high rocky
shores.

"I'm glad it isn't as dark as