But do you suppose you can hear them or see them,
as they fly over?"

"I'm pretty sure I can. The sound of their motor and the whizz of
the propellers carries for some distance. And then, too, I'm going
to set the searchlight to play a beam up in the air. If that gets
focused on 'em, we'll spot 'em all right."

"But suppose they see it, and turn back?"

"I don't believe they will. The beam will come from the ground
straight upward you know, and they won't connect it with my ship."

"But that fellow who was sneaking up when Koku caught him, may find
some way to warn them that you have come here," suggested Ned.

"He won't get much chance to communicate with his friends, while my
men have him," said Mr. Whitford significantly. "I guess we'll take
a chance here, Tom."

So it was arranged. Everything on the airship was gotten ready for a
quick flight, and then Tom set his great searchlight aglow once
more. Its powerful beams cut upward to the clouds, making a
wonderful illumination.

"Now all we have to do is to wait and watch," remarked Tom, as he
came back from a last inspection of the apparatus in the motor room.

"And that is sometimes the hardest kind of work," said Mr. Whitford.
"Many a time I have been watching for smugglers for days and nights
at a stretch, and it was very wearying. When I got through, and
caught my man, I was more tired than if I had traveled hundreds of
miles. Just sitting around, and waiting is tiresome work."

The others agreed with him, and then the custom officer told many
stories of his experiences, of the odd places smugglers would hit
upon to conceal the contrabrand goods, and of fights he had taken
part in.

"Diamonds and jewels, from their smallness, and from the great
value, and the high duty on them when brought into the United
States, form the chief articles of the high class smugglers," he
said. "In fact the ones we are after have been doing more in
diamonds than anything else, though they have, of late, brought much
valuable hand-made lace. That can be bought comparatively cheap
abroad, and if they can evade paying Uncle Sam the duty on it, they
can sell it in the United States at a large profit."

"But the government has received so many complaints from legitimate
dealers, who can not stand this unfair competition, that we have
been ordered to get the smugglers at any cost."

"They are sharp rascals," commented Mr. Damon. "They seem to be
making more efforts since T