ked Ned.

"Well, they haven't been of any aid to us so far," was the answer.
"No doubt they are trying, but it's hard to get an airship at night
when you're on the ground, and can't even see it."

"How did they come to use airships?" asked Tom.

"Well, it was because we were too sharp after them when they tried
to run things across the line afoot, or by wagons," replied the
agent. "You must know that in every principal city, at or near the
border line, there is a custom house. Goods brought from Canada to
the United States must pass through there and pay a duty."

"Of course if lawless people try to evade the duty they don't go
near the custom house. But there are inspectors stationed at the
principal roads leading from the Dominion into Uncle Sam's
territory, and they are always on the lookout. They patrol the line,
sometimes through a dense wilderness, and again over a desolate
plain, always on the watch. If they see persons crossing the line
they stop them and examine what they have. If there is nothing
dutiable they are allowed to pass. If they have goods on which there
is a tax, they either have to pay or surrender the goods."

"But don't the smugglers slip over in spite of all the precautions?"
asked Ned. "Say at some lonely ravine, or stretch of woods?"

"I suppose they do, occasionally," replied Mr. Whitford. "Yet the
fact that they never can tell when one of the inspectors or deputies
is coming along, acts as a stop. Yon see the border line is divided
up into stretches of different lengths. A certain man, or men, are
held responsible for each division. They must see that no smugglers
pass. That makes them on the alert."

"Why, take it out west, I have a friend who told me that he often
travels hundreds of miles on horseback, with pack ponies carrying
his camping outfit, patroling the border on the lookout for
smugglers."

"In fact Uncle Sam has made it so hard for the ordinary smuggler to
do business on foot or by wagon, that these fellows have taken to
airships. And it is practically impossible for an inspector
patroling the border to be on the lookout for the craft of the air.
Even if they saw them, what could they do? It would be out of the
question to stop them. That's why we need some one with a proper
machine who can chase after them, who can sail through the air, and
give them a fight in the clouds if they have to."

"Our custom houses on the ground, and our inspectors on horse back,
travelin