o
discovering a hiding place from which the necessary observations could
be made.

"If there was any way of getting inside one of these stacks of props,"
he said, "we could keep a perfect watch. I could get in now, for
example; you relieve me tomorrow night; I relieve you the next night,
and so on. Nothing could be unloaded that we wouldn't see. But," he
added regretfully, "I doubt even if we could get inside that we should
be hidden. Besides, they might take a notion to load the props up."

"Afraid that is hardly the scheme," Hilliard answered, then went on
excitedly: "But, there's that barrel! Perhaps we could get into that."

"The barrel! That's the ticket." Merriman was excited in his turn. "That
is, if it has a lid."

They retraced their steps. With the tank they did not trouble; it was
a galvanized iron box with the lid riveted on, and moreover was full of
oil; but the barrel looked feasible.

It was an exceptionally large cask or butt, with a lid which projected
over its upper rim and which entirely protected the interior from view.
It was placed in the corner beside the right hand gable of the shed,
that is, the opposite end of the manager's rooms, and the wooden down
spout from the roof passed in through a slot cut in the edge of the lid.
A more ideal position for an observation post could hardly have been
selected.

"Try to lift the lid," whispered Hilliard.

They found it was merely laid on the rim, cleats nailed on below
preventing it from slipping off. They raised it easily and Hilliard
flashed in a beam from his electric torch. The cask was empty, evidently
a result of the long drought.

"That'll do," Merriman breathed. "That's all we want to see. Come away."

They lowered the cover and stood for a moment. Hilliard still wanted to
try the doors of the shed, but Merriman would not hear of it.

"Come away," he whispered again. "We've done well. Why spoil it?"

They returned to the boat and there argued it out. Merriman's proposal
was to try to find out when the Girondin was expected, then come the
night before, bore a few eyeholes in the cask, and let one of them,
properly supplied with provisions, get inside and assume watch. The
other one would row away, rest and sleep during the day, and return on
the following night, when they would exchange roles, and so on until the
Girondin left. In this way, he asserted, they must infallibly discover
the truth, at least about the smuggling.

"Do you th