“I didn’t until I had a talk with the detectives,” said Mr. Hayward. “The Chinese used the cave a long time before Dirkfell was aware of what valuable stuff was in it. He and his gang worked in harmony with the Celestials.”
“Are they going to try to catch him?” asked Fenn.
“No, it’s not worth while, since they have broken up the smuggling gang. I guess Dirkfell will not show himself in these parts soon again.”
Nor did he, or any of his gang. The boys spent a week with Mr. Hayward. Then they started back to Duluth, to join Captain Wiggs.
They found the Modoc ready to sail, and they were warmly welcomed by the commander.
“Well, we’ve certainly had some strenuous happenings this trip,” observed Frank. “I don’t think we’ll have such lively times again.” But he was mistaken, they did have plenty of adventures, and what some of them were I shall relate in another book, to be called “Bart Keene’s Hunting Days.”
THE END
Transcriber’s Notes:
Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.