Frank’s words proved correct, for, when the boys reached the shore, they again heard the signal, and saw steam coming from the whistle pipe of the vessel on which they were cruising.
“Look there!” exclaimed Frank, pointing off to the left. The boys glanced in the direction, and saw a boat. From the funnels black smoke was pouring, as if every effort was being made to get up steam. “That’s the smugglers’ craft, very likely,” the lad went on. “She’s making fast time away from here.”
Captain Wiggs listened gravely to what the boys had to tell him. He agreed with Frank, that the smugglers of Chinese had tried to make a landing, but, evidently, had been frightened off.
“What will they do now?” asked Ned.
“Change the landing place to some other locality,” replied the captain. “Up or down the coast. Up, I should say, seeing the way that steamer’s headed,” and he pointed to the craft, with the black smoke hanging like a cloud over it. The vessel was almost out of sight.
“What will they do with the clothes?” asked Bart.
“Oh, they’ll take ’em along. Probably that’s what the two men came to get, when they saw you and ran away. It’s a well organized business, this Chinese smuggling, and there is a lot of money in it—for the agents. They are probably saying all kinds of mean things about you, for breaking up their plans.”
“Then I hope they don’t catch us alone off in the woods, sometime,” remarked Fenn. “That Chinese didn’t look like a very pleasant fellow to meet after dark; especially if he had a grudge against you.”
“I think you’ve seen the last of ’em,” declared Captain Wiggs. “If I thought it worth while I’d notify the government authorities, but, by the time I could get a message to ’em, the smugglers will be miles away. There’s no telling where they’ll land next time. The steamer will hang around the coast, until it gets a signal all is clear. Then the pig-tails will be dumped into a boat, rowed ashore, and the vessel will scoot off for another load in Canada.”
The anchor was broken out, hoisted, and soon, under a good head of steam, the Modoc was proceeding over Lake Superior at a fast rate, for, though he carried no perishable freight, and had no special date of arriving at Duluth, Captain Wiggs believed in doing what he had to do as quickly as possible.