"What do you divine, most noble chief?"
"I do not think it would be wise to say until I am surer of my facts."
"And do your suspicions point to some dreadful mystery of the deep?" whispered Mason, with mock fear, while his mischievous eyes sparkled with fun.
"Something perhaps a little more serious than we have been mixed up in before, if I am right."
"Really."
"As serious as powder and bullets can be."
"Powder and bullets," repeated Bert in some alarm. "What do you mean, Hal?"
"I tell you I cannot speak until I am surer of my ground. You know I made an expedition into the hold to-day while the hatches were open."
"Yes, but you did not tell us that anything that you saw there was at all suspicious."
"I do not know that it is, but I can tell you this: instead of carrying a general cargo of merchandise for trading purposes, as we are supposed to do, we are loaded to the gunwales with guns and ammunition."