Alice, brave girl that she is, protested that she was willing to take her chances with the rest, but Old King Brady sternly repeating the order, it was obeyed.
A few moments of anxious suspense and a large sailboat loomed up out of the mist right ahead of them.
Instantly Old King Brady turned a powerful electric flashlight upon it.
In the boat were several boxes and bales. One box seemed particularly large.
If this was filled with opium, Old King Brady knew that it must be very valuable.
There were three Chinamen in the boat and one white man.
"Lower your sail and surrender!" thundered Old King Brady.
The white man appeared about to obey, but one of the Chinamen interfered.
The other two immediately discharged their revolvers at the launch.
The shots flew harmlessly past them, but it made the old detective vexed to think that he had not been the first to open fire, which he and the others by his command now instantly did.