At this time the little party was directly in front of the hotel where Stroup had exhibited his muscular ability. As Ben explained about the first stopping-place, the two beacons, the schooner, the caves, and the swarm of Celestials, Gilmore drew him into the hotel and into the smoking room. Here he seated the entire party notwithstanding the frowns of the clerk, and closed and locked the door.
“Do you know,” he asked, after a moment’s thought, “that you boys have made a discovery which is likely to bring you a large amount of money?”
“I guess they can use it, all right,” laughed Havens. “They want a new flying machine every time they see a new model!”
“Tell us about it?” asked Ben eagerly.
“Well,” Gilmore went on, “we have been after those Chink smugglers a long time. The beacons have been observed night after night, and schooners have long been known to visit Monterey bay during the dark hours, but,” he went on, “we have searched the coast for a hundred miles and never found anything like the canyon you blundered into the first night of your arrival.”
“And we found it in the dark!” laughed Carl.
“Cheer up!” exclaimed Gilmore. “My men couldn’t find it in the day-time.”
“Well, you know where to get the Chinks now!” the sheriff broke in.
“But how about this Chink we were talking about?” asked Ben. “We found him tied up like a side roast of beef. We turned him loose, of course, and then he comes and serves us a dirty trick like that!”
Gilmore sat back in his chair and laughed heartily.