“We don’t know that Colleton was taken out of the building by the big man!” declared Jimmie. “Ben insists that the slim man at the office door was Colleton, drugged and disguised, but it’s no sure thing that he’s right! I think he is, but he may be mistaken for all that!”
“Wouldn’t it be a snap if we could seize one of those big fellows and have him turn out to be the right one? We’d take him down to the camp and put him through the third degree, and then he’d tell us where Colleton is hidden, and where the stolen proofs are, and who hired him to do the job, and a whole lot of other stuff calculated to put the mail-order thieves in bad with the jury.”
“Wake up, boy, wake up!”
“Aw, let me dream. And then,” he went on, “we could go to Washington and get the reward and bring it back to New York in bags and barrels——”
“Cut it out,” whispered Jimmie. “There’s some one moving just behind us! Wouldn’t it be a joke on us if many of these barrels should contain brigands instead of brandy?”
CHAPTER IX.
THE VOYAGE OF THE ANN.
“I wouldn’t call that much of a joke!” Carl replied. “Turn out the light and perhaps they won’t see us!”
“What’s the use?” the boy answered. “They’ve seen our light before this, and they’ve heard us talking.”
“That’s right, kiddo!” a voice said in the darkness. “We’ve seen your light and we’ve heard you talking. Now, if you’ll lay your revolvers on the head of the barrel where you are standing, you’ll save us mussing up the floor.”
“You win!” exclaimed Jimmie.