“That’s the truth!” put in another of the men.
“Kind of chicken-hearted,” sneered Snackley. “You look out or I’ll fire the lot of you!”
“No, you won’t, chief,” replied the first man who had addressed him. “We’ve helped in this smuggling, and we’re going to have our full share of what’s coming to us.”
“We’ve got another plan about those three prisoners,” put in a fellow who had not yet spoken. “I think it would work out grand.”
“What plan?” questioned the chief smuggler briefly.
“We’ve been talking about Li Chang.”
“What about him?”
“Turn ’em over to Li Chang. He’s sailing back to China in the morning. Have ’em put on board his ship.”
Snackley scratched his head for a moment. Evidently the idea caught his fancy.
“Not bad,” he muttered. “I hadn’t thought of Li Chang. Yes, he’d be able to look after them. He’d see to it that they never returned,” and he grinned grimly.