“If they’d got out we would never have caught them,” said Joe. “They were heading out toward a ship.”
“A ship!” exclaimed one of the officers, a burly man in plain clothes. He stepped forward. “Did they say anything about a ship?”
“A man named Li Chang has a ship lying in wait outside the bay,” said Joe. “I heard them talking about it.”
“Good!” exclaimed the burly man. “Now we’ll capture the whole outfit.” He turned to Tony. “I suppose your boat is good for another little run.”
“I’ll say it is, sir!”
“I want as many officers as we can spare,” said the burly man. “We’ll go out and find that ship. Li Chang, did you say?” he added, turning to Joe.
“That was the name.”
“I know his ship. We’ve been trying to catch that villain for years. Darst, go on up and see how the rest of the men made out at the house on the cliff and take as many officers as they can spare. There’s a passage up through the rocks, I take it?”
“Regular staircase all the way, sir,” remarked Darst, one of the raiding officers.
“Good! Don’t lose any time.”