“There’s some connection between this smuggling outfit and the house on the cliff,” declared Frank. “This man Snackley is mixed up in all this, I’m sure.”
“Didn’t mother say he was related to Felix Polucca?”
“Yes—and isn’t it likely that he inherited the Polucca farm after the old miser died? Perhaps that’s what encouraged him to move his smuggling operations here.”
“Perhaps Snackley was one of the two men we saw at the farm.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Frank. “But what I’m thinking of is this—where did these two motorboats come from that day Jones was shot? We didn’t see them out in the bay. They seemed to come right out from under the cliff.”
“Do you mean you think there is a secret harbor in there?”
“There might be. Look at it this way. Snackley was the man who “got” Jones that day, as he said. Snackley was related to Polucca, and may now own the farm. Snackley has been smuggling in Barmet Bay from some base that the government men have been unable to find. Perhaps that base is the Polucca farm.”
“But it’s on top of the cliff!”
“There may be a secret passage from the house to some hidden harbor at the foot of the cliff.”
“Gosh, Frank, it sounds reasonable!”