“And now, ladies and gentlemen, I have saved the most interesting sight for the last. You are about to see the store-room of the smugglers.” He led the way down two steps into another chamber.
“By Jove!” he cried suddenly and stopped short.
“What is it?” exclaimed the others, peering over his shoulder into the darkness.
“Don’t you see?” he said, in a low voice. “They are still using it for a store-room.”
They blinked their eyes with amazement, when presently there loomed up in the shadows a pile of long, flat packing boxes.
Ben lit a candle, which he had thoughtfully brought along in his coat pocket, and they examined the boxes, which crowded one entire end of the smugglers’ store-room.
“Will you look at this?” he called. “Elinor, you are in this.”
Ben held the candle high and pointed to a sign on the nearest box, which read: “Automobile Supplies—Butler Brothers—West Haven——”
“Why,” cried Elinor, “you surely don’t suppose Uncle Tom and Uncle Richard could be storing their goods here, do you?”
No one answered her for a moment. Their thoughts were busy searching for an explanation to this strange discovery.