"But it's all over now," her brother said. "Now we have the diamonds, we have the poor dupes of tools the smugglers bribed—the fisherman and the men of the schooner—and it only remains to get the criminals themselves. We'll do it, too."
"Did they treat you badly?" asked Grace of Betty and Amy.
"Badly enough," the Little Captain replied. "They would not tell us why we were made prisoners. But after they had taken the gags from our mouths, they put them on again, just before you came."
"That was because they saw the motor boat after them and knew they couldn't get away because of no wind," suggested Will.
"We thought perhaps there was a pursuit," Amy said. "And then Betty grew desperate and managed to attack the old woman."
"But you helped," said Betty.
"Oh, don't let's talk about it," exclaimed Grace. "All's well that ends well."
"But it isn't all ended yet," Will remarked, significantly.
Working on the fears of their prisoners the government men learned where the real smugglers were hiding, waiting for the success of their plot, and they were arrested. In due time they were tried, found guilty and sentenced to pay heavy fines on the charge of trying to defraud Uncle Sam. On the charge of kidnapping the two girls the heavier punishment of imprisonment was meted out to those involved.
It developed that the smugglers, however, had protected themselves from the graver charge. They had instructed the fishermen to get information from the girls about the diamonds, in any way the ignorant men thought best, and the kidnapping scheme was the product of the brains of the old woman and her husband. They laid the plot to capture the girls, and secured the help of several friends, hiring the schooner for their purpose. When the schooner sailed away with Betty and Amy the old woman and her husband expected to pick up the smugglers and let them force the truth from the girls. But their plan was spoiled.