"Oh, be serious, can't you?" asked Grace, with just the hint of a snap in her voice.
"Beg your pardon, Amy," apologized Will. "You see it's this way. I'm in the Boston district, and that takes in a good part of the New England coast. I haven't really been assigned to any particular locality yet. I'm supposed to keep my eyes open wherever I am, though."
"Around here?" Mollie wanted to know.
"Yes, here as well as anywhere else. But I'm on a leave of absence now. I'm spending a few days cruising with the boys. I'll soon have to go back to Boston."
"Well, then busy yourself and buy me those chocolates!" demanded Grace. "You don't need to act in your official capacity for that."
"Do you really think there may be pirates or smugglers around here?" asked Amy, who seemed strangely interested in the matter.
"Well, there might be. You never can tell," said Will, with a look around the horizon as though to discover some mysterious and suspicious vessel in the offing.
After Will's explanations he had to answer a hail of questions from the girls. The boys already knew all he could tell them. Then his sister and her chums wished him all kinds of good luck.
"And I hope we see you arrest your first smuggler!" exclaimed Mollie, with a quick gesture of her expressive hands and shoulders.
"Oh, I don't!" cried Amy, with a nervous look behind her.