Jack’s eyes grew hot with straining at the little crack; but he could not draw himself away; it was all so thrilling, so picturesque, that he must continue to look, no matter what the discomfort.
Now, the man with the shovel had succeeded in arriving at what seemed to be the lid of a large box. He lifted this, and one of the men tossed his bundle into a yawning aperture.
Here the stuff would lie unsuspected, until some time when the opportunity seemed ripe to dispose of it, when the deal would be completed.
Jack wondered what could be in those packages; undoubtedly something of particular value, since these men would never venture to take such chances of capture for a trifling gain.
He also found himself guessing whether the strange “professor,” whom he now knew to be a government agent, could be watching all these operations from some other friendly crack across the way.
What would he do? Having witnessed all he wished, would the other attempt to arrest these fellows? Since there seemed to be something like half a dozen of the smugglers it hardly seemed likely he would go to such extremes. Possibly he might be satisfied to capture the spoils, after the men had departed; and trust to future good fortune to arrest the delinquents later on.
One of the men left the cabin, probably to return to the upper end of the island, where the boat lay from which these packages of goods had been carried. He was in an ugly humor, judging from his manner. The stubborn way in which the motor boat boys stuck to that cove was giving these worthies a tremendous lot of unnecessary work; and it was no wonder they felt badly disposed toward Jack and his chums.
Five minutes later the second man was sent off, leaving the leader there to finish up the job of smoothing off the earth and replacing the broken straw as before.
When he had finally completed his task it would require a practiced eye to notice anything queer about the floor of the cabin.
Then he, too, prepared to depart. Jack saw him stoop down and take hold of the lantern, which had all this while been resting on the ground. In his other hand he carried the long-handled shovel with which the digging had been done.