"I'd propose that we smuggle the gal."
"How smuggle her?"
"Take her out on the 'Nancy,' and put her aboard some outgoing vessel as a passenger."
"That wouldn't do, Jake."
"Then let's go mackerel-fishing, for the other trade is knocked dead in the head."
The men were all drinking, and became more or less excited under the influence of the liquor.
Jake was a bad fellow at heart, but he was one of the most daring men in the crew of jolly smugglers and the men had great confidence in his judgment.
"I tell you, boys, the gal must be disposed of, or she'll give information right; just see how we stand now; there's a boat due, there's a big haul for us, and this man has been in our midst for two weeks or more, and he's got all the points and—" The man's further speech was interrupted by the entrance of a stranger.
CHAPTER XV.
The man who suddenly entered in the midst of the speech of one-eyed Jake was Ballard, the man whom an hour or two previously that very gang of men had set to hang.