Our hero gladly accepted the invitation; and when once aboard, as it was a pleasant morning, the two even lay out upon the deck, and Denman became quite confidential. He let the detective into the secret of the real business of the crew of the yacht, and told him that daily they were expecting a schooner from the West Indies with a big cargo for them.
"How do you run it ashore?" asked the detective, innocently.
"Make a trip with us and we'll show you how the thing is done; the fact is I'm a man or two short, and if you want to take a rake in with us you're welcome."
"That's just the ticket for me!" answered Spencer Vance.
Our readers must understand that the detective had been wonderfully diplomatic and cute to so readily, worm himself into the confidence of Ike Denman.
The men at length went to sleep and slept far into the morning. Ike Denman was the first to awake, seemingly, but in reality the detective had been on the alert all the time.
The master of the "Nancy" was quite a different man in the morning when burning under the after-effects of liquor than he was when in the full fever of a jolly spell. As he opened his eyes and saw our hero stretched upon the deck, he gave him a lunge in the ribs, and as Vance opened his eyes, Denman exclaimed:
"Hello! what are you snoozing there for, old man?"
The detective was on his feet in a moment.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?"