"And then?"
"If he sticks to his charge, let him be my executioner."
"This is your demand?"
"Yes, this is my demand."
CHAPTER XX.
It was a critical moment; both men were cool and spoke in deliberate tones.
They stood alone: well toward the after-deck, while the men were all busy forward and below handling the contraband cargo.
The night was calm; the sea was unruffled; not a cloud intervened between sea and moon and stars, and yet two human lives hung in the balance—the lives of two brave men.
The detective was greatly disappointed. He had not accomplished all he desired. He had hoped not to be discovered until the schooner landed her cargo, and he had fallen upon the rendezvous and the mode of transport to the city. Still he had obtained a large amount of information, facts which he could work up; and could he only get ashore alive, he would be able to run down close on the real backers of the contraband business, who were a band of foreigners who only made their money by illicit traffic in New York, to spend it abroad.
The chances, however, for getting ashore were very slim. He had dared a little too much, and yet at that very moment the undaunted officer was playing a deep game.