"And Mr. Hines is a custom-house officer," added Mr. Simonton.
"O, is he? I didn't know it. Well, sir, I think there's something wrong about this boat, and I want to tell you the rest of the story."
"What do you mean by something wrong, Bobtail?"
"In the smuggling line."
"Then I think we had better let Mr. Hines hear the story, for it is part of his duty to look up cases of this kind," replied Squire Simonton, as he rose from his seat, and bumped his head against a deck-beam.
When they were seated on the cork cushions of the standing-room, the deputy collector intimated that Little Bobtail had something to say, and the boy rose to explain.
"When I picked this boat up, her cabin was half full of boxes," said he.
"Cigars?" said Mr. Hines.
"No, sir, I don't know's I had any business to open one of the boxes, but I did. It was full of bottles," added Bobtail.
"Brandy?" said the inspector.