His pluck was properly rewarded, for he at last gained a position in which the lowest-toned and most confidential conversation, if above a low whisper, could be overheard.
And in the office there was a gathering not long after he had gained this point of vantage.
Than that company of men in the so-called office, it would have been a next to impossible task to have found an equal number of deep-dyed scoundrels or red-handed villains.
There was a full moon, and the night was a clear one, and the river-pirates do not choose such nights in which to ply their vocation.
As men in honest callings in life will boast sometimes of what they have done or can do, so villains when in secret quarters, and believing themselves beyond prying ears, will boast of their rascally feats.
An exceptional good humor and communicativeness seemed to have descended on this occasion on the party in the office, for they revealed many secret chapters of their lives to each other in illustrating their various exploits.
One fellow told, with a hearty laugh, how, when engaged in making away with a coil of rope, he had shot down the captain of the sloop, the mate and the cook.
"It was just—pop—pop—pop—in reg'lar one, two, three style, and down they went. They all 'kicked,' every one of 'em. Mebbe there wasn't a howl? Well, I just guess! But the police never yet have found out who was responsible for them there 'stiffs.'"
Another had even a more horrible story to tell of robbery and bloodshed.
Another owned up to have "laid out" six men since the day he first "gripped the graft."