“I think they’re coming fellows!” he cried, dashing back to the stairway on which sat Tom and Fleet.
“What makes you think so?” queried Tom.
“I can hear voices and the splash of oars.”
“Well, tell Chot and Hoki, then come back here with us.”
Pod sprang to obey, and a moment later Chot and the Jap were moving silently down the slope toward the water’s edge.
“We’ll work silently around the end of the island, and may have an opportunity to help Truem,” said Chot, in a whisper, and Hoki gave his hand a squeeze to signify that he understood.
In the meantime, let us see what Truem was doing. He had heard the first faint splash of oars, and he crouched low behind some shrubbery, trying to make out the form of the boat, which he knew was heading straight for Winnsocket Lodge. The splash of oars became louder, and voices more distinct, but as yet he could make out nothing in the darkness.
Finally, however, a dark object came indistinctly before his vision, and soon he could make out the outline of a big rowboat, moving almost directly toward him. As near as he could judge the boat had three occupants, but this was merely guesswork on his part, because in the uncertainty of the darkness, he saw at times more, and at times less.
But a few minutes elapsed before the boat was drawn up against the bank. Then Truem saw the forms of four men leap out. One of them held a painter with which he made the boat fast to a stake.
The smugglers stood talking in low tones for the space of a minute, though to the excited Truem it seemed a great deal longer. Then they moved up the shore a few yards, and disappeared, one after the other, behind two large rocks which were practically covered with shrubbery.