"Well, I'm not so sure of that—at all events we'll wait here through the night, and see if anything does happen."
"But if it isn't an opium smuggler at all; if it's a—a—"
"A what?" Tom asked shortly, familiar with the other's superstitious nature.
"Have we the gun?" said Jo, changing the subject.
"I don't know."
"Yes, it's here," answered the Indian, rummaging for it among a lot of odds and ends at the bow. "I wonder if it's—"
"Don't bang it off into me to find out if it is."
Some hours after midnight the boat of the boys was standing in for the little bay spoken of. They had waited further up the slough, but Tom, who of the two was the one who had kept awake, had heard nothing pass. It was still quite dark.
Jo suddenly started.
"Say, did you see that? There—there it is again!"