preventing it from slipping off. They raised it easily and Hilliard
flashed in a beam from his electric torch. The cask was empty,
evidently a result of the long drought.

"That'll do," Merriman breathed. "That's all we want to see. Come
away."

They lowered the cover and stood for a moment. Hilliard still
wanted to try the doors of the shed, but Merriman would not hear
of it.

"Come away," he whispered again. "We've done well. Why spoil
it?"

They returned to the boat and there argued it out. Merriman's
proposal was to try to find out when the Girondin was expected,
then come the night before, bore a few eyeholes in the cask, and
let one of them, properly supplied with provisions, get inside
and assume watch. The other one would row away, rest and sleep
during the day, and return on the following night, when they
would exchange roles, and so on until the Girondin left. In this
way, he asserted, they must infallibly discover the truth, at
least about the smuggling.

"Do you think we could stand twenty-four hours in that barrel?"
Hilliard questioned.

"Of course we could stand it. We've got to. Come on, Hilliard,
it's the only way."