seen. And here hard luck has marooned us on Sturgeon Island with a
bunch of desperate smugglers, who look on us as soldiers sent out by the
Government to gather them in. If ever we were up against it hard, we
sure are right now, Pard Thad."

"You seem to have set your mind on that one explanation of their
presence here; and I'll admit that this island would be a great half-way
place to hide the smuggled goods on, till the right night came to run
them across to the American shore; but perhaps you're barking up the
wrong tree there, Allan!"

"Oh! I'll admit that when I call them smugglers I'm only guessing,
because, so far as I know we haven't any sort of evidence looking that
way. It only seems the most natural explanation of why they're so much
afraid of us, believing as they seem to that we're connected with the
Government, one side or the other, just on account of these Boy Scout
uniforms, which I reckon they don't happen to be familiar with. But
Thad, you're holding something back; I can tell that by the way you act.
You learned more than you've told me so far; own up to that."

The young scout-master chuckled. He liked to spring little surprises
once in a while. It was just like tapping a peg until he had it set in
the ground to suit his fancy; and then with one master-stroke driving it
home. He had whetted Allan's curiosity now, and the time had come to
satisfy it.

"Yes," Thad went on to say, "there was one little discovery I made that
gave me certain information, and it was strong enough to convince me
that our earlier suspicions about smugglers and all that sort of thing
were away off the track."