“It’s just a guess on my part,” Norton admitted readily; “but before we came ashore today, Vinton told me that he wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Petrel came cruising back this way by evening; and so, when that fellow came running up with the news, my first thought was that the Petrel was not far off.”

“But where are the soldiers all this while?” asked Alec.  “Why haven’t they followed us here?”

“They may have gone to the cabins, instead,” replied Norton.

“Perhaps Dave has guided them to the bonfire by another way, and they’re just waiting to make an attack when that fire-raising gang start toward the cabins.”

“I guess you’re right, Billy.  Come on, let’s get nearer.”

With one accord, the three moved forward.

CHAPTER IX

DEEDS OF DARKNESS

As yet, neither the soldiers nor the revenue men had appeared on the scene.  In spite of his shrewd guess, Norton began to believe that the smugglers, having come to the conclusion that their bonfire was not necessary, after all—–­because they fondly imagined the Petrel was far away down the coast—–­would waste no more time trying to attract the cutter to that spot, but would proceed boldly, under cover of darkness, to run their goods from the cabins to the Esperanza.

Such seemed to be Bego’s decision, also; for as Roy, Billy, and Alec drew nearer, they heard the swarthy leader directing most of his men to “shoulder arms and march over to Durgan’s headquarters.”

Presently the group near the bonfire was diminished by the departure of eight or nine men, who picked their way gingerly over the uneven ground, muttering directions to one another as they went Billy could hardly restrain his impulse to follow them.

At one time they passed so close to the ambushed pickets that the latter could distinguish the words “after midnight” and “set the boy loose.”

“They’re talking about Hugh,” said Billy to himself, and his heart beat fast with excitement.  The words gave him assurance that his chum was alive, which was some comfort.

“I think I’ll just have to follow them,” he mused a few moments later; and telling Norton and Alec that he would be back very soon, he slipped away, trailing Bego’s men, before Norton could prevent him from going.

It would have been better for Billy had he remained in hiding; but he was eager to know how Durgan and his confederates would manage to run their cargo on board the Esperanza, having no motor boat to use; and he was even more eager to find out what had become of Hugh.

Without stopping longer, therefore, in the neighborhood of the bonfire, he hurried away toward the spot at which he had heard the men propose to run the cargo.

He must have crept onward for ten minutes or so, when he head a pistol fired.