back contents forward {{frabfp038.png}} || eagles of the sky || consolation, since it seemed evident the location of their job must lie in that quarter toward which they were now bound like a great owl swooping on noiseless pinions to seize its prey. A delicious thrill ran through his frame from time to time. If any one could "get a kick" from such a situation it was Perk, who was already visioning some sort of a battle royal when they struck the smuggling gang in the midst of their lawless work. The gang did their best to create a reign of terror. Once far out toward the west, where rolled the tides of the broad gulf that stretched for a distance of five hundred miles across to the Coast of Mexico, he certainly did glimpse a light, low down on the horizon where just the faintest gleam of the late departed day still lingered. ocr> Ha! the mother'Ship no doubt, riding at anchor fix> Ha! the mother ship no doubt, riding at anchor some miles out where the gulf was shallow and ocr> holding ground^igood--a heavily laden sailing fix> holding ground good--a heavily laden sailing craft, coming possibly from the Bahamas, and passing into the gulf between the Florida keys. Its captain knowing that the cargo they carried could be much more easily landed there than around Miami, where the Coast Guard was more vigilant. Long and earnestly did Perk stare, picturing the shore motorboats speeding out through the gloom toward that signal light to take aboard [[38]] back contents forward