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{{frabfp052.png}} || eagles of the sky ||

would be waiting to transport the cargo to Tampa,
St. Petersburg, or some other city to the
north.

Meanwhile the second boat was due around
that time--they could hear her hoarse exhaust as
she bucked the billows rolling in toward the
shore line and a moving light about half a mile
distant betrayed her position.

If one thing tickled Perk more than another
just then it was the realization that he and Jack
held aces in the game--their possession of that
almost priceless muffler, by means of which they
could approach fairly close without the working
motor betraying their coming, gave them an
enormous advantage.

"We sure have got the upper hand in this
tangle," Perk was telling himself in great glee
as he listened to the chugging of the second
transfer boat. "Huh! I kinder guess them guys
been sleepin' at the switch not to savvy what a
bully thing one o' these here silencers'd be to the
smugglin' game. Looks like it might be a walk-over
for our team, if the luck on'y holds good."

Jack had about decided on his course of action.
He did not mean that either of those boats should
get safely ashore with their loads, if he had anything
to say about it, and he reckoned he had.

Still, it was not politic to be too quick on the
trigger--they could just continue to hang around

[[52]]

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