Most of the others went swimming during the afternoon, but the Hardy boys had decided to take advantage of the opportunity and investigate a mysterious little cabin at the far end of the grove. They had often been curious about the place, and it was Frank’s suggestion that perhaps the cabin was used as a hiding place for smugglers that prompted their decision to visit the place.
“May we come, too?” asked Callie Shaw, as the two boys were starting off together. She and Iola had remained behind to clear up the last of the picnic dishes while the other girls went swimming.
“Glad to have you,” answered Frank.
“Come on, Iola.”
The two girls went running across the grass, and the four young people set out down a winding path beneath the trees.
“Where are you going, Frank?” Callie inquired.
“We thought we’d take a walk over to that little cabin at the east end of the grove. Joe and I have often been curious about that place, but we’ve never been near it; so we thought this was as good a chance as any.”
“Oh, this is thrilling!” declared Iola. “Do you think there’s anything suspicious about it?”
Joe shrugged. “Perhaps. It will be fun to look the place over, though. We thought it might be used by smugglers.”
“Smugglers!” exclaimed Callie, stopping. “I’m frightened. I don’t think I care to go after all. I don’t want to meet any smugglers.”
“Nonsense!” laughed Frank. “There wouldn’t be any smugglers around at this time of day, anyway. We’re not sure about the smugglers in any case. Perhaps it’s just a perfectly innocent tumbledown old shack, with nothing strange about it at all.”
Callie gathered up courage and they went forward again. The little cabin was at the extreme end of the grove, and it was some time before they came within sight of it. Finally, rounding a bend in the path, they caught a glimpse of the place among the trees. The cabin had been built in the woods, several hundred yards back from the water.
“Mighty dingy looking cabin, it seems to me,” remarked Iola.
“Why, there are some smugglers now!” exclaimed Callie, wide-eyed. “Don’t you see them, Frank? Down in the bushes. Look, they’re going up toward the cabin!”
Frank called a halt.
“Just a minute!”
He could see three men making their way up a path in the direction of the cabin. The trio were apparently unaware that they were being watched, for they did not look around. For a moment they were hidden by the intervening branches. Then they appeared in view again. One of the men halted in front of the cabin, removed a key from his pocket, and unlocked the door.
The three men disappeared inside.
Frank turned to the others.
“I think we’d better go back,” he said quietly.
“Were they smugglers?” demanded Callie. “Let’s get out of here. They might start some trouble.”
They turned and retraced their steps toward the picnic grounds. Once Joe said:
“Do you know, I’m sure I recognized one of those chaps.”
Frank flashed him a warning look.
He did not want to alarm the girls, so he had said nothing. But Frank, too, had recognized one of the men, and he was none other than Giles Ducroy!
VII
A Mysterious Conversation
When the Hardy boys and the girls got back to the picnic grounds, the boys excused themselves and drew away to one side, while the girls went down to join the swimmers.
“I think we ought to go back there,” said Frank quietly.
“Why? Did you recognize any of them?”
“Did you?”
“I thought one of them looked mighty like Ollie Jacobs,” said Joe. “He’s a pretty shady customer, as you know. I’ve heard of more than one bad business he has been mixed up in around Bayport.”
“Ollie Jacobs, was it? Then the other fellow must have been Newt Pipps! He is always hanging around with Jacobs. They’re a bad pair.”
“Who was the other fellow? I didn’t get a good look at him.”
“I did,” returned Frank. “He was Giles Ducroy.”
Joe whistled in amazement.
“So that’s who Giles Ducroy is mixed up with now! I wonder what they’re doing down in that old cabin?”
“We’d better go and find out. We can get up to the back of the place without being seen, and perhaps we can overhear what they’re saying.”
“Come on. It’s worth trying, anyway. I’m interested.”
The boys hurried off down the path. Once Joe glanced up at some lowering clouds that had gathered above the trees.
“Looks like rain,” he remarked.
“It may hold off for a while. It won’t stop me from finding out what that gang is up to.”
“Not if I know it,” declared Joe.
When the boys came within sight of the cabin they proceeded more cautiously. They did not come out into the open, but edged their way around through the trees until they came to the rear of the little building.
“There’s an old road near here,” whispered Frank. “Perhaps that’s how they reached the place.”
“I can see it from here. And look—there’s a car! It’s parked under the trees.”
“That explains how they come to be here. They’ve probably arranged a meeting. There’s some funny business on foot, I’ll be bound.”
Cautiously the brothers went on through the undergrowth. It was fortunate that bushes grew within a few feet of the back of the cabin, so the boys were able to make their way near enough to overhear the conversation of anyone who might be within without danger of being seen themselves.
As they pressed close against the logs of the cabin they could hear a murmur of voices. They soon found a convenient chink in the logs where they could peep through. There, in the dimly lighted interior of the building, they saw Giles Ducroy, Ollie Jacobs, and Newt Pipps seated about a rude table, with a bottle and glasses before them.
“I tell you,” Ducroy was saying, “I know what I’m talking about. I’m giving you fellows a chance that lots of other men would jump at.”
“It sounds good,” admitted Jacobs,
