"Not a thing, and I wish I knew less. I'd never be here if it wasn't for the fire. And I must take a look now, and see how our steam bath is affecting it. I guess--"
"Look there!" suddenly cried Fenn, pointing to the cliff, at the base of which the lake waves were breaking.
They all looked. There, on the face of the wall of rock, apparently supported by nothing, stood four men, two of whom were Chinese, dressed in the characteristic costume of that nation. The others were white men. They were close together, near a little clump of bushes, that sprang slantingly out from the surface of the cliff.
"More of 'em, eh?" murmured the captain. "I wonder if they'll answer a hail?"
He put his hands, trumpet fashion, to his mouth, and was about to call out, when a surprising thing happened.
As the boys watched the men seemed to grow suddenly smaller. They fairly went down out of sight, vanishing as completely as though they had sank into the cliff.
"Well, I never saw such a queer thing!" exclaimed Ned. "They acted just like a Jack in the Box, when some one shuts the lid."
"That expresses it exactly," admitted the captain. "It is a queer thing. I think it will bear looking into. I wonder if they haven't something to do with the Chinese smugglers."
"I believe I'll go ashore and have a look," decided the commander of the _Modoc_. "The government detectives ought to be told of what's going on out here in this lonely place."
Captain Wiggs would have carried his plan out, but for the fact that an inspection of the hold showed the fire in the cargo to be smothered. The steam had done the work effectively and there was no more danger. Instead of having to remain in the secluded bay for some time, ready at any moment, when danger threatened, to break out the cargo, the commander found himself able to proceed to Duluth.
This he decided on doing at once, as the exact extent of the fire-damage could not be ascertained until he reached a port where he could unload.
Accordingly all plans of making any examination of the strange actions of the queer men were abandoned and, steam having been gotten up in the main boilers, the engines were started and the _Modoc_ was once more under way.
As they left the little bay the boys kept close watch of the cliff, but there were no signs of life upon the brown wall of rock. If the men were somewhere within a cave on its surface, they did not show themselves.