The men sprang to obey with alacrity, and were back on the pier in a very few moments. The flashlights and spare batteries were parcelled out. All was in readiness for the advance.
“The firing has been growing more and more distant,” said the young naval officer, turning to Jack who stood beside him. “Doesn’t it seem so to you?”
“Yes, it does,” said Jack. “For several minutes now I have not heard a shot, and the last was very faint.”
“From the look of things aboard the trawler, the deserted appearance ashore, and those receding sounds, I suspect the smugglers fled with our friends in pursuit,” said Ensign Warwick. “Perhaps, however, they hoped to drive them off, and the crew of the trawler was called ashore to help. If that is the case, our men may be hard pressed. Come, we have taken all the precautions possible here. Let’s go.”
And with Jack beside him, Bob and Frank close behind and the sailors pressing on their heels, the young naval officer started up the pier.
No signs of life were apparent as the glare of the searchlight played over the great building, resembling a dock shed in appearance, which bulked on shore at the end of the pier and slightly to one side of it.
No other buildings could be seen, nothing but the steep slope of a summer-browned hill, as, obedient to instructions, Robbins swept the rays of the searchlight over the surroundings.
“Nothing but that great warehouse,” said Ensign Warwick to Jack.
“That building seems to me proof positive that this is headquarters for smugglers of Chinese coolies,” said Jack. “Probably ‘Black George’ housed them there before distributing them to the mainland. The boats from Mexico could run in here at night, discharge their coolies into that barracks, and nobody would be the wiser.”
An exclamation from Frank drew their attention.
All gazed in the direction in which Frank pointed. On a shoulder of the hill behind the barracks, full in the glare of the searchlight, stood revealed a radio plant and antenna. Whoever aboard the Sub Chaser was operating the searchlight kept it fixed several minutes on this novel object.
“Not a sign of life there, either,” commented the naval officer. “If anybody is around here, he’s laying mighty low.”