The smugglers appeared to be passing the launch in the direction of the channel. "Listen!" whispered Alice, as they presently ceased. "This is important. One said: 'We must hurry if we expect to save the princess. She can't stand it much longer.'" "What can that mean?" "The name of their boat, perhaps." "Do you think so?" "Frankly, I don't. It seemed to me as if they were speaking of a person." "Then they must have a woman with them. Perhaps some Chinese woman they are smuggling in." Suddenly a loud voice exclaimed in English: "Here's your channel now, you Chinks!" "Allee light! Allee light! Hully up now," came the reply. The breeze had increased. The fog was lifting a little. Certain sounds were heard that indicated a sailboat going about. "Shall I start up?" asked Harry. "Not yet," was the reply. "Let them get well into the channel, then we will close in on them." The voices died away; the time to move had come. "Now," said Old King Brady. Immediately the "chug-chug" of the motor made itself heard. "Bear right down upon them," ordered the old detective; "a little brisk action will put us on the right side of this outfit, I hope. Alice, you get down in the boat." Alice, brave girl that she is, protested that she was willing to take her chances with the rest, but Old King Brady sternly repeating the order, it was obeyed. A few moments of anxious suspense and a large sailboat loomed up out of the mist right ahead of them. Instantly Old King Brady turned a powerful electric flashlight upon it. In the boat were several boxes and bales. One box seemed particularly large. If this was filled with opium, Old King Brady knew that it must be very valuable. There were three Chinamen in the boat and one white man. "Lower your sail and surrender!" thundered Old King Brady. The white man appeared about to obey, but one of the Chinamen interfered. The other two immediately discharged their revolvers at the launch. The shots flew harmlessly past them, but it made the old detective vexed to think that he had not been the first to open fire, which he and the others by his command now instantly did. Whether any one was hit or not it was impossible to tell, but all four men at once sprang overboard and, abandoning their boat, struck out for the south bulkhead of the channel, which was no great distance away. "We win!" cried the old detective. "No more firing, boys. I had just as soon they would escape." They pushed on to the abandoned boat. The mist closed in on them and the swimmers were lost to view. Making fast to the boat, the kicker sprang aboard and lowered the sail. "A good haul, Mr. Brady," he exclaimed. "There are thousands of pounds of hop here, but what do you suppose is in this big box?" "That remains for us to discover," replied Old King Brady. "Is it heavy?" "Very," replied the kicker, weighting the box.