All were, of course, very anxious to know the result of the interview between the chief ranger and the detective, but they asked no questions, and Gilmore said nothing until they were seated in the private office of a suite of rooms set aside for the sheriff. “As you all saw,” Gilmore began, “Sloan is all in. He was attacked by a number of smugglers not very long ago and barely escaped with his life.” “Served him right!” muttered Ben. “He’s the guy that spilled our gasoline! I wish they’d beaten him up more.” “Now,” continued Gilmore, “the story told by you boys concerning the smugglers’ headquarters was repeated to me by Sloan with only a few variations. He has located the place where the Chinks are hidden until they can be safely run into the cities, and has spotted several of the leaders, including the captain of one of the schooners which frequently appears off the south beacon.” “We came pretty near doing all that!” Carl laughed. “Now, what he wants us to do,” Gilmore continued, “is to station a force of men around a summit from which all that goes on below may be watched. He says that if we reach the place between midnight and morning we will see Chinks rowed ashore from the schooner and passed into the caves the boys penetrated.” “That listens good to me!” said the sheriff. “I’ve long been aching to get my hands on those smugglers!” “He says, too,” continued Gilmore, “that large quantities of opium are stored in the caves. He wants me to take a force large enough to surround the whole district and do the job at one blow.” “Do you think that a good idea?” asked the sheriff. “I do not!” was Gilmore’s reply. “In the first place, we can’t get men in there to-night. In the next place, if we could, we couldn’t station them without alarming the outlaws.” “That’s just my idea,” the sheriff said. “Perhaps,” Mr. Havens suggested, “we might reach that point in the airships. It isn’t a very long journey, according to what Ben says.” “That’s just what I was about to suggest,” Gilmore explained. “How many people will the two ships you have here carry?” “They will carry six, on a pinch,” was the reply. “The small persons would, of course, have to travel on the _Bertha_.” Havens stepped to the window and looked out. “We were thinking of looking up Jimmie and Kit,” he said, “but it’s getting dark now, and we never could find them in this tangle of hills unless they were up in the air with lights burning.” “I’ll tell you what we can do,” Ben observed. “The sheriff and the ranger can go in the _Ann_ with you, Mr. Havens, and Carl and I can switch around over the place where we had our camp and see if there are any signs of the boys.” “That will do nicely,” Mr. Havens replied. “Now, see here,” the sheriff interrupted. “There are only two of you boys, both light weights, and the machine, you say, will carry three. Is that right? Why not take Stroup along with us?”