"She did that," declared Fred ruefully, "and that wasn't all of it either, for in our pockets were all the valuable things we possessed, though I guess money wasn't among them. By and by we found a strange man there who agreed to bring us back to Mackinac in his motor-boat if we would go with him around by Cockburn Island." "Was he a red-haired man with big splotches of red on his face? Was he tall and ungainly and did he have a voice that no one could ever forget if he once heard it?" "That's the very man. He talked almost all the way to Cockburn Island. He can do one thing well though, let me tell you." "What is that?" "He knows how to cook salt pork and potatoes." "I fancy," said Mr. Button, "that the air and the appetites of you boys helped you to appreciate the quality of Rufus's cooking." "Maybe it did, but the strange part of it all was after we stopped at Cockburn Island." "What happened then?" "Why, he wanted us to stay on board the boat while he went up to that old house. He didn't find what he wanted and when he came back he said we would have to wait there for a while. It was almost dark then. It seems he thinks he hasn't been treated just right by this man Halsey, who is probably the smuggler you want to get." Mr. Button smiled, but did not interrupt the story which Fred was telling. "While we were waiting, Rufus got to talking about his experiences and he made us think that he was the one that wrote both those letters. He wanted to get even with the man who didn't give him his share, as he believed." "Is that all he told you?" inquired Mr. Button. "No, there's another thing he spoke about and that is the barn." "Ah," said Mr. Button quickly. "What did he say about the barn?" "It wasn't so much what he said as what he made us believe. He told about two Great Danes they have to guard the barn and another one which they have to protect the house. He said if anybody tried to get into the barn they would have their troubles." "What did you say then?" "Why, we asked him what any one would want to go into that old tumbled down barn for and he looked at us in a way that made us sure there was something there worth while. Do you suppose that Mr. Halsey hides in the barn the stuff which he smuggles into the United States?" "I'm not sure--yet." "Are you going to find out?" "That's one of the things that brought me to Mackinac Island." "But the boys say," suggested Fred, "that you haven't any right to search his property over there. He's in Canada and you belong to the United States." "I surely do," responded Mr. Button smilingly, "but it is possible that I may try to make a few investigations, not as an officer, but simply to satisfy my personal curiosity." "What are you going to do?" inquired Fred impulsively.