The Bradys and the Girl Smuggler | Page 4

paper he showed its contents.
It consisted of five magnificent diamonds.

The broker gave a gasp of horror and Old King Brady said to him
sweetly:
"You forgot to put these on the manifest, Mr. Jacobs, didn't you?"
"_Och, Gott!_" groaned the unlucky broker, in deep anguish of spirit, "I
vas ruint vunct. Vot vill I do? Vot vill I do?"
"Pay the duty and redeem them from the Custom House," replied the
detective, and the gems were seized on the spot.
All the inspectors looked envious of the two detectives.
The Collector regarded them with a cold glance and finally asked:
"Why didn't you find these things?"
"Didn't know they had 'em," sheepishly replied Gibson.
"We ain't half through yet," said Harry at this juncture.
"What else have you discovered?" demanded the Collector, curiously.
"Several hundred yards of fine point lace."
"Where is it?"
"In a false bottom under Miss Daisy Linden's trunk. See--there she
stands--that handsome big actress there. Do you think she's as fat as she
looks? Well, just notice how big around her body is, and how thin her
arms and neck are. If you'll get one of the lady inspectors to examine
her privately, you'll find she's got several valuable oil paintings
wrapped around her body, under her clothes."
The woman made a great fuss when they insisted upon rummaging in
her trunk a second time and reluctantly opened it again.
Harry threw everything out and the woman shrieked, scolded and
protested. But when the boy opened the false bottom of the trunk and

withdrew the lace he mentioned, she fainted.
When the actress came to, she found that a lady inspector had disrobed
her in a stateroom on the steamer and taken five very costly paintings
away, which she was smuggling under her clothes.
By the time the Bradys finished, they had nine smugglers exposed, and
fully quarter of a million dollars' worth of valuables were seized.
The Collector had been watching these proceedings with deep interest.
When his own men reached him, he said to them:
"I'm ashamed of you. Here you let two absolutely green men step in
and do the work you've been at for years, much better than you do it
yourselves."
"Well," grimly admitted Gibson, "they've kept their boast and beaten us
badly, I'm sorry to say. I don't need to wish them luck for they've got
either a large amount of it, or else they had some inside information."
"Your latter surmise is the correct one," said Harry. "We sent a man
down the bay to meet the steamer. People who are going to smuggle
anything rarely take pains to conceal their contraband goods till they
are nearing port. We know something about the matter, you see.
Moreover, we know would-be smugglers who don't make a profession
of it are very careless, talkative about what they are going to smuggle,
and apt to give themselves away. By sending a good, smart spotter
ahead we learned all about the people we've exposed."
"That game may work very nicely with amateurs. But it would not go
with a professional smuggler by any means."
"I quite agree with you," assented Harry.
"Well," said the Collector, "I'm quite satisfied with your performance,
Mr. Brady, and am convinced that you are the very men to run down
the big smuggler I am so anxious to see arrested."

"We'll do our best," said Old King Brady.
The Collector and the inspectors then went away.
As they were leaving the pier, the quick, keen eyes of Harry observed a
young girl on the steamer acting in a mysterious manner.
She was standing in the gangway, peering out one of the port holes and
sharply watching the departing officials.
Every time one of them chanced to glance back, she suddenly dodged
down behind the bulwark out of sight.
She was a beautiful girl of about sixteen, handsomely clad in a short
dress and zouave waist of fine silk, while a stylish big Gainsborough
hat with black ostrich plumes crowned her short, yellow, curly hair.
Her skin was as white as milk and she had a pair of big brown eyes, a
pretty little Grecian nose and rosebud lips.
Young King Brady was charmed with her beauty, yet his suspicions of
her actions were aroused to the fever point.
He touched his partner on the arm and pointed at her.
"See there!" he exclaimed. "What can she be up to?"
"We'd better keep an eye on her, Harry," returned the old detective,
after a careful survey. "It looks to me as if she were up to some trick.
She wouldn't be watching those inspectors' departure that way unless it
was of vital importance to her."
"But surely she can't be so silly as to think there are no officers left