Reconnoitering cautiously from his point of vantage behind the bush, Ned could not suppress a start of surprise.

There was something familiar about the figure of the fellow he was watching. Could it be——? Ned rubbed his eyes and looked again. Then his lips came together in a firm, thin line. His eyes hardened and his hands clenched.

"The infernal rascal!" he muttered.

He had not been mistaken when he thought he recognized the figure that was watching the tug as, with its crane stretched out like a long pointing finger, it steamed out into the center of the bay.

It was Midshipman Kenworth—Kenworth, whom he supposed was visiting his relatives far[Pg 114] inshore. Yet here he was in civilian clothes on this lonesome, sandy spit of land, apparently as much interested in the movements of the army tug as Ned himself.

What could be the solution of the mystery? Why had Kenworth come there?

A sinister thought flashed into Ned's mind. The next instant suspicion became conviction. He saw Kenworth draw out a pair of binoculars and focus them on the moving tug. Then the midshipman cast himself down into a sandy hollow, over the breast of which he pointed his binoculars at the tug.

"So-o-o-o! That's your little game, is it!" breathed Ned disgustedly. "You're even blacker than I thought you, Kenworth. I guess I'll take a hand in this thing myself. Bagging a traitor to Uncle Sam, and one who is entitled to wear the uniform of an officer and a gentleman at that, ought to be even more important than a chart of the mine positions."

[Pg 115]

Between the two, like a series of billows, stretched wave-like sand dunes. They were covered with a scant growth of wind-tortured beach plum and stiff, spiky sea grass.

But yet the growth, scant as it was, afforded a certain amount of cover. Ned's mind was soon made up as to the course he would pursue. At all hazards, it was important to catch Kenworth red-handed.

"And yet, what can his motive be?" wondered Ned to himself. "I can't conceive his purpose. He cannot be making his plans and observations for the benefit of the Blue fleet. If he dared offer them there, he would be booted over the flagship's side in two shakes. No, there is something under all this that I haven't fathomed. But I will."

Ned's firm chin closed on his jaw with a snap. With stern purpose in his eyes, the young follower of the flag began to creep forward over the billowing sand dunes.

[Pg 116]

His progress was slow, for although in the hollows he had no fear of being seen, yet when he breasted a rise he had to be careful. It was when he had attained the summit of one of these sandy acclivities that Ned noticed that the tug had come to a standstill.

The crane arm swung inboard and one of the mines, looking like a huge black shoe button, was slowly hoisted from the pile on the deck. Then through the still air came the rattling sound of chains and the shrieking whir of the steam winch as the mine was lowered.

From this, Ned turned his attention once more to Kenworth. The midshipman was squatting down in his hollow now, and with a note book on his knees, was recording some sort of observations.

Risking detection, Ned ............