PLUCK THAT WINS.
By the time that the _Grampus_ got around the point and was plunging
onward, with "a bone in her teeth," straight for the _Pom_, Matt had
recovered his breath and was ready to play his part in the rest of the
work.
"Make a circle around the stern of the _Pom_, Glennie," said Matt,
peering shoreward to see if there were any signs of the Japs coming
down the south side of the ridge. "That will give Dick a chance to jump
to the deck of the other craft."
"I'll do it, Matt," replied Glennie.
"Give me the rifle, Dick," went on Matt, "and you lay hold of the end
of the rope Carl has secured to the ring. As soon as you get on the
other boat, make the rope fast."
"Ay, ay, matey!" cried Dick, elation ringing in his voice and his eyes
glimmering with excitement. "We'll make a go of this, now that you have
planned the scheme and done the heft of the work in getting it started."
"There may still be a whole lot of trouble and hard work between us
and success. Let's not be too confident. Ah," and Matt pointed toward
the side of the ridge, "there come the Japs. They're running even
faster than they did when they were after me. We're going to have a
tight squeak of it, Glennie, to double the stern of the _Pom_, get Dick
aboard and pull away with our tow before the Japs get into the water."
"It's their guns I'm thinking of," said Glennie. "If they happen to
pick me out of the conning tower, or to knock Dick off the deck of the
_Pom_, the fat would all be in the fire."
"They'll not do either of those things, matey," averred Dick
confidently. "It's our innings, now, and we're bound to score."
The _Grampus_ raced on, and down the slope rushed the Japs in a frantic
endeavor to reach the water and gain the _Pom_ before the venturesome
motor boys could carry out their plans.
No shots were fired by the Japs. This seemed strange, since a
well-placed bullet would have meant so much to them.
"What's the reason they're not tuning up, matey?" asked Dick.
"Dey hafen't got der time for dot," chuckled Carl. "Dey're in too mooch
oof of a hurry, py shinks."
"They could put a couple of bullets where they would play hob with us,"
went on Dick, "and they must know it."
"They do know it," said Matt. "There are four of the Japs, and only two
guns. I rather surmise that they have used up all the ammunition in the
magazines of the rifles, and that their reserve supply is on the _Pom_."
Just at that moment Glennie swerved the _Grampus_ to pass between the
stern of the _Pom_ and the shore.
"Ready, Dick!" warned Matt.
"Right-o," answered Dick, seizing one end of the cable and balancing
himself on the port side of the _Grampus_. "Swing her as close as you
can, Glennie," he added to the ensign.
Supporting himself by clinging to a wire guy with one hand, Dick
waited. Glennie signaled the engine room for slower speed, and the
_Grampus_ rounded neatly and pushed her nose past the tower of the
other boat.
"There you are, Dick!" cried Matt.
The next instant Dick had leaped across the intervening stretch of
water and had landed on the flat deck of the _Pom_.
Before his feet had struck the deck, however, Matt saw a Jap's head and
shoulders push upward through the _Pom's_ hatch. If there had been time
to feel anything so useless as surprise, Matt would certainly have been
taken all aback.
Captain Pons had said that only five Japs had comprised the crew which
had palmed themselves off as Chilians. One of these five had been left
in Lota, a prisoner. According to Matt's reckoning, that left only four
of the yellow men in charge of the _Pom_. Where, then, did this extra
Jap come in?
Matt did not pause to let this drift through his mind. Making a short
run across the _Grampus_, he flung himself after Dick, reaching the
flat deck of the other submarine and only saving himself a fall over
the opposite side of the craft by dropping to his knees.
Hardly had he landed when a pair of heavy feet clanged down behind him
and a form collided roughly with his back. Once more Matt came within
a hair's breadth of dropping off the port side of the _Pom_.
"Py shinks," puffed a choppy voice, "you don'd vas going to leaf me
pehindt! Dere iss more Chaps on dis poat as we knowed aboudt, und----"
Carl's sentence was never finished. The Jap Matt had seen in the open
hatch had gained the deck and had rushed at Carl like a whirlwind.
Another showed himself, following close upon the heels of the first.
"Make the rope fast, Dick!" roared Matt. "Carl and I will look after
these fellows."
Dick went down on his knees and began securing the rope. It was
necessary to make it fast before the slack was all taken up, otherwise
the tow line would have been jerked out of Dick's hands and the work
would have had to be done all over again.
Matt caught the second Jap about the waist as he crawled through the
hatch. There was a brief struggle, and it ended by Matt heaving the
Jap over the side and into the water. The other Jap had performed a
like service for Carl, and the Dutch boy, blowing like a porpoise, was
floating around in the bay, trying to get hold of something and pull
himself back on the deck.
The Jap started at once for Matt. Before he reached him, Dick, who had
made fast the line, rushed him from the rear and literally bore him off
the boat. He dropped into the water alongside his comrade.
"Help Carl aboard, Dick!" called Matt.
Dick bent over and gave Carl a hand. Just at that moment the boat
leaped forward under the sudden pull of the _Grampus_.
But here, just as victory was all but ranged on the side of the motor
boys, the unexpected happened.
Perhaps Glennie was to blame. It would have been better if he had
slowed the _Grampus_ down almost to a stop and then picked up the
strain on the tow line with a steady pull.
It was useless, however, to find fault with anybody. The thing
happened, and that was all there was to it.
The tow line snapped. One end of it jerked back and caught Matt a
tremendous blow on the temple, and he dropped as though from the impact
of a heavy fist.
A howl of consternation broke from Carl.
"Id's all oop mit us!" he shouted. "Der rope iss pusted in der mittle,
Matt is down, und der Chaps iss all aroundt us!"
Carl's quick eyes had sized up the situation correctly. The four Japs
who had crossed the ridge from the other cove had reached the water and
were swimming to the _Pom_. The two who had been forced overboard by
Matt and his chums were paddling about and making frantic efforts to
regain the deck.
Dick had not much time to think of what they should do. With Matt down,
could he and Carl successfully beat off the six yellow men?
Dick flung a despairing glance after the _Grampus_. Glennie, wild with
anxiety over the outcome of what seemed a certain _fiasco_, was ringing
all kinds of signals in the motor room, and, for once in his life,
seemed completely "rattled" and at a loss as to what move he should
make.
At that moment an idea darted into Dick's brain.
"Keep away, Glennie!" Dick yelled, waving his hands. "Sheer off to a
good distance, and wait! Carl," and he whirled on the Dutch boy with
fierce determination, "we'll take Matt below. We can close ourselves
inside the steel shell and the Japs won't be able to get at us."
"Meppy dere's more Chaps in der poat!" demurred Carl.
"No!" thundered Dick. "Do you suppose they'd stay below while this
scrimmage was going on over their heads? Down the hatch with you, and
take Matt as I lower him!"
Carl saw that there was nothing else for it, and made haste to carry
out his orders. The floor was less than five feet under the deck, and
Carl was able to stand erect and take Matt in his arms as Dick let him
down. The Japs were gaining the deck from all sides as Dick followed,
and the hatch cover was banged shut and made fast just in the nick of
time.
"Ach, du lieber!" muttered Carl, listening to the patter of bare feet
on the plates overhead. "Vat a fix iss dis. Der Chaps haf got us, und
dey ain'd got us; und ve haf got dem in der same vay. Ve can't ged
oudt, und dey can't ged in. Vat's der answer?"
"A little light, first," said Dick coolly. "Don't let the Japs worry
you--there's a stout steel armor between us and them. It's as black as
a pocket in here, now that the hatch is closed. Have you got a match?"
It took Carl several moments to dig a match out of his blouse. He had
one, just one, and it was a wonder he had even that. No one had any use
for matches aboard the _Grampus_.
Carl drew the match along the steel floor. As the flickering gleam grew
stronger, he and Dick took in the dimensions of that part of their
prison.
The floor apparently divided the interior of the steel hull in half,
the rounded plates of the hull meeting it on both sides. A bulkhead cut
off the view aft.
"You rub Matt's forehead and hands and see if you can't fetch him to,"
said Dick. "I'm going aft to see what's on the other side of that
bulkhead."
"Der match iss gone!" muttered Carl, dropping the charred stick.
"I've located the bulkhead door, so it doesn't much matter," answered
Dick.
The opening of the door brought in a little daylight. The door led out
under the conning tower, and the light came through the tower lunettes.
Dick, straightening up, shoved his head and shoulders into the tower.
On all sides Jap eyes were glaring in at him.
"Ugh!" he muttered, and dropped down again.