"FIFTY DOLLARS TO THE MAN THAT GETS THEM!"
The newcomer was Captain Rangler.
He was descending into the hold to get the pistols he had barely
finished cleaning and loading, when the preparations for anchoring
brought a hurry call for him to go on deck.
His amazement at seeing both the lads free of their handcuffs, and
defiantly pointing the pistols at his head, may be imagined.
"Well, I'll be hanged!" he exclaimed, pausing on the third step.
"What under the North Star does this mean?"
"It means that you must set us free at once," spoke up Jack. "We are
at anchor now. Send us ashore in a boat."
"And what if I don't?" demanded the captain. His voice seemed to
hold more of curiosity than the ferocity the boys had been prepared
for.
The question was rather a puzzling one, and caught the lads at a
disadvantage. They had calculated on meeting with resistance.
Instead, the captain of the tug, while appearing to be much
astonished at their cleverness in escaping from their captivity,
didn't seem to be in any way inclined to offer them violence.
Instead, he sat down deliberately on one of the steps, while both
boys, rather perturbed in mind, kept their pistols steadily leveled.
But their hands were shaky. They had been prepared for anything but
this, and it took them aback.
"Well?" said Captain Rangler.
He drew a pipe from his mouth, and leisurely filled and lighted it
before Jack found words to reply.
"Are you going to set us ashore?" he questioned in as determined a
voice as he could summon.
"Certainly we are," was the astonishing reply. "What's the matter
with you kids, anyhow?"
"What did you lock us in that hold for, and almost starve us and
nearly let us die of thirst in that foul hole?" choked out Sandy.
Captain Rangler assumed a cleverly imitated look of astonishment.
"Were you locked up in there?" he demanded.
"Of course we were; as if you didn't know it," blurted out Jack.
"Now, now, just hold your horses," counseled the captain. "If you
were locked in there, I knew nothing of it. Dampier and Walstein
promised me no violence would be offered you if I kidnapped you for
them."
"Oh, so you do admit capturing us on that lumber dock at Rockport?"
sarcastically inquired Sandy.
"Of course I do; I can't deny that," said the captain with cool
effrontery, "but Dampier and Walstein spun me a yarn about you being
two runaway sons of some relatives of theirs and that you had stolen
quite a sum of money."
"In that case then, you ought to be our friend," struck in Jack. "We
are not runaways at all, but lads out on a pleasure trip, and
besides, Dampier and Walstein are old enemies of my uncle. They
think he wronged them, and are taking this means of avenging
themselves."
"Humph," said the captain thoughtfully, emitting a cloud of blue
smoke from his lips, "so them two fellers wasn't telling me the truth
either, eh?"
"Of course not. They are two of the biggest rascals at large.
They----"
Jack got no further. A strong arm was thrown about him from behind.
At the same instant Sandy was tripped and thrown flat. The captain
burst into a roar of laughter, and sprang down the stairs toward
them. His smoking of the pipe had been a signal to those above that
all was not well below, and Dampier and Walstein had silently
descended by another way, and, sneaking through the hold, had
accomplished this disastrous rear attack. Captain Rangler, as the
lads might have guessed, had been merely talking against time, to
allow his accomplices to descend into the cabin from another
direction. The column of smoke from his pipe, curling out of the
companion-way, had done its duty well--too well.
But both Jack and Sandy were strong, wiry lads. Though their
activity had been much impaired by the hardships they had gone
through during the night, there was still a lot of fight left in
them, as their attackers soon discovered.
With a quick twist, Jack freed himself from Dampier, and thrust the
pistol--which he still held--into the rascal's face. Dampier, who
was an arrant coward at heart, as are most men of his stripe, shrank
back. His face was a sickly, pasty yellow.
"D-d-d-d-don't shoot!" he begged, trembling.
Jack looked as fierce as he could, and flourished his pistol at
Walstein, who was struggling with Sandy.
The leonine-headed ex-sea captain took the hint, and joined Dampier
in begging the lad not to shoot.
But, in the excitement of this dramatic scene, Jack had forgotten all
about Captain Rangler. As Walstein relaxed his hold on Sandy,
Rangler jumped forward, aiming a terrific blow at Jack's head. The
lad ducked just in time, and the huge, knotted fist whistled
harmlessly over his head.
At the same instant, Sandy, with quick-witted comprehension of the
requirements of the situation, dashed straight at Captain Rangler
before that worthy could recover from the astonishment of his missed
blow. Straight between the giant's legs hurtled Sandy's agile
red-headed form. Caught all unawares, Captain Rangler went down with
a crash. His great weight, as he fell, caused the cabin table to
collapse, and brought the whole thing down in a pile of wreckage.
"Quick, Jack, before they recover their wits!" exclaimed Sandy,
dashing for the companionway.
Jack sprinted after him. Up they dashed, three steps at a time, and
before the group below recovered from their astonishment, the two
lads had gained the deck.
Apparently nobody had heard the noise of the struggle, for the deck
was deserted.
"What now?" asked Jack pantingly, as they paused, undecided for an
instant.
"See, there's a boat astern. We'll make for that!" shouted Sandy,
heading off at top speed.
The tug lay at anchor about a hundred yards off a well-timbered
shore. As well as the boys could judge in their haste, the anchorage
was in a sort of steeply-walled cove. But they hadn't much time to
take in details as they ran.
"What are you going to do?" panted Jack, as they sprinted past the
smokestack.
"Get in that boat and row ashore. It's our only chance. They'll
half kill us if they capture us again."
"But--but suppose it's an island and there are no folks living there?"
"We must chance that. Come on now! Over this rail and drop into the
boat. We----"
"Hold on there, young fellows! Where are you coming to?"
The burly form of a sailor, who had been taking a nap in the boat
tied astern, suddenly upreared itself from the stern sheets, just as
the lads had their legs over the rail and were prepared to drop into
it.
"We have orders from the captain to go ashore instantly," spoke Sandy
swiftly.
"Ah! Get out with that gammon," was the disconcerting reply, "you're
the two kids we catched in Rockport. You--
"Catch those boys! Hold them!"
"Fifty dollars to the man that gets them!"
"Don't let them escape!"
Uttering these and similar cries, Walstein, Dampier and Captain
Rangler came pouring out of the companionway in the bow. At the same
instant half a dozen sailors appeared, as if by magic, from various
spots where they had been taking quiet naps.
The sailor in the boat comprehended instantly.
"Get back!" he ordered gruffly, "you've escaped. You've got no----"
The rest of his words were lost to posterity forever, for Sandy had
dropped nimbly into the boat, followed by Jack. Their sudden weight
tipped it to one side.
The sailor, who had been standing erect, toppled over with a splash
and a yell.
[Illustration: "Pull! Pull for your life!" shouted Sandy.]
"Pull! pull for your life!" shouted Sandy, laying hold of an oar.
Jack needed no second order, but picked up another. Both lads tugged
away for dear life. In the meantime, the sailor, who could swim
well, had laid hold of a rope and pulled himself back on board the
tug.
The lads had not got a dozen yards from the tug's side before
Walstein's voice came across the water:
"Come back to the tug instantly!" he yelled from where he stood,
amidst quite a crowd of the crew at the stern of the craft.
"We're in a hurry, thank you!" hailed back Sandy, defiantly.
"See you some other time," called Jack, equally recklessly. The
spirit of their exciting dash was in their veins. Both boys would
have faced anything rather than return to the tug just then.
"We'll be ashore in a few minutes," encouraged Sandy as they pulled
at the oars till the stout ash wood bent like whalebone.
"I rather guess we--" Jack began, when something happened to cut him
short.
That "something" was a shower of bullets that pattered all about
them. In their haste they had not reckoned on this.
"Better stop rowing," yelled Walstein's bellowing voice, "the next
ones are going to hit closer."