CHAPTER XXVII
UNDER FIRE
"I have a hunch," put in Gus, "that those fellows may come back anyminute, possibly with some means, or hoping to get this boat afloat. Wedon't want them to catch us off guard."
"I'll stand watch," said the girl. "The slightest intimation----"
"Good. Let's look at that power plant," demanded Bill.
It was a matter of minutes only, although the time was lengthened by theboat thieves' having hammered the gearing that connected with thestarter, trying to slide it along on its shaft key in order to permitthe cranking. They had failed in some way, however, to manipulate thegas and spark.
The boys had slipped the gearing into place again and the adjustmentshad been made, when a call from the girl made the busy lads grab theirweapons and get up on deck, Bill being almost as quick as Gus.
Not fifty yards away and plainly seen in the now unclouded moonlight, askiff was approaching. The boys, lying flat on the deck and peering overthe rail, and the girl, crouching in the companion-way, could see threepersons in the dory. Gus again told Bill to hail.
"Ahoy, there! Back water and stay where you are! What do you want?"
The rhythmic beat of the oars continued, rapidly lessening the distance.
"Halt, or we'll shoot! If you don't want to get sunk and have yourcarcasses filled as full of holes as a pepper-box, you'll sheer off!"
This had its effect. The oars were held and pushed to check the motion.No word came in reply, but Gus plainly saw an object that resembled agun barrel come from a vertical to a foreshortened position. This wassufficient for drastic action, though the boy was averse to compelling atragedy. With careful aim he sent a load of shot just over the heads ofthe boatmen, then instantly fired another into the water at one side.Almost immediately a shot came in reply, the bullet glancing from thecabin roof.
Gus slipped in two more shells and coolly waited, knowing that there wasonly a remote possibility that the shots from the dory would do anygreat harm, but intending, if the rascals fired again, to give them areal taste of buckshot firing, at the bow of their boat first, tosplinter and sink it gradually; then at the men if they persisted.
The dory turned about quickly. The oarsman was evidently in haste to getaway. Then came a hail:
"Say, you! What you do in thata boat? That our boat! Get out, I say toyou! We want to come aboard and go on away!"
Gus had heard that voice before. It belonged to one of the Malatesta.Did they have Tony with them? Were they making a terrible effort toescape in this way from the peninsula, and get to sea again? How thenwould they secure the hoped for ransom? Or were they merely going tohide the _X-Ray_, expecting to use her if their scheme fell short? Billhad sensed the situation.
"_Your_ boat, is she? You'll find her back at Hawk's Bill where shebelongs, and in a little while you're going to find yourself in jail.Beat it now while the water's fine!"
The oarsman was nothing loath. Either he was not the bravest in theparty, or else he had the keenest appreciation of the odds against anexposed position. In a very few minutes the dory was a mere gray wraithon the water, but there it hung. Evidently the rower was overruled byothers less cautious, or of the certain conviction that at the distancethe yacht was a better mark than a rowboat.
Bill had the motor going in a jiffy. Gus was at the wheel, crouching.Throwing in the reverse clutch he sent the boat off the sands. Then,letting Bill hold her steady, dropped the _Stella's_ sails, cast herloose at the end of a hauser for a tow rope, paid it out from the sternand went back to the wheel.
He was about to swing round and head back into the narrow channel freefrom sand bars, which he could discern by the rougher water, whenbullets began to come from the dory. They were aimed at the wheel andwhether sent low or not, the trajectory, even from a high-powered gun,would pull them down to the danger level. One struck the mast directlyin front of him. One hit the deck and glanced singing. The music fromanother flattened bullet was stopped by the water beyond.
Gus wanted desperately to get behind something, for this firing mightmean death or wounding at any moment. But he held on, hoping shortly toget out of range. Bill, at the rear hatch, called to Gus to set her andcome below, and Gus called back that they'd be aground again in a minuteif he did. Then a brave deed was done.
The girl, perhaps as fully aware of the danger as the boys, leaped intothe cabin, came out with two chairs and some cushions, erected abarricade alongside of Gus and said to him:
"I want to get back and we can't stop, but most of all I want you to besafe."
Then she gave a sudden cry and staggered into the cabin. Gus calledBill, who limped across quickly. The shots continued, and one hit thechairs. Gus wondered where it would have hit him. Presently they weretoo far away for the shots to reach them, for they had entered thenarrow bay.