Cliff, on board the stranded _Senorita_, with Sam and Jim and the naval patrol sailor, Jack, knew nothing of the exciting events that had just occurred.
Nor did he guess that an escaping white boat full of desperate men was laying its course to pass his station.
Tom’s effort to destroy the carbureter had drawn the attention of the crew to the engineer’s repeated assertions that the leaky old carbureter was wasting gas, and that they ought to be sure they had enough to run the channel and escape.
“But where can we get any more?” said Senor Ortiga.
“On the wrecked _Senorita_, of course,” snapped his brother. “Her tanks are almost full.”
“But with the cutter coming, how can we stop for gas?” demanded Tew.
“Easy,” said a sailor, and revealed a plan.
Of all that Cliff was ignorant. He, with Sam, Jim and the sailor, had stood watch-and-watch through the night and up into the day.
But excitement was coming, and coming fast!
Nicky and Tom had been unceremoniously roped and flung into the open cockpit aft of the engine compartment. The cockpit was a low step higher than the cabin flooring, but its coaming and sides were so high that all the two chums could see was the sky and, when they ran close to an islet, the tops of the trees where these grew near the water.
The cutter had been delayed for a moment to pick up Mr. Neale and Brownie, who had rowed with all their might and had sighted the cutter in time to hail her and to be taken aboard. Lieutenant Sommerlee wanted Brownie, a good shot, and Mr. Neale would be able to play a part if hand-to-hand fighting came about.
He sent Brownie forward and bade him scan the water closely as they put full speed on to chase the _Libertad_, long since passed out of view beyond the first island of the archipelago.
“I suspect they will try to do something to delay us,” the lieutenant said. “They may drop something in the channel, for there is one place where it is very narrow and quite shallow, and almost any large object—an anchor, sticking up on the coral, would crush our bow planks at the speed we’re making.”
Brownie kept a sharp watch, and soon discovered, as they approached the narrowest and shallower part of the channel, something dark on the bottom.