“All right,” said Sam. Cliff inched along the deck. He was in plain view, now, from forward on the _Senorita_, or from the _Libertad_.
But the trio in the cabin of the latter vessel were deep in conversation, and the men were busy with the hose.
“Start your bilge pump!” called a sailor. Tew, on the white boat, bent and engaged a clutch; there was a heavy grind of gearing and the slow pulsation of a pump.
“Now!” whispered Cliff, and dashed for the rail.
“Look out—we’re caught!” yelled a man, on guard atop the _Senorita’s_ cabin, watching for the cutter. He fired at Cliff, but Sam, reaching a black arm over the cabin studding, yanked his leg, threw him off balance, and spoiled aim. Shooting, yelling, Jack charged up narrow deck, Sam at his heels.
Things happened so fast and so thick that no one could have told a story of all that went on. Cliff, landing on all fours, beside Nicky, was up on his knees in an instant, tugging his knife from his pocket, ripping open its blade.
He slashed at Nicky’s rope, and loosened it; again he slashed and then, at a warning cry from Tom, he looked over his shoulder, but too late.
Nicky, frantically tugging to loosen the cut rope, saw Tew coming but was as helpless as Tom.
Cliff dropped his knife and tried to get up, to turn, to ward off the blow. Tew, his face working in a rage, his whole, muscular frame behind his stout arm, drove a fist at Cliff’s head. Cliff instinctively threw up his arm. The fist crashed against it, flung him by its force against the cockpit thwart, and Cliff felt sick and faint, struggled to rise, saw the world turn black, big and little pinwheels whirl before his eyes, and sank in a heap.
Tew turned, and raced back to his engine. Nicky, his whole being burning with a fire of fury, tore at his rope and began to loosen it.
On the _Senorita_, the man atop her cabin was firing at Sam and Jack but they, under the shelter of the cabin, were crouched low, scampering up the deck, loading their pistols.
The men forward with the hose, taken by surprise, without their weapons in their hands, scattered, several leaping into the water and making for the islet close at hand.
Jim had already leaped into the forward cabin of the _Libertad_, and with his pistol aimed toward the deck of the vessel just above, was warning off those who wanted to leap down. They stopped, not daring to leap.