How the swift craft cut through the water! A big wave arose on either side of the bow. The motors were exploding like a battery of gatling guns as the captain, in the role of engineer, opened the exhaust to clean out the cylinders. Then, shutting it down, the engine throbbed like a big turbine wheel under heavy pressure.
Nearer and nearer to the shore the craft forged. Peter, looking back, saw that Larry and Tony had been rescued and, in the fast boat, were bearing down on him.
“Row! Row!” he cried to Jim. “They’re going to run us down!”
“Don’t worry, they’re not as mean as you are,” said Jim.
“Then they’ll beat us ashore!” yelled Peter.
“I shouldn’t wonder if they did,” was Jim’s cool reply. “I’m doing my best, but I can’t beat the _Porpoise_. She’s the fastest boat around here.”
Peter’s craft was now about three hundred feet from the shore. There was a big crowd waiting to see the outcome of the affair.
Illustration: “ROW! ROW! THEY ARE GOING TO RUN US DOWN” _From Office Boy to Reporter_ Page 300
On came the _Porpoise_, going like a race horse. Larry stood behind Tony, who grasped the spokes of the steering wheel with a firm grip, and kept the craft in a straight course.
“Will we beat ’em?” asked Larry in a strained voice.
“I don’t know! I hope so,” said Tony as he shook his head to get the water, that was dripping from his hair, out of his eyes.
The engines seemed to increase their speed. They throbbed like the heart of an athlete at the end of a two-mile run. Then, as the muffler was cut out, the explosions came with deafening power.
Closer and closer to the rowboat came the motor craft. Jim was pulling with all his strength at the oars. Now his boat was but a hundred feet from shore. But, like an eagle swooping down, the _Porpoise_ was after him.
“Get ready to jump!” called the captain. “Put her broadside to the shore,” he added to Tony. “We can’t stop without ramming the mud unless you do.”
Then, in a smother of foam, and passing so close that the wash rocked, and nearly upset the rowboat, the motor craft passed her, and shot up along shore.
The captain reversed the screw, and the blades churned up the water until it seemed that a small volcano was beneath the waves.
“Jump and run for it!” the owner of the _Porpoise_ called to Larry.