Then the whistle was heard, and Ned motioned for Roy to attend to it.
“Sing out what they say, so all hands will have a chance of deciding any question which may come up.”
Roy went into the room and an instant later cried:
“He says the yacht is drifting on to a reef, and will be ashore in ten minutes if we don’t go ahead.”
“Tell him nothing will suit us better than to have her there!” Vance cried angrily, and Ned shouted cheerily:
“It’s all a lie, for even if they have been running up the island we have nothing to fear while the wind holds as it did when we started.”
Roy repeated Vance’s words, and added on his own account:
“There is no use for you to shout through this tube, for we don’t care to make any trade with you, unless it should be on the basis of your leaving the yacht at once.”
“Will you put us ashore if we agree to give up our weapons?”
Roy repeated the question to his companions, and Ned said:
“We can’t afford to run the risk of their treachery. If they want to take to the small boat, we’ll allow them the chance of getting into her; but it must be done mighty quick.”
There was no reply to this decision for a long while, and Roy had gone into the engine-room to assure himself things were all right there, when the whistle was heard again.
Neither Vance nor Ned dared to answer it lest it should be a trick similar to the one they played a short time previous with such good success, and it was necessary to wait until Roy returned.
Then the following conversation ensued, Manuel, as a matter of course, being the spokesman at the wheel-house end of the tube:
“We are willing to admit that we are beaten, and will take to the small boat at once if you send our friends up.”
“It can’t be done. Go alone if you choose, but they stay where they are until we reach port or are overhauled by some craft, when you will have a chance to explain how you happen to be on deck with everybody else holding the fort below.”
“Then we shall stay here, and it may be you’ll have a chance to fight fire after we get ready to take to the small boat.”
This threat had the effect of frightening Roy somewhat, but Vance cried positively:
“They won’t dare to do anything of the kind while their chums are in the hold. Besides, I’d rather take my chances of fighting fire than of letting them loose. What would prevent them from doing the same thing after their friends were freed?”