The former professor was fumbling with the retaining ropes, as if he intended to let the craft slide into the water. But Tom noticed that the man was in such a position that he could leap aboard the lifeboat as it slid away from the derelict.
“He’s trying to escape!” thought Tom. “He’s going to take our boat and leave us behind on the wreck. There’s treachery here! He’s trying to get away while we’re asleep—during his trick at the helm. Well here’s where I spoil his plans!”
[CHAPTER XIX]
OFF IN THE BOAT
Determined to foil the scheme of the unprincipled man, Tom stole softly forward, himself unobserved. He thought over several plans in his mind, and decided that he must catch Mr. Skeel red-handed.
“I’ll wait until he actually begins to move the boat,” murmured our hero, “and then I’ll call a halt. Besides I want to be sure that this is actually his game. If I jump out too soon he may say that he was only tightening the ropes, or that the lifeboat started to slip, and that he stopped it. He’s foxy, and I must be the same.”
So Tom watched, and the more he saw of the former professor’s actions the more he became convinced that treachery was intended.
“He tried to rob me, and get the money in my belt,” thought Tom, “and he was intending to escape then. That’s why he wanted the funds. Now he’s going without them—that is if I let him—which I won’t.”
The man was working swiftly and silently, pausing now and then to look over toward the shelter where he supposed all his companions were asleep. He had deserted the helm to carry out his treacherous design. Not that leaving the rude steering apparatus meant much, for there was very little wind just then, and the derelict was merely drifting.