Tom had crouched down so that he could not be seen, the lifeboat on the sloping deck of the wreck being between him and the professor. The latter was working away at the ropes. One after another he cast off. There was a slight movement to the lifeboat. It seemed about to slip into the sea.
“It’s time to act!” thought Tom.
He straightened up, took a step forward and fairly confronted the man, standing up to face him across the lifeboat.
“That’ll do, Mr. Skeel,” said Tom quietly. “I wouldn’t take that boat if I were you.”
There was a gasp of surprise from the man—the same sort of a gasp as when Tom had shown him his forged note at Elmwood Hall.
“Wha—what’s that?” stammered Mr. Skeel.
“I said, leave the boat alone!” said Tom sharply.
“I—I was just fixing it!” went on the man.
“Yes, fixing it to get away in it,” answered our hero bitterly. “I saw you.”