"That rope, Bart! It is right here. I tripped over it. Tie him!"
A cry followed this—a cry from Inza. She rushed out of the cuddy door, and after her sprang a man with a lighted lantern.
Hodge faced toward this man, intending to fell him with the club.
"Frank! Frank!" Inza cried. "I knew you would come, Frank!"
Then she noticed the uplifted club.
"Don't strike him, Bart!"
She threw herself between Hodge and the man with the lantern. Merriwell was still holding down the man he had conquered.
"What is it?" he questioned, looking up and trying to read Inza's meaning by the light of the lantern.
"The men are deaf!" said Inza. "They rescued me from a piece of boat, to which I clung after the collision!"
The man with the lantern seemed about to spring upon Frank in spite of Hodge's threatening club. Inza touched him on the arm.