“Yes, an' I'll do fur two more ef they don't turn back,” was Nick's response.
Again Nick raised his weapon, and again he fired twice, this time in rapid succession.
Two more men went down. “Two more!” cried Chick. “Now we're safe!” Red Rob could not know that it was all a fake.
He could not know that Nick had purposely fired high over the heads of the policemen, and that those who were supposed to be shot down in cold blood were really lying in the bottom of the boat laughing heartily at the game they were playing.
But Red Rob, who heard the exclamations uttered by the two detectives believed that the man who called himself Sneaker was not only the most daring river thief he had ever seen, but one of the best marksmen as well.
“That settles their hash!” growled Nick. But at that instant a new danger was announced.
“Halt!” cried a voice ahead of them out of the darkness.
Nick turned in astonishment.
What he saw was a real danger instead of an assumed one.
The regular river patrol was there. A boat manned by three policemen, all determined men, and men who knew nothing of the plot in which they were about to play an important and serious part.