Thus were three of the friends put hors de combat almost quicker than it takes to tell it. There remained now only Jack, with two against him, both armed.
Jack raised his revolver at the moment Frank fell unconscious to the deck and the German whirled quickly to face him. Both fired at the same moment and both stepped aside as they did so. Jack felt a bullet graze his hand and his revolver fell clattering to the deck. The other, he saw, had not been touched.
Jack sprang forward and grappled with the German even as the helmsman, having disposed of Edwards, took a snap shot at him. The lad stepped forward just in time to escape the bullet.
Realizing now that he had a foe behind as well as in front, Jack seized the first German in a powerful embrace, the man's pistol hand going over his shoulder; and at that moment the German pressed the trigger.
A howl of pain came from the helmsman. The bullet had struck the latter's revolver on the barrel and the force of the shock had momentarily numbed the man's hand.
Jack seized the first German's arm and by a quick twist sent the revolver spinning across the deck, and it passed beneath the rail and into the water.
Now the lad brought rushing tactics into play and pushed the first German the length of the deck before the latter could brace himself. There Jack's eye caught the gleam of the helmsman's pistol and with a quick kick he sent it hurtling overboard also.
But Jack's antagonist was a strong man and the lad knew that he had a hard job on his hands to dispose of him alone, to say nothing of the second man, who, the lad knew, would be fit again in a moment.
But it was no time for indecision; and Jack sprang forward. His right fist shot out with stinging force—a blow that would have ended the battle right there had it landed, but the German ducked and clinched. At this kind of fighting, he was more Jack's match and he seized the lad in a tight embrace.
"Fritz!" called the German, as he and Jack struggled about the deck. "A hand, quick!"