[CHAPTER XVIII]
READY FOR A CRUISE
“They’re slowing up!” cried Jerry. “They’re going to stop! We’ll get ’em now!”
Sure enough the Dartaway was slackening speed. She was headed toward shore. The Terror was gaining rapidly now. Chief Dalton stood up and drew his revolver in preparation of capturing the motor boat thieves.
But now the Dartaway was so near shore that the men in her could almost leap to the bank. They could be seen turning the wheel so as to throw the craft parallel with the shore.
“They’re going to jump! We’ll lose ’em!” cried Ned.
“Let ’em go,” advised Bob. “All we want back is our boat and we’ll get that.”
“That may suit you but it doesn’t me,” spoke the chief of police grimly. “I’m after thieves and I’m going to get ’em. They may not be the men I want, but I’ll catch ’em just the same and find out what they’re up to.”
But it looked as if the chief would have no easy task to secure the motor boat thieves. For, the next instant the pair leaped ashore, splashing through the shallow water near the edge, and leaving the Dartaway to continue on from the momentum it had gathered.
With a whirl of the wheel the Terror was headed toward shore. The chief and some of his men prepared to make a quick landing.