Jerry awoke as soon as he felt the detective’s hand on his shoulder.
“Have we caught them?” he asked.
The detective pointed ahead.
“Can you get a little more speed up?” asked the officer.
“We’ll have ’em pretty soon!” cried Jerry, as he put the engine to the utmost limit.
The gang of thieves was now making frantic efforts to escape. Several of the men were in the stern, and they seemed to hold guns in their hands.
“Better lay low,” advised Mr. Layton.
At that instant a shot rang out from the boat ahead.
“I guess they mean real business!” exclaimed Andy Rush. “That sounded like a bullet.”
“It was,” Mr. Layton said, “but they fired in the air to scare us. Go on, Jerry!”