“Go to the engine room, Dick,” said he quickly, “and take charge of the motor. Send Clackett to the tank room. Let Speake take the wheel until I come. Submerge when I give the word, and do it quick!”
It was no time for hesitation, and Ferral darted back down the hatch.
CHAPTER XXIX.
OFF FOR THE GULF.
It was easily seen that Gaines was nearly spent. His breath tore through his lips in gasps, and when he reached the edge of the wharf, he fell there, unable to roll over the edge and drop down on the deck of the Grampus.
Out of the bushes at the top of the bank came the foremost of the pursuing soldiers. Fortunately for Bob and Gaines, they were armed with muzzle-loaders, and were frantically getting another charge into the barrels.
Dropping the hatchet, Bob leaped to the wharf, caught Gaines, and pulled him down on the deck; then, springing back, he picked up the hatchet and severed the cable with a blow.
The bow of the submarine caught the current, swung farther out into the stream, then whirled around and started away. This placed the conning tower between the soldiers and Bob and Gaines, and several bullets hit the tower and glanced singing into the air.
“You’re all right, Gaines,” said Bob, bending over the motorist. “You got out of that fix——”
“By the skin of my teeth!” panted Gaines. “Oh, what a run! I never ran so fast, and so far, and over so many stones and briers, before in my life. I thought, a dozen times, they had me.”