HAL AND HIS COMPANION ESCAPE FROM SANTIAGO.
"Hi there! Where are you going? Where are you steering to?" a voice cried from the quay; and then, as the launch sped on into the harbor basin, José d'Arousta was heard calling to the soldiers to open fire.
"Ah, treachery!" he shouted. "Something is wrong; for see, she is running away. I have it; those rascally spies are aboard. Let your men open fire at once, señor."
A single rifle cracked immediately, no doubt fired in order to give the alarm, and almost instantly the searchlight went through the same strange antics as before. Finally it settled on the harbor, and, sweeping slowly across it, lit full upon the launch. In a minute there was a roll of musketry, and a shower of bullets hurtled about her, some piercing her woodwork as if it had been merely paper, but none, fortunately, hitting Hal or Gerald, or any part of the machinery. A minute later they had run into the shadow cast by a long line of shipping, behind which the light failed to reach them. Hal at once thrust his head up through the opening, and then cut off steam.
"They'll expect us to pop out at the other end," he said quietly, "but we'll disappoint them by going about and cutting back by way of the quay. Ready? Then shove the wheel over. There's enough row going on all round to drown any we may make."
And this was the case, for the gyrations of the searchlight and the rattle of musketry had effectually awakened the shipping world. The crews of vessels lying in the harbor came tumbling up on deck, while many of the ships rang their bells, as though a general attack by the enemy in force were imminent. A few who had news of the runaways put off in their boats, and pulled into the open water, their hands shouting loudly for information as to the whereabouts of the escaping prisoners.
"Just keep these ships in line with the searchlight," said Hal, a few moments later, thrusting his head up again. "That will give us a dark patch in which to run, and will carry us almost as far as the exit. That's it. Steady so. I'm going to pile the coal till she's fit to burst."
He dived below again, and, seizing the shovel which had already proved so useful, threw the fuel into the open door of the furnace. By now the dial showed a greater head of steam, but he was not yet satisfied, and kept at the work, even going to the length of tossing an open can of oil into the flames.
As for Gerald, with eyes shifting from right to left, and returning ever and anon to the searchlight, he gripped the wheel and steered the launch in a dead line ahead. Once, a boat suddenly sprang out of the dense darkness directly in front, and he caught sight of the water flashing faintly at the tips of the oars. But he would not alter his course, and went rushing on, only missing the other craft by a foot or two, and leaving it behind in a trice, rocking so violently that it was a wonder that it did not fill and sink at once.