Fortunately for him, the blow had been a glancing one.
"Row, row!" cried Black. His companion fell to the oars. The men, as they well knew, were now in a desperate situation.
Dan twisted his body about in the water, his fingers closing over the gunwale of his own boat. The blow had dazed him, though he still had plenty of fight left in him.
He clambered back into his own boat with no little effort, for his clothes were soaked and weighed him down, this being the second wetting he had had within a very short time.
The other dinghy now had a slight start of him, but when the Hawaiians looked back a moment later, they saw Dan again in their wake.
The Battleship Boy's jaws were set. His fighting blood was up. He would give no quarter now.
"I'll get those heathens at any cost," he growled.
He had forgotten all about the whaleboats that had been sent for the men. Perhaps they had lost their quarry on the dark waters.
"I'm after you," shouted Dan. "This time I'm going to get you, you miserable deserters! Things like you deserve to be drowned without the formality of court-martial. Do you surrender?"
"No."