"But let me stay and see what I can do while you're gone," Cub pleaded. "I bet I can have a police boat headed this way before you reach the mainland."
"No, nothing doing," his father ruled unwaveringly. "You'd disappear just the way the other boys did. We can't afford to run any more such risks."
"I'd be safe enough if you let me have that automatic o' yours, dad,"
Cub argued,
"No, sir-ree; I'm not going to leave you here alone to fight any gun battle with a band of bandits."
But the boy was still undismayed by his father's resoluteness. He had one more proposal to offer, and he presented it thus:
"You don't need to leave me here alone, dad. Mr. Baker may stay; you can run the Catwhisker alone."
Both men had started toward the landing place, expecting the boy to follow, but they stopped suddenly and faced about on hearing this new proposition. Mr. Baker looked almost eagerly at Mr. Perry, it seemed, and, observing that the latter's unyielding attitude had softened somewhat, he said:
"That's agreeable to me if it is to you."
"Well," returned Mr. Perry with slow deliberation, "that sounds pretty good. If it suits you both, it suits me. I don't think you'll have to use the guns, even if any bad actors do happen around. If you show them, that'll probably be enough. Do you know how to handle an automatic, Bob?"
"Sure I do," the latter replied. "All you have to do is keep the nose pointed away from you and toward the target you want to hit. To shoot, you just keep pulling the trigger, and when it's empty you're safe from accident until you fill the chamber again."