“Great guns!” exploded Frank. “Why didn’t we think of that before? We would have had time to stop and get a supply, and maybe, after that, might have caught the rascals.”
An examination of the forward tank showed that the surmise of the boat’s owner was correct. The gasoline container was dry, and that was what had caused the engine to stop.
“Well, what are we going to do?” asked Ned, looking around on the bay. “Have we got to stay out here? We may be classed as deserters, Frank.”
“Oh, I think a boat that we can hail may pass us soon,” suggested Mr. Kennedy. “They’ll tow us in.”
There was nothing they could do save wait.
They hoisted their handkerchiefs on a boat hook as a signal of distress and finally it was seen. A boat came and towed them back to the city.
Before this, however, the man who had been knocked overboard from the other boat came swimming up to the craft containing our friends. He said something in Portuguese which Mr. Kennedy translated as being a surrender. He had to come to those he had been fighting, as his friends had gone off and left him.
He was hauled on board, and told that he would be made a prisoner and turned over to the proper authorities.
“He wasn’t one of the leaders, though,” said Mr. Kennedy to the boys, after a talk with the man. “He was a sort of servant to Bernardo.”
“What does he say was in the box?” asked Frank, eagerly.