“But we couldn’t keep up a defense like that forever,” objected Jack. “Some of them would be bound to go back through the tunnel, swing around, and attack us from the rear. They have weapons, and we haven’t. We’d be caught between two fires.”
“Guess you’re right. But I hate all this running away. I’d like to take a crack at them. Never gave me a fair chance the first time, jumping on me in a gang, and when I had my back turned, too.”
“I know how you feel, Bob,” said Jack. “But, without weapons, run we must. And we had better be quick about it now, too. They won’t be long working through that tunnel, if they have lights.”
“No, the shouts are growing closer,” said Captain Folsom, bending down again to the hole. “But, look here, Hampton, you make a run to that radio station which I see above the trees there, to the right, in that opening. We’ll stay here until they reach the hole. Then we’ll batter them with bricks, and flee to the left. That will create a diversion, and give you a chance to try to raise Lieutenant Summers.”
“Good idea,” grunted Bob, immediately dropping into the hole and tossing out broken bricks from the crumbling walls.
“Don’t let them get too close to you,” warned Jack. “They’re armed. And run toward home. They won’t follow far. I’ll rejoin you somewhere along the beach beyond the boundary fence, if you wait for me.”
“We’ll wait, if they don’t make us run too far,” promised Captain Folsom. “In that case, make your 137 way home. And if you cannot get Lieutenant Summers by radio, don’t endanger yourself by delaying too long around here. Now go.”
With a nod of understanding, Jack turned and darted down the forest aisles toward the radio station.
Who would he find there? He wondered. Or, would the station be deserted? That it was in working order, there was no doubt, for it was the station’s issue of radio control to the liquor containers offshore which they had overheard before deciding to investigate.