"They're putting up a plucky fight, just the same," Kingdon said, peering ahead. "Take your place. Speak to Red. Stand by the sheet to lower!" he bellowed.
"Aye, aye, skipper!" Phillips shouted back.
"Come aft here, Peewee, and help Cloudman pull 'em over the side. Keep your wits about you, Applejack."
"Oh, thank ye!" grunted the boy from the West. "I didn't spill them back there in that choppy channel."
Carried on by her own momentum, the Spoondrift shot in between the two canoes. The struggling boys paddling at the moment—Pence in one canoe and Pudge MacComber in the other—might have ceased their work, seeing the catboat so near, had not Kingdon shouted:
"Keep it up, you fellows! Stick to the paddle. We've got to snake those other fellows inboard first."
Cloudman and Peewee each seized their man, while Red and Midkiff, lying precariously themselves on the decked over portion of the catboat, got a grip on the gunwales of the canoes.
Ben Comas and Kirby were hauled into the cockpit; but each canoe shipped so much water it began to sink.
Pudge was frankly crying; but he tried to balance his boat and use the paddle on the starboard side. Pence's countenance wore its usual sneering smile. His black eyes flashed and his glance did not quail in the least.
"Awfully decent of you, Kingdon," he shouted. "Try to save the canoes, if you can."