“Dropped dead.”
“Good, there’s no fear of them putting out before we fix them, they’ll stay here to-night, sure. Once we get the girl on board, we can put off, wind or no wind, for I’ve got the engine fixed. You see, if we put up a fight right away we’ll have all those Chinks they have with them on top of us. You said they were hatchet men, didn’t you? Fight like hornets; whereas in the dark—why a Chink in the dark is no good, specially if he doesn’t know what’s attacking him. Now, my plan is, bust their camp up sudden, yelling and shooting over them; if they show fight, drill them, but it’s a thousand to one they’ll quit and scatter, thinking it’s the police. Nail the girl, get her aboard here and shove off.”
“I’m with you,” said George.
Hank demurred for a moment; he would have preferred to attack right away; then, after a little discussion, he fell in with the others.
CHAPTER XVI
EVIDENCE OF CONTRABAND
THEY came on deck.
It wanted little more than two hours to sunset and the eastern sky had taken that look of distance which only comes when the sun is low in the west.
Hank, who was the first on deck, called to the others and pointed over the sea. Something white was shearing through the water over there, something that showed up at once through the glass as a high power motor launch.