Two or three minutes later a slight sound caused the young skipper to turn with a start. He saw Jasper in the very act of fitting a wire-nipper to one of the parallel wires of the aerial of the wireless.
In an instant Captain Tom Halstead jammed his wheel and locked it. Then he dashed at the fellow.
CHAPTER XI
THE DRAB BOAT SHOWS HER NOSE
“You keep off!” snarled Jasper, drawing back on the defensive, holding the wire-nippers so as to use them in defending himself.
But, if the young captain of the “Restless” knew any fear, at such moments, he didn’t permit others to see it. He neither stopped nor 115 swerved. Ducking in under Jasper’s extended right arm, Tom closed with the fellow, grappling.
“Confound ye! I’ll have to throw ye over into the water!” growled Jasper, fighting for a hold around the boy’s waist and behind his back. But Halstead fought to break the grip, at the same time yelling:
“Hank! Here, mighty quick!”