Tom thrust one end of his stick for the face 141 of another of the boarding strangers. The fellow strove to protect his face, and would have guarded easily enough, but, instead, the other end of Tom’s bludgeon struck him in the pit of his stomach, depriving him of all his wind.
“Woof!” grunted Hank, at the first sign of onslaught.
In both hands he clutched that business-like, though not formidable looking, hitching weight. One man set his foot on deck. Hank, almost with deliberation, dropped the weight on the toes of that foot.
There was a yell of pain. Snatching up the weight instantly, Hank let it fly forward and fall across the toes of another of the boarders.
Two of the strangers were limping now. Another was nursing an injured face, from Joe’s heavy blow. Captain Tom’s victim had fallen back aboard his home craft, gasping for breath.
The other two of the invaders got aboard the “Restless”—then wished they hadn’t, for Hank pursued one of them with his terrifying hitching weight, while Tom and Joe divided the sole remaining enemy between them.
Hardly had the affair begun when it ended; it was all over in an instant. The two who had escaped injury leaped back aboard the Drab. Those who needed assistance were helped back. The Drab drifted away, her vagrant course 142 unheeded at first, for it looked as though all aboard had taken part in that disastrous boarding enterprise.
Tom and Hank sprang for their own anchor, while Joe, as soon as he saw the big motor boats drift apart, dropped into the small boat of the “Restless” and rowed swiftly for shore. Hardly had he touched the beach when Powell Seaton, rifle in hand, bounded forth from cover.
“Put across, and see if we can get Hepton, too,” directed the charter-man, in a low voice. “I stepped right up out of the bushes, almost into the face of the fellow who landed on my side of the river. It was neither Dalton nor Lemly. As soon as the fellow saw me he laughed, put a chew of tobacco in his mouth, and went on.”
Hardly had Seaton finished speaking when Joe Dawson shot the bow of the little boat against the further bank. During this time Mr. Seaton had kept his eyes on the drab boat, holding his rifle in readiness in case another effort should be made to ram or board the “Restless.”