“I don’t believe they’ll dare,” rejoined Mr. Lawrence, grimly compressing his lips. “However, keep right on after them, and we shall see.”
The tug was quickly picked up by the searchlight.
“Whew! How she’s cutting the water!” exclaimed Mr. Lawrence. “That tug was surely built for fast work. She’s easily an eighteen-knot boat.”
While the chase kept up, Tom detailed his brief adventure aboard the filibustering craft.
Though the tug was showing fine speed, the “Meteor” was so much faster that at last the motor boat, dead astern, was within half a mile.
Bang! came a sharp report over the water, following a sharp, red flash from the tug’s cannon.
“Blank charge—no shell,” commented Inspector Lawrence, coolly.
Holding the searchlight to the tug’s after deck, however, the inspector and his friends saw two men again loading the brass cannon.
There was another flash, a report, and a projectile whizzed by to the starboard of the motor boat.
“They seem to mean business, Joyce,” muttered the inspector. “You know what comes now.”