"Ready, men, for a quick landing!"
"You'll go back out into the stream, won't you, Halstead?" Lieutenant Overton asked, as Hank directed the "Restless" in toward a dock.
"Joe Dawson will," answered Skipper Tom. "He and I have already drawn lots to see which one of us would stay on the boat."
"You're not going ashore into this hades of riot and arson, are you?"
"Where American women are in danger?" retorted Skipper Tom. "Nothing less than a file of soldiers could keep me back!"
A dozen irregular shots rang out just as Halstead and Hank leaped ashore to hold the lines.
"Tumble off there, men. Don't wait for any gang-plank!" roared Lieutenant Prescott.
Tom Halstead and Hank Butts did not attempt to throw the hawsers over posts, but tossed their lines back to the deck as soon as the last soldier was ashore. Joe Dawson, taking his place at the wheel, and with one foot against the deck control of the engine, bawled out:
"Good luck to every one of you!"
Hal Overton had swiftly formed his squad in a single rank, ordering the soldiers to fix bayonets. Prescott formed his own squad as a second platoon. As Tom Halstead hastened up he carried a stout cudgel, while Hank Butts carried the hitching weight that had made him famous.