"I can't see it. You had better keep off, for you will find me a desperate man." As the skipper spoke he raised a club and shook it threateningly at the boat's crew.
Tom's subsequent actions greatly surprised the lieutenant. Instead of taking to his heels he removed his coat and hat, deliberately placed them upon the ground beside the valise, rolled up his sleeves, tested the strength of his club across his knee, and acted altogether as if he were preparing for a desperate encounter. He kept one eye on the jolly-boat all the while, and the moment she touched the bank, and Johnny Harding sprang out, he caught up the valise and disappeared in the bushes.
"What do you suppose he means?" asked Jackson. "Was he trying to frighten us?"
"If he was, he didn't succeed," replied Johnny, hurriedly. "We've got him at last. Tom never was much of a runner, and I'll agree to catch him in two minutes by the watch. And for a sixpence I'll insure his capture and the recovery of the money."
The boat's crew dashed into the bushes in pursuit of the flying skipper, and before Johnny's two minutes had expired they were almost within reach of him. A few steps more would have brought them near enough to seize him by the collar, when, to their amazement, Tom suddenly dropped the valise, faced about, and advanced furiously upon Johnny with uplifted bludgeon; at the same instant Sam Barton and his band of outlaws arose from the bushes on all sides of them and rushed forward, brandishing their clubs, and yelling like young savages. Tom had led the boat's crew into an ambush.
"Rally by fours!" shouted the lieutenant, whipping out his cutlass, which was instantly knocked from his grasp by a vicious blow from a club in the hands of Will Atkins.
