“Right you are!” Bostock answered. “There isn’t a thing we can’t do after we get hold of that boat, but what are we going to do with the boys?”
“We’ll have to make some arrangements for keeping them out of the way,” Davis suggested. “If they put up a fight, well, the lagoon is a pretty good place to leave them.”
“Now, then,” mused Alex, “the thing for me to do is to shoot both of those murderers, and so get the Rambler out of this scrape!”
Without any intention of following his own advice, the boy thrust his hand into his pistol pocket and found it empty.
“Anyway,” he muttered, “it wouldn’t have been any good after swimming over here. It seems as if I never did have a gun when I wanted one.”
The boy struck off to the east, his idea being to gain a position a short distance above the Rambler and then swim aboard. He had proceeded but a few yards when a rustling in the bushes just ahead attracted his attention. The rustling was soon followed by a low growl, and directly the damp muzzle of the bulldog was thrust into the boy’s face.
“So you’ve gone and run away, too, have you Captain Joe?” demanded Alex. “I’ve a great mind to send you out to eat up two pirates.”
It was too dark to see the bulldog distinctly, but Alex knew that he was accepting the commission joyfully.
“I don’t think it will do any good, doggie,” the boy finally whispered. “Those pirates are about like skunks—you kill one and half a dozen more come to the funeral. If those fellows don’t get back to their steamer directly, there’ll be a mob of their companions on this island before daylight. All we can do now is to get to the Rambler and head her out of this lagoon before the steamer gets to the entrance.”
With this object in mind, the boy and dog made their way swiftly through the thicket, paying little attention to the noise they made. Far in the rear they heard the river pirates calling out to them, but paid no attention. When Alex reached the shore of the lagoon he was at a loss which way to turn. There was now no illumination to show the location of the Rambler.