When they came to a low-lying portion of the south arm, they saw the lights of the steamer across the point, trying to head them off.
CHAPTER XV.—THE RAMBLER STRIKES BACK.
“Just let me get up on the prow with a gun!” Alex exclaimed, pulling himself out of a puddle of water on the deck. “I want to get a couple of shots at those devils on board that steamer!”
“What did they do to you?” asked Case.
“They didn’t do nothing to me, only choked me nearly to death with the collar of my own shirt,” said the boy, “but I heard them planning to leave us lying at the bottom of the lagoon and steal the boat.”
“That’s what they’re here for!” Clay answered. “When you see a whiskey boat on any river, you may make up your mind that the men on board will commit murder if they find it necessary.”
“If we don’t get more speed on,” Case exclaimed, pulling Alex away as he made a dash for the prow, “they’ll beat us to the entrance to the lagoon now.”
Clay rushed back to the motors to see if another ounce of power could not be turned on while Jule seized the lines and headed the boat off on the port side.
“They’ll come in from the river side,” he said to Case, “and we may slip through between their prow and the little bend which tops the lagoon on the north side.”
The Rambler was moving much faster than the steamer, but the latter had several rods the start. As they raced desperately for the narrow strip of water between the two arms of the island it was an open question as to which would win.