Directly a finger of light shot down the pier, and under it a white body swung toward the boat. Clay crawled back through the window and approached the door, where Jule was still standing with his automatic in his hand.
The pounding had now ceased entirely, the men evidently having been warned by the light. It seemed to Clay that the unwelcome visitors were now crouching in the darkness ready to attack any one who might attempt to come on board.
“Just wait a minute,” whispered Clay in Jule’s ear. “Just you wait a minute, and there’ll be something pulled off here! If I’m not mistaken, this drama is going to shift to a comedy in about one minute.”
“I don’t understand what you mean by that,” Jule declared. “What new deviltry are those fellows planning?” he added.
“In just about a second you’ll see,” Clay repeated. “The only wonder is that Captain Joe hasn’t pulled off his stunt before this.”
“Captain Joe isn’t here,” replied Jule doubtfully.
Then the boat swayed frightfully, tipping toward the pier. There was a heavy thud on deck, and cries of fright and pain, followed by another thud.
“Captain Joe isn’t here, eh?” shouted Clay unlocking and opening the door. “Just look at that mess out there.”
The white bulldog was mixing freely with the intruders, who seemed to be devoting their best energy to getting off the boat. There was a struggling, cursing, growling mass in the middle of the deck, and then from the roof of the cabin leaped another combatant!
Seeing the dog mixing with the pirates, and evidently believing that some new game was in progress, the cub leaped fairly into the midst of the struggling mass! If the men had been frightened before, they were now wild with terror. It seemed to them as if the bear had dropped from the clouds. They felt his teeth and claws, and the rough hair of him appeared to bristle like the quills of a porcupine.