The General, left thus momentarily unguarded, struggled vehemently to break or shake off his bonds. His wriggling brought him to the edge of the narrow jetty, and when Will, having loosed the painter, turned to secure his prisoner, he saw him roll over into the lake on the opposite side. Instantly he flung himself at full length on the jetty, peering into the water for the prize he was determined not to lose. The lake was shallow. In a few moments the General rose spluttering from his immersion, and yelled again for help. Will grabbed him by his wholly hair: Azito plunged into the water, and together they hauled him on to the jetty and threw him into the yacht. Machado had already jumped into it. Will and the Indian followed. The latter seized a paddle, Will pushed off, and the little vessel began to move down the lake towards the canal.
[CHAPTER XIII--A SNAG]
The kidnappers were not a moment too soon. The sentry, dazed and half-drowned, struggled from the muddy bottom of the lake just as the yacht put off. Scrambling on to the jetty, he filled the air with his cries. While Azito paddled the boat towards the canal, Will looked back towards the house. Figures were pouring out, some in their night attire, others pulling on their coats as they ran. The air rang with their shouts. They all made for the jetty. One or two fired aimlessly; the little vessel must now be invisible to them in the darkness, and until they inquired of the sentry they would not know what had happened. There were no other boats at the jetty, so that pursuit by water was impossible, but Will wondered anxiously whether he could reach the stream at the end of the canal before the men could gain it by running along the banks. If they posted themselves on the banks of the narrow canal, he would be at their mercy.
The boat was small. It would carry no more than two comfortably. Overloaded as it now was--the General alone was no light weight--it could not make anything like the speed of a man running. But it was taking the diameter of the lake; the pursuers would have to run round the circumference: and Will remembered that when they reached the canal they would find their course checked by the vegetation, the banks having been allowed to return to their primitive wildness. This would give the boat a little time.
It entered the canal from the lake. The shouts of the men drew nearer. They came from both sides. General Carabaño cried out continually. The gag was lost, and Will had nothing at hand with which to silence him. Azito plied his paddle desperately, and Machado, as anxious now as Will himself to escape, seized a second paddle and helped to propel the boat.
Had Ruggles brought the hydroplane to the end of the canal? What would happen if he was not there? The pursuers were probably numbered by hundreds, and even if they fired at random across the stream, so many could hardly fail to hit one or other of the occupants of the boat. Will peered anxiously into the darkness. If Ruggles had come, surely he must have heard the noise. Then why had he made no sign? Had the hydroplane broken down? All at once from down the canal came the throb of the engine. Will looked over the bow of the boat. He could just see, on the faintly shimmering surface of the water, a dark shape approaching.
"Ruggles!" he shouted.
"Ahoy!" came the reply. "Look out, Mr. Pentelow, I'm stern foremost."
"Good man! Catch the painter when I throw it. Don't come any farther."
Azito was paddling more slowly now, fearful of dashing into the hydroplane in the darkness. The shouts of the pursuers sounded nearer than ever: Will heard the men crashing through the undergrowth, regardless of snakes, as of all the dangers that beset the unwary by night in tropical jungle. The boat came to a stop within a yard of the hydroplane. Will flung the painter on board: Ruggles seized it and instantly started the motor. At the same moment a shot rang out from the right; another on the left; then there was a fusilade, and Will heard the bullets splashing into the water and singing through the air. The pace of the vessel was quickening; but Ruggles could not drive the hydroplane at speed, for though he was able to steer safely between the banks of the canal, it was so short, and the stream beyond so narrow, that there was a danger of running the vessel against the farther bank if he went too fast. But the speed was great enough to shake off the pursuers, and in another minute the hydroplane swept round the corner of the canal, her head turned in the direction of the tributary of the Orinoco.