"They've locked us in here so's they can steal the Bonita!" Bob shouted, as he leaped to the companion-way and began pounding on the bolted doors.
The oaken timbers were firm as a bulk-head, and, without a weapon, he might have worked there all day in vain.
Joe had sprung to the windows; but his efforts were quite as useless as Bob's. Heavy iron gratings, intended to keep out intruders and break the force of the waves, were screwed so firmly in the wood-work that they could not be removed from the inside save by the use of proper tools.
They were securely imprisoned, for the cabin had no outlet except at the companion-way, and two or three hours of hard work would be absolutely necessary before they could escape by the doors.
While Bob and Joe were darting from one possible point of vantage to another, shouting for help and uttering wild threats in the same breath, the boys had gathered at one of the port windows which looked directly on the brig's bulwarks.
"They ain't gettin' under way!" Jim cried, as if trying to persuade himself that the strangers were not intending to desert them.
"There's no need for the pirates to hurry," Bob said hoarsely, as he stood in the center of the cabin, his face convulsed by rage and trembling like one in an ague fit. "If I had jumped on 'em with the belayin'-pin when Joe held me back, all of that crowd wouldn't be able to get away. Come here, you cowards, an' give us a fair show! Open this hatch or I'll foller you till your lives won't be worth the livin'!"
"The hawsers have been cast off, an' now the brig is beginnin' to move through the water!" Jim reported, as he pressed his face close to the iron bars.
This information gave fresh impetus to Bob's wrath. He rushed from one corner of the cabin to another shouting the wildest threats, and behaving generally like an insane person.
Joe was quite as angry as the old sailor, but not to such an extent that his common sense had deserted him. While Bob strode back and forth he was working on the screws which held the bars in place. By breaking off the end of the largest blade in his pocket-knife quite an effective tool was made, and he had accomplished no slight portion of his task when Jim made the last report.