Ned Shoots at Manuel Through the Cabin Skylight.—Page [251].
“I don’t fancy she is bound for Key West,” Ned replied, “but I can’t see why it is necessary to look for friends, since they have got things all their own way, while we’re shut up here like rats in a trap.”
Then came a long interval of silence as each fellow was trying in vain to devise some scheme by which the recapture of the yacht would be possible, and all were startled as if by an electric shock when a loud report rang out, followed by the splintering of wood and glass, as a bullet lodged in the panels of the state-room door within a few inches of Ned’s head.
For an instant the three stood as if panic-stricken, and then Vance ran toward the bulkhead which divided the cabin from a portion of the engine-room as he cried:
“Get up here, quick! He’s trying for another shot!”
As he spoke he pointed to the skylight, from which direction the bullet had come, and there could be seen the interpreter’s legs as he was gliding noiselessly around in the hope of seeing his intended victims more clearly.
This was just the opportunity Ned wanted, and, resting his revolver on his arm in order to take more steady aim, fired twice in rapid succession.
A scream of pain told that at least one of the missiles had struck the target, and the oaths and imprecations which followed gave very good evidence as to who had been wounded.
“You shall pay for this, you scoundrels!” Manuel cried in a fury. “Don’t think that because you are hidden from view it is impossible to get at you. There is no need of our hunting you out; a few days with neither food nor water will soon do the business!”