“Don’t forget to tell that your pirate brigantine was anchored out in the harbor,” put in Charlie. “We supposed it was lying up to get out of the storm, but we had another think coming——”
“Yes, I guess you will all listen to me, next time,” went on Merry. “That was the most piratical-looking band of fellows with their knives and their red handkerchiefs as I ever saw in a story book. Well, we did get to the cave at last and found it as empty as it was before. Charlie had a chisel in his pocket. You know, he is the human tool box, and with that and a piece of stone we managed to loosen some of the boards. But there wasn’t a tire or anything else connected with an automobile inside the box. You’ll never guess what the boxes were filled with. Something about as foreign to a motor car, except in sound, when a tire bursts, as a caterpillar.”
“You don’t mean guns?” demanded Ben.
“We certainly do. Rifles by the dozens packed in all the boxes we had time to open.”
“We were chumps,” interrupted Charlie. “If we had stopped sooner, I never would have had this bloody nose.”
“Well, haven’t I got a black eye?” demanded his friend.
“What happened? What happened?” cried Percy impatiently.
“While we were tinkering with the boxes, we heard the sharpest, loudest whistle I ever heard in my life, and we both lit out and ran. I was in front and just as I got to the mouth of the cave, a one-eyed, one-armed ruffian leapt out at me. His one arm was as strong as most men’s two, but he couldn’t beat Charlie and me together, although he gave me this little souvenir and he planted his fist on Charlie’s nose. While we were fighting, a boat from the ship with six sailors in it landed below. They came tearing up the steps like a lot of bloodhounds, and Charlie and I had a run for our lives. Didn’t we, midget?”
Charlie acknowledged the fact gravely. There was no denying that the two boys had been in a very dangerous situation.
“We were ready just in the nick of time, too,” said Billie. “If Ben hadn’t cranked up, we’d have had those men on us in another minute.”