“Put it down again, Jack. Here comes a boat down the river.”
Jack dropped the rock and looked up. A large row boat, in which they could see five men, was coming rapidly toward them, and was even then but a few yards distant.
“Stand by to repel boarders,” Jack shouted as he sprang to his feet and grabbed a peavey.
Bob and Rex were quick to follow his example.
The men, in the row boat, were not rowing. There was no need of it. The swift current was rapidly closing the distance between the two boats.
The row boat was nearly upon them when the man, who was sitting in the stern, steering with an oar, by a sudden sweep changed their course and at the same time another threw over an anchor, so that, in another minute, the two boats were riding opposite each other and separated by not more than 20 feet of water.
“They’re the men all right,” Bob whispered to Rex.
“What you do here, eh?” asked one of the men, a big ugly half-breed.
“Just sitting here,” Bob replied pleasantly.
“You bust dem rocks, oui?”