“Now, I’m glad to hear you say that, Jack,” exclaimed the skipper, eagerly. “For during that other trip my engine played so many pranks that she got a black eye among my chums. If so be she’s settled down to a steady stage, the sooner I know it the better. I’ll be delighted to find it out. So here goes. Steady, all; hold on tight!”
The government agent, not knowing what to expect, for they were as near flying now as he ever expected to get, thought the policy of his crafty Indian helper worth imitating. So he simply dropped down in the body of the boat and braced himself against a shock.
But there was none. When George applied that last little reserve bit of power a slight jump forward resulted; and then after that the only difference seemed to be that they drew up on the fugitive Flash hand over hand.
George was nearly wild with delight. To him the fact that his cranky engine had finally determined to be good and do the duty which her makers had meant she should, far outweighed all else. So far as he was concerned it did not matter much whether the three men in the Flash were captured or not; but it was an affair of exceeding importance that the good, reliable old Wireless should overhaul its rival in this masterly manner.
“See her hump herself, Jack!” he ejaculated, as he balanced himself in the swaying craft, and peered eagerly ahead toward the other boat. “Ain’t she coming up nobly, though? Talk to me about the Flash making circles around us; why, she ain’t in the same class with this same old Wireless. Oh! but this pays me for all the troubles I’ve had in the past. I can hardly keep from yelling, Jack!”
“Better quit that monkey business, then,” cautioned the other. “You need all your wind and eyesight and everything else right now in handling such a greyhound.”
That just about finished George.
“Thank you, Jack, for giving her that fine name. But she deserves it,” he said. “I understand what you mean; and, believe me, I’ll try to hold my spirits in check until the game is won. I’d hate to have any accident happen now, I tell you.”
And he did buckle down to business with new determination and grit, grasping the vibrating wheel with all his strength, and watching to see just what the tricky skipper of that other craft might do. For George knew Clarence only too well, nor would he put anything past the other when it came down to cunning.
They were now so close that it was easy to see everything taking place on board the fleeing Flash. Clarence was at the wheel, and several figures crouched along either side, evidently holding on for dear life. One was in the stern, and Jack had little difficulty in making him out as the tall man he had first seen in the old cabin, and whom the agent had called Glenwood.