Jack breathed easier, for he saw now that a collision was not to follow. The nerve of Clarence had possibly failed him at the climax; and his last move had been to stop his engine, before dropping flat in the bottom of his boat.
“Over into her, John! We must make prisoners here!” shouted the agent, as he balanced on the rail of the Wireless, and in so doing almost brought that side of the narrow-beam boat awash.
“There he goes, sir!” called Jack.
A big splash followed, as a figure sprang from the opposite side of the other boat. Evidently the desperate smuggler, as a last resort, had taken to the water, in the hope that he might yet baffle his pursuers, and escape to the Canada shore.
Jack had snatched up a boathook with a brass knobbed end. This he fastened to the rail of the Flash, and exerting all his strength, began to draw the two boats closer together, so that the revenue agent and his assistant might make the transfer safely.
He saw them leap across, and felt the boat rock violently under the strain; but not for an instant did he let go his hold. There was something of a rumpus going on aboard the Flash, as though the government men might be struggling with the two smugglers whom they found there, lacking in nerve to follow after their leader, or else not knowing how to swim. But in another minute these sounds ceased, from which he guessed that the pair had been subdued.
[CHAPTER XXI—A CLEAN SWEEP]
“Jack!”
It was the revenue man calling, and he appeared at the side of the other boat.
“Yes, what is it, sir?” replied the lad who held the boathook.