“If only we had the box of explosives!” she whispered. “With it we might have a chance against those men!”
“It’s too late to dig up the box now,” said Jerry. “We probably couldn’t find it without a light. And the noise we’d make—”
“Let me try,” Penny interrupted.
“All right, see if you can get your hands on the box,” her father agreed suddenly. “Slip back of the dune, and then circle. Don’t try to cross the beach. Be careful! Remember the least sound will bring a hail of bullets.”
Penny nodded and slipped away into the darkness, crawling on hands and knees. Barely had she left the shelter of the big sand dune than she heard two shots fired in quick succession.
“Those came from Jerry’s revolver!” she thought. “Oh, it was a trick to get me safely away! Now he and Dad are in for fireworks!”
Raising her head above the protecting sand dune, Penny saw why Jerry had fired. The rubber boat was being launched. To delay the attack would mean that the entire party might escape.
“They’ll all get away!” Penny thought in dismay. “How can Jerry and Dad hold them single handed?”
George Emory returned Jerry’s fire with deadly aim. The bullets bit into the dune, throwing up little geysers of sand.
“Launch the boat!” he shouted savagely to the men from the submarine. “Get away while you can! Be quick!”