“I hope he is. It has been a narrow tug for all of us. How did you get up here so quickly, and who told you I was here?”
“That peach, Miss Solado. She was with Marcos, and she told me in a few minutes all that had happened up here.”
“Well?”
“I borrowed the launch from her, and, believe me, I made that gas barge hustle up the river. I got everything out of her that was in her engine.”
“I didn’t hear it. How was that?” asked Nick, in a slightly mystified tone.
“That was easy,” grinned Chick. “I had a skiff trailing behind, and when I got pretty close to the yacht, but still too far away for the launch to be heard plainly, I tied up and came on with the oars. They’re muffled, so you did not hear even them.”
“We can get to the launch without trouble, I suppose?”
“Unless the bottom of the skiff falls out,” returned Chick, with a laugh. “Now, what have we to do?”
“Just this, Chick,” answered Nick Carter sternly: “I am going to take those two rascals off the yacht and hold them till I know Marcos is out of the country. You and I have to do it now.”
The difficulty of this enterprise seemed not to strike Chick. He merely answered “All right!” and looked at his chief for further instructions.