“Will you be ready right away?” inquired Tom, “because if not, I guess we ought to ’phone to Mr. Bowler. He’ll be anxious if we are missing without any explanation.”
“All right, boys. You’ll have time for that, but hurry.”
In five minutes the boys were back, and Captain Andrews announced that all was ready. No time was lost in casting off, and in five minutes more the Sea Gull’s bow was headed downstream. A long chase had begun, and one that was to prove remarkable in more ways than one.
“Seems queer, doesn’t it,” remarked Jack, “to think that only a short time ago we were sitting in the hotel, thinking we’d lost the trail for good and all, and here we are, hot on it again, only by sea instead of land.”
“It does,” agreed Tom, who was looking after the engine, while Captain Andrews steered. The motor of the Sea Gull was a powerful, four-cylindered, four-cycle one, developing twenty horsepower. This made the Sea Gull unusually fast for a craft of her class, but the boys recalled that Captain Andrews had told them that the Tarpon was a swift craft, also.
Twilight found the Sea Gull well off shore, and riding a swelling sea. Jack, who was on the lookout, was the first to sight, some five miles ahead of them, another motor craft.
“Can that be the Tarpon?” he exclaimed, pointing.
“Here, take the wheel a minute while I overhaul her,” said Captain Andrews eagerly.
He dived into the cabin and reappeared with a pair of strong binoculars. He focused these on the distant craft, and after a brief scrutiny announced that it was beyond doubt the Tarpon that they had sighted.
“She must have had some sort of engine trouble,” he declared, “or she would have made better time than this.”