The chase through the watery maze kept up for an hour or more, and then, so far as the Sea Gull was concerned, it came to a disastrous conclusion. Without the slightest warning Captain Andrews’ craft rammed her nose at full speed into a sand bank, and at the same moment the boys and the captain were thrown flat on their backs. Tom was up in a jiffy and shut off the engine. The others were as quick in recovering themselves. But alas for the Sea Gull! Her nose was jammed hard into the sand, and although the engine was reversed and run at full power, it could not move her.
“Well, if the bad luck isn’t holding out to the end!” exclaimed Tom despairingly; “what on earth can we do now?”
“What, indeed?” echoed Jack. “I guess that they win this time.”
“What, giving up already?” exclaimed Captain Andrews. “Why, boys, there’s lots of luck left. I see that the tide is rising. That’s lucky, for it means that at high water we can get the Sea Gull off. In the meantime I’ve got a plan.”
Both boys hung eagerly on his next words. “We’ll take the dinghy and row ashore. It can’t be so very far to some village or town where we can summon the authorities. That will give us a chance to land those miscreants yet.”
“It seems about all there is left to do,” said Tom, who didn’t seem to be very much impressed with the plan.
“Hello, the Tarpon’s dropped her anchor,” exclaimed Jack, pointing to the other craft, which had come to a standstill about five hundred yards off.
“Then there’s no time to lose in getting ashore,” declared Captain Andrews; “we’ve got to beat them to it. Come on, lads, help me get the dinghy over.”
The dinghy referred to was a small, light flat-bottomed boat, carried athwart the stern of the Sea Gull. It took but a short time to get her overboard. In the meantime Jack had dived into the cabin, leaving the task of lowering the small boat to his two companions.
“Come in here,” he shouted, as soon as the boat was over and floating astern. Tom and Captain Andrews obeyed.