Captain, doctor, and young diver looked at each other with blanched faces.
They felt that their last hour on earth was at hand.
Swiftly the war canoes came closer.
Then of a sudden something happened which came as a great shock to our friends and as an even greater shock to the savages.
Boom!
Dull and sullen a ship's gun boomed out and a shot sped across the bow of the foremost of the canoes.
"A shot!" ejaculated Captain Broadbeam, leaping to his feet. "What can it mean?"
"It means that there is a steamship in sight!" cried Dave. "See the smoke around the bend of the island. Here she comes!"
"It is the Swallow!" came from the doctor. "Heaven be praised!"
The physician was right; it was indeed the Swallow, and now another shot boomed out.