When I arrived, I found Robbins already at loggerheads with the fellows.
Through Carmencita, he had endeavored to hire one of them to take us to the yacht.
Ordinarily, the men would have jumped at the opportunity to earn a fat fee, but they seemed to realize that something out of the usual run was in the wind, and they “hung in stays”—that is, refused to come about to our way of thinking.
Probably their quick ears must have caught what it was their compatriots on the beach were shouting as they ran along, and thus knew of the dazzling reward that had been offered for our apprehension.
Really, the case was one that demanded heroic treatment.
There were three of the boatmen—big, hulking chaps all, and could they delay us only a few minutes, all was lost.
I grasped the situation as fully as though it were spread before me in illuminated text.
And I knew that promptness alone could save us such a crisis.
My first act was to gently deposit my burden upon the planks of the landing stage, after which I laid hold upon the little argument I carried in a back pocket.
Robbins was ahead of me.