"What's the next move, matey?" asked Dick.
"Get up the anchor and cast off the mooring ropes, old chap," Matt answered, getting to his feet. "If that boat we were talking with really belonged to the Japs, then she's hustling for the Horn to overtake us. While she's beating around the southern end of Terra del Fuego, we'll pass through the Strait of Magellan and reach away up the coast of Chili."
"Hoop-a-la!" exulted Carl. "Dot's der vay der king oof der modor poys fools der Chaps! Vile dey look for us von blace, den ve scoot out some odder blace!"
"That's the trick!" cried Ferral; "and it's the trick that wins."
"But our orders carry us around the Horn," demurred Glennie.
"You're aboard as the representative of the United States Government, Glennie," said Matt. "If we try to go around the Horn, there's no telling what will happen. A hundred thousand dollars is trembling in the balance, and ought we to take chances with it? It's for you to say."
"Then go through the strait," answered Glennie.
Motor Matt had reasoned wisely; but the failure of their wireless instrument to catch the messages from Punta Arenas was to cause them a vast amount of trouble.