"They won't risk their own worthless hides, you may be sure of that!" exclaimed Tom.
"There they go, but they must have left Koku and the others to their fate!"
"Oh, if they could only get loose and take control now, Tom, they'd save your tank for you!" shouted Ned.
"Yes; but they can't, I'm afraid. They may be killed, or so securely bound that they can't get loose!"
"Can't you get the Hawk there in time to stop her?"
"I'm afraid not. By that time she'll have attained top speed and it would be taking our lives in our hands to try to make a flying jump, get inside, and shut off the motors."
"Then the tank's got to smash!" said Ned gloomily.
Tom did not answer for a moment. He and his chum watched the fleeing figures running away from the war engine. What the plotters had done, as soon as they saw the aircraft and realized that Tom had discovered them, was to start the motors and leap from the tank, closing the doors after them. Whether or not they had left Koku and the others prisoners inside remained to be seen.
But the tank was plunging her way toward the steep bank of the river, doomed, it seemed, to great damage, if not to destruction.
"Oh, if we could only halt her!" murmured Ned.