"You little sneak, I've waited for this time!" snarled Owen, hoarsely.
"But now—"
Josh rolled the boy over, yanked a pair of steel handcuffs from a rear pocket, and quickly, despite Benson's struggles snapped them onto the Submarine boy's wrists.
"Now, I've got ye!" he finished, his flaming eyes close to Jack's.
"For a little while," jeered Benson, as calmly as he could force himself to speak.
It was an unfortunate speech.
"Thank ye for warnin' me that the time's short," chuckled the brute. With that he lifted the boy, bore him back to a stanchion, and swiftly tied him to it in a standing position.
"That's all but the last thing I've got to do," pursued Josh Owen, drawing back. "Boy, ye did yer worst for me, when ye had the chance. And ye was the means of havin' Danny locked up. Mebbe Dan Jaggers did give me some sleepin' stuff, an' maybe he did worry my own share of the money from me; but, boy, ye never knew how much store I set by Danny in spite o' some things. And now, he's locked up tight, thanks to you, an' the constables are chasin' me from cover to cover, lookin' for me everywhere. Howsomever, this settles the account!"
Jack Benson's heart seemed to stop beating as he realized what the rage-crazed fellow was up to.
Josh Owen deftly handled the mechanism that opened the sea-valves to let water into the diving tanks.
"I'm turnin' the water in slow," he announced. "That'll give me time to git away. This is a divin' boat. Well, Dive in her!"