Takishima raised his voice and hailed the “Hatsuke.” An answer quickly came back, and the water was churned to foam as the destroyer shot ahead, turning with port helm. Phil understood that Takishima had ordered the officer in command to come alongside the yacht in order to transfer passengers. While all eyes watched the graceful lines of the fleet craft, suddenly, as if a curtain had been dropped, the “Hatsuke” dissolved from sight. Acting upon an impulse as daring as it was sudden, Phil grasped the duplicate engine telegraph near the mainmast, and rang up full speed ahead. No word was spoken, but as the yacht forged ahead, O’Neil threw overboard the life-line to which Takishima’s boat was made fast. The men in the boat gazed up in startled surprise, but O’Neil waved his hand in the direction the destroyer had disappeared, and almost at once the boat had drifted astern and out of sight in the fog.
Takishima was completely taken by surprise. His hand went quickly to his revolver, but Sydney’s iron grip on his wrist prevented him from drawing it from its holster, while Phil’s revolver peered into his angered face.
“It’s our turn now, Taki; be game!” Phil exclaimed. “This gun isn’t loaded, and I wouldn’t shoot you if it were. It’s only a figure of speech; but if you try to draw I’ll wrestle you for your gun, and I am a lot bigger than you are and have a few friends to help me.”
Takishima wrenched himself angrily away, and the next minute his brightly polished revolver was held at Phil’s head, and it was only too plain from the light in his eyes that he would not hesitate to use it.
CHAPTER XX
THE “HATSUKE”
But suddenly, without a word being said, Takishima slowly lowered his gun and placed it back in its holster, and then hastily left the group, walking silently aft.
“Look out he doesn’t commit suicide or jump overboard, Syd!” Phil exclaimed with a sigh of relief, as he made his way swiftly to the bridge.
“Which way are you going?” he inquired anxiously.
“Pretty nearly straight back,” Captain Bailey replied quickly. “She’ll look for us farther along on our old course. If the fog holds for another hour she’ll never see us again. I am going to run close down inside the islands, and when we see the northern island of the Philippines then we can shape our course wherever you like.”
The midshipman nodded approvingly. Captain Bailey knew what he was about. Phil talked a short time longer, telling of how they had turned the tables on the unsuspecting Japanese lieutenant, and then went aft to look up Takishima and endeavor to console him. He came upon him sitting disconsolate in a chair abaft the mainmast; Sydney stood near, but from appearances there had been no communication between the two former friends. Phil was on the point of joining them when he saw that O’Neil and Marley were waiting to speak to him, so he stopped.