"Can you get them from there?"
"Fine!" answered the other cheerfully.
"I'll try to keep her bow-on. Careful not to kill anyone, old man. Shoot
for their arms."
"How can I when they're out of sight down there?" Wink complained. "All
I can do is shoot for the ports."
"Don't shoot at all unless you have to," Steve cautioned. "We don't want
to knock any more splinters off her than necessary."
"We're too near, Steve. The deck's getting in the way."
"I'll back her off." The _Adventurer_ retreated until Wink, his elbow
resting on the closed cover of the chart-box, could train his revolver
on the _Follow Me's_ ports. Several of the others emerged from the
cabins and huddled from sight on the deck.
"What's the next act, Steve?" inquired Phil.
Steve shook his head. "I'm wondering," he answered. "About all we can do
is keep them from running away until they talk sense."
"Why not let them run? We can go faster than they can."
"I'm afraid of tricks," responded Steve. "I don't know these waters, and
I suspect that they do. They might manage to give us the slip as they
did last night. I guess when they find they can't get away they'll come
to terms." Steve raised his head cautiously above the chart-box on his
side and a bullet promptly ploughed through the frame of the open
window in front of him and went singing astern.
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