. He must
be in the cove adjoining the goose-neck. Crawling rapidly through the
brush he gained the beach. Then he stopped and listened. Mascola had
evidently taken to the water.

A sudden fear gripped his heart at the thought and sent him racing down
the beach in the direction of the _Richard's_ dory. His fears for the
girl's safety abated as he found the dory undisturbed among the rocks.
Shoving it into the water he rowed hastily for the launch. As the skiff
scraped the _Richard's_ side, he sprang aboard and caught the girl in
his arms. For an instant love alone dominated his heart.

"Mascola escaped in the _Fuor d'Italia_."

Dickie's words recalled Gregory to his purpose. The next instant he was
pulling at the chain.

"I'll take you around the point to the cutter," he called to her as he
worked. "You'll be safe there until----"

"No." The girl's answer was spoken with a determination there was no
gainsaying. "I'm going with you," she said in a low voice. "There were
two men in the launch."

CHAPTER XXXI

BENEATH THE WATERS

As the _Richard_ cleared the point and plunged into trough of the swell,
a thin column of light filtered through the fog astern and traveled
slowly over the gray water.

Gregory put the wheel over and began to zigzag as he remembered that the
_Bennington_ was lying in at the goose-neck. At the distance the revenue
cutter would be unable to distinguish friend from foe and would take no
chances.

"Stay down," he called to Dickie. "It's the search from the
_Bennington_. They may shoot."

The light moved shoreward as he spoke, carefully searching the rocks
which fringed the coast. Gregory threw the wheel in the opposite
direction and struck out at a tangent toward the sea. His speed would
soon carry him beyond rifle range. Kicking open the cut-out, he advanced
the throttle. The _Richard_ shook with the sudden burst of power, then
began to plane.

Gregory kept his eyes on the moving rays as he held the launch on her
seaward tack. The light was moving nearer, but its beams were paling.
The cutter evidently had not moved from her anchorage. Doubtless she
would be kept fully occupied at the goose-neck. The next instant the
fog-wall ahead dripped in the rays of the searchlight.

Gregory's hand flashed to the spark as his foot released the throttle.
The angry roar of the speed-boat died away on the instant and the hull
dropped sullenly. Putting about, he started shoreward at right