liberate the captive.

The man was a pretty tough looking customer, thanks to the treatment he
had met with in the merry time the rival parties had had aboard the
sloop, but at least he knew when he was well off and something in Jack's
manner as well as his voice told him these strangers would go easy him
if only he gave them as little trouble as possible.

So once again the pair set out to finish their exploration of the object
of their latest "strafing" feat when a battle had been brought to an
abrupt close with all hands in full flight simply by a dextrous movement
of Perk's arm and the tossing of a couple of innocent looking tear-bombs
into the midst of the warring factions.

This time it was Jack who made the discovery. Perk saw him step over,
while they were still on deck, and lift a ragged tarpaulin that seemed
to cover some bulky object toward the stern of the sloop. After that one
look Jack gave the well-worn covering a hitch and a toss that sent it
flying revealing something that caused Perk's eyes to stick out with
astonishment, not mentioning a sudden spasm of delight.

"Wow! what's this I'm seein' partner?" he yelped joyously. "A reg'lar
engine or I'm a crocodile from the Nile! Why, this must be what they
call an auxiliary craft, fitted to use canvas or hoss power, whichever
fills the bill best. You c'n ditch me if this ain't what I'll call luck.
An' heaps of it."

"I had a sneaking suspicion we'd run across something like this,"
confessed Jack, who nevertheless seemed just as well pleased as his
comrade over the find. "It's taking too big a chance to ship a cargo as
rich as this one in a tub like this with only rotten sails to speed the
craft if she happened to run afoul of a revenue cutter or one of those
new sub-chasers the Coast Guard's been fitted out with. And now the
problem's been solved, just as we hoped it would be."

"Meanin' we c'n get somewhere without tryin' to tow the rum-boat behind
our crate, and making a long and tiresome job o' it, eh what, partner?"
Perk suggested, with considerable animation.

"Take a look at this engine, Perk, and tell me if you reckon you could
run the thing if it became necessary."

Accordingly the other investigated and it was not long before he
ventured to give his decision.

"Seems okay to me, Boss. Course I can't jest say for sure till I tries
it out, but the chances are three to one she'll work for me."

"We'll soon have a chance to put that to the t