have it as fast as
you can!" ordered Dave. "Riley, get your men into the boat, and
take the Colt with you. Post it as fast as you can on the starboard
quarter!"

Dave himself stood behind the kneeling marines, a fair target for
every hostile bullet.

John Carmody, too, felt in honor bound to risk himself beside
the young Navy ensign.

"All sea-going, sir!" called Coxswain Riley. "Schmidt, make ready
to cast off," sang back Darrin.

Now the different groups of Mexicans, who had been halted for a
minute under the brisk fire, saw their prey slipping away from them.

With yells of fury, Cosetta's men rose and attempted the final
charge.

"Marines aboard!" yelled Darrin.

Almost in the same instant, loaded revolver in hand, Dave sprang
to the gunwale and landed on the after deck.

Without waiting for the order from his chief, Schmidt cast off,
with the aid of the single sailor under his own command. The
engineer went ahead at slow speed for a few seconds while Riley
steered the launch clear of the wharf and headed for deeper, safer
water.

"Half speed ahead!" shouted Darrin, as Schmidt sprang to the wheel,
while Riley, snatching up his rifle, joined the fighting men.
Uttering howls of rage as they saw their prey escaping them,
the Mexicans rushed out onto the wharf in a mad attempt to board
before it was too late.

Three men would have succeeded in boarding the launch, had they
not been shot down as they leaped for the after deck.

"Give it to them with the Colt, Corporal!" Dave called. "Every
other man fire with his rifle!"

Before he had finished speaking, the reloaded Colt belched forth
its rain of death. It was the machine gun, with its muzzle swiftly
turning in an arc of a circle that did the most execution among
the outlaws, but the riflemen did their share.

Until his rifle barrel was too hot to hold in his hands, John
Carmody shot rapidly, yet coolly putting into his work all the
pent-up indignation that he had felt for days against Cosetta
and his men.

"Stop the gun!" ordered Dave Darrin, resting a hand on the shoulder
of the marine corporal. "Don't waste its fire."

The launch was now free of the shore, and moving down the lagoon at
half speed. On the wharf fully a score of Mexicans either lay dead
or dying.

Dave's spoken order to the engineer caused the launch to increase
its speed.

"Line up at the starboard rail," Dave called to the men grouped
about him. "We're going to cat