leaped out and scampered along the roof to the bow. Wink raised
his revolver, but Steve pulled his arm down.

"Don't!" he said. "Let them go if they will."

At that instant the _Follow Me_ faltered, stopped, and went on again for
another yard or so as a breaking wave rushed under her keel, and then
rolled over to starboard and subsided so, her propeller still beating
and her stern slowly working around. Into the two feet of water dropped
the trio on the bow and, keeping the _Follow Me_ between them and the
enemy, scuttled to land, and then, once on the hard sand, ran as hard as
their legs would take them up the beach to the north. Wink sent one shot
hurtling after them, just, as he explained afterwards, to encourage
them, and Steve, having cautiously edged the _Adventurer_ as near shore
as he dared, gave his orders hurriedly.

"Get the big cable from the rope locker, Han," he directed. "Joe, you
and Harry jump into the tender and stand by here. When you get the cable
pull in to the _Follow Me_ and make it fast to the stern cleat. Tom,
you'd better go along, too. Put your engine into reverse and try to back
off. The tide's still running out and if we don't get her off now we'll
have a hard time later. I'll pull on the stern and you jockey her with
her own power. I think we can do it. Now then, Han, give me that. Here,
take this end forward and make it fast around the cleat. Pass it
outside that stanchion, you chump! Catch, Harry! All right! Get a move
on, fellows!"

Off plugged the tender, Joe bending furiously at the short oars, the big
cable paying out astern. A minute or two later they were tumbling aboard
the _Follow Me_, Tom to dart below to the engine, Harry to make fast
their end of the line and Joe to look after the tender. Then Harry waved
a hand and shouted, and the _Adventurer_, which had been going slowly
astern, taking up the slack of the cable, settled to her task. The big
rope tightened, throwing a spray of water into the sunlight along its
length, strained and creaked and the _Follow Me's_ propeller, reversed,
did its part. There was an anxious two minutes. Very grudgingly the
black cruiser's stern came around. Steve drew the _Adventurer's_
throttle down a couple of notches. The _Follow Me_ gave up her notion of
spending her declining years on the sands of Plum Island and slowly
backed away. A shout of delight arose from a dozen throats as, with the
water once more under her she bobbed sedately to an