A puff of white smoke drifted upward from the deck of the launch ahead and floated lazily above the rigging. Some fifty feet beyond the port bow of the _Petrel_ the water leaped upward in a tiny spout. d.i.c.kie"s rifle sounded in Gregory"s ear and the report of his own prolonged the echoes. As he pumped in another cartridge he noted that the girl"s eyes were shining and her red lips were parted in a smile. Between shots he heard her mutter:
"Can you beat that? The dirty robbers are going to stay and fight?"
CHAPTER VI
THE LAW OF THE FISHERMEN
Her decks spouting flame, the _Petrel_ raced on to meet the enemy.
Gregory crowded close to the rail and dropped to his knee. The girl was right about the roll. He shoved the rifle through a cross-stay, sighted carefully and pulled the trigger.
"I have the system now," he called.
She nodded. "That"s the stuff. Aim for the engine-house. They"re shooting from the ports."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "Aim for the engine-house!"]
The bullets from the alien craft were flying wide. The fusillade from the _Petrel_ was evidently interfering with the enemy"s marksmanship.
"No expert riflemen there," Gregory commented.
d.i.c.kie shook her head. "A knife"s their long suit," she answered. "I never saw them shoot much before. Don"t believe they----"
A jingle of breaking gla.s.s interrupted her and the starboard side-lamp toppled from the bracket and crashed to the deck.
"Get down," Gregory commanded. "They"re getting the range."
The girl smiled and wiped away the blood which spurted from a small cut in her cheek. "Just fool luck," she answered, leaning coolly against the stays and reloading her rifle. "That was only an accident."
Gregory was by her side in an instant. Grasping her roughly by the arm he said harshly: "Get down, I tell you."
She jerked away her arm and started to speak. Then she dropped to the deck.
"Maybe you"re right at that," she admitted, a smile playing about her lips.
The firing became brisker as the distance lessened between the two boats, while the enemy bullets became wilder and more desultory. d.i.c.kie ceased firing and turned to the man at the wheel.
"It"s Rossi with the _Roma_. He"s getting under way."
She flung out an arm pointing in the direction of the stubby-nosed point which lay across the little bay. "Head for the arch, Tom. We"ll cut him off." Pointing to the fleeing boat she explained to Gregory: "He"s almost in shoal water right now. To get out he"s got to follow the channel. It"s dead low tide and he"ll have to make a big bend to get out. We"ll cut across and head him off. He has the speed of us and a quarter of a mile lead. But he has farther to go. If he opens up he"s liable to pile up on the rocks. It"s about an even bet he"ll make it for he"s clever. But if he does we"ll be right on top of him when he comes out. Then I"ll teach him a lesson he won"t forget in a hurry."
The _Petrel_ altered her course while she was speaking and sped off at a tangent. The _Roma_, dashing sh.o.r.eward, turned and angled sharply, running parallel to her pursuer.
"He"s sure pounding her," the girl observed as she noted the increasing distance which separated the two boats. "If he holds that clip when he comes to that figure S channel, he"ll never make the turns." She shut her jaw tighter. "Cut in a little closer, Tom," she ordered. "We"ll make him take all the chances there are."
Gregory climbed to the top of the engine-house and watched the _Roma_ dodging among the rocks like a frightened rabbit. d.i.c.kie Lang was poised in the bow like a figurehead, one foot resting on the rail. Her hair, jerked from her cap by the fingers of the dawn-wind, streamed out behind her in a shower of dull red gold. Her eyes were shining with the joy of the chase.
"He"s almost at the turn," she called back. "He"ll never make it on an outgoing tide. He"s got to slow up. If he does, we"ve got him. If he doesn"t----"
She was interrupted by a m.u.f.fled exclamation from the man at the wheel.
The _Roma"s_ bow was rising from the water. For an instant she planed like a high-powered racing-boat. Then, as if exhausted by the chase, she settled slowly to rest in the white water, her masts angling sharply toward the beach.
"High and dry on mussel rocks," d.i.c.kie Lang announced. "It"s a flood tide to-day and with the big ground swell she hasn"t a chance."
As they neared the wreck they saw the crew of the stranded vessel huddled together on the sloping deck.
"Don"t go in any closer, Tom," cautioned the girl. "The tide"s turning.
They can wade ash.o.r.e and watch her break up."
As they circled closer to make the turn, Gregory noticed a red-shirted giant leap from the wreck of the fishing-boat into the shallow water, waving his arms wildly about his head. But the noise of the _Petrel"s_ motor drowned the voice of the infuriated fishing captain and his threats and curses were heard only by his own crew.
"It isn"t Rossi, after all," d.i.c.kie observed as she caught sight of the red-shirted figure. "It"s Boris, the crazy Russian. I never knew Mascola to trust him with a boat like the _Roma_ before."
The _Petrel_ turned about and, burying her nose in the big swells, made haste to leave the dangerous water.
"Head for the nets," the girl ordered. "I"m not through with Mascola yet. He has my fish on the _Roma_. If I had a dory I"d go in there and get them. But it isn"t good enough to risk the _Petrel_."
As they came nearer the two strings of nets, d.i.c.kie explained: "I"m going to work the same game on Mascola that the fish commissioner does when he catches them trawling within the three-mile limit. I"m going to salvage his nets and make him pay for his crooked work to get his property. Lay to, Tom, and we"ll pull them aboard with mine."
The fisherman drew alongside the row of bobbing corks with a grim smile playing about his lips.
"Have to rustle," he observed. "You know how Mascola"s boats follow up."
The girl tossed her head.
"I don"t care if his whole fleet comes along. And him with them. I"m going to make him pay me for those fish Boris stole from my nets. I can"t take it into court but----"
She paused in the middle of her sentence as her eyes swept the sea.
Focusing the binoculars on a small speck on the horizon, she announced: "Here comes Mascola now in his speed-boat. We"ll haul them aboard, boys.
Then I"ll talk business with the dago. Get his nets first."
Falling to eagerly, Gregory received his first lesson in pulling the nets. With straining back and smarting fingers he worked by the fisherman"s side hauling the heavy webbing to the deck. As they reached the middle of the string the weight of the sagging nets increased and a number of glistening barracuda floundered from the water, gilled by the strong mesh. The girl observed the fish with darkening brow.
"The dirty robbers," she exclaimed wrathfully. "Look what they have already. I"ll bet I"d have had a good haul if they had let me alone."
Gregory noticed as he straightened up that the distant speck on the water was fast a.s.suming the proportions of a motor-launch. He noticed too that the approaching craft was coming at a high rate of speed and was swerving sh.o.r.eward. Tugging harder at the nets, he worked doggedly on, listening to the staccato bark of the speed-craft as Mascola drew close. They were hauling at the last string when he came within hailing distance.
"What"s the matter?" he called. "You"re pulling my nets."
"Don"t pay any attention to him," admonished d.i.c.kie Lang. "I"m not going to hollow my head off. Keep working and wait until he comes alongside."
With his motor purring like an angry cat, Mascola whirled his craft about in a wave-washed circle and drew abreast of the _Petrel_. At the same instant Gregory and the fisherman lifted the last piece of the Italian"s nets to the deck. Gregory straightened his aching back and looked toward the early morning visitor, but his eyes did not get as far as Mascola. They remained riveted on the launch.
Never had he seen such a boat. She poised on the waves like a gull, quivering with potential energy, ready for instant flight. From her sharply V-ed bow to her delicately molded stern, every line of the trim craft spoke eloquently of the plan of a master-designer who fashioned her with a single purpose--speed.