CHAPTER XII.
A WARY FOE.
Matt reached the beach without mishap. Beyond the white stretch of sandgrew a chaparral of bushes and low trees, covering the slope whichended at a ridge forming the backbone of the point to the southward.
The young motorist took his way in this direction, halting at the edgeof the brush for a moment to turn and give a reassuring wave to hiscomrades on the _Grampus_.
Carl was just securing the end of a rope to the iron ring at the sternof the boat, Glennie was half inside the conning tower, and Dick hadthe rifle across his knees. All three answered Matt's parting salute,and he faced about and hurried into the chaparral.
Matt's course carried him up the side of the ridge. Once at the cresthe would be able to look down on the Japs and take note of theiroperations. He would thus be able to determine whether the bold schemewhich he had at the back of his brain would be feasible or not.
The crest of the ridge was not more than fifty feet above sea level,and the king of the motor boys was not long in reaching it. There,screened by a thicket of bushes, he was able to look down on the othercove, and make a leisurely examination of the _Pom_ and the Japs.
The _Pom_, as Dick had said, was lying within a short distance of theshore. She was an odd-looking craft, being of a much smaller diameterthan the _Grampus_, and having a flat deck built over the roundedplates of her hull. The conning tower was only about half the heightand diameter of that of the _Grampus_, and seemed to have a solid topwithout any hatch opening. The hatch was forward, on the flat deck, andthe cover was pushed back.
From the submarine, Matt's eyes wandered to the shelving beach.
The torpedo was there, rolled up beyond the reach of the lapping waves,and two of the Japs were busy about the conical end of the tube. Mattchuckled as he thought of how he had tampered with the firing pin.Before they could make the pin serviceable, the Japs would have to riganother of the little propellers; and, while their ingenuity was nodoubt equal to the job, yet it would take time to finish it.
The two men who were at work were clad only in their trousers, and hadclearly reached the shore as Matt had done, by swimming. They wentabout their work steadily and with an application which indicated thatthey had little attention for anything else.
From their manner, it seemed a fair inference that the rifle shot, orDick's yell, from the other side of the point, had failed to reach them.
But where were the other two Japs? Had they returned to the _Pom_?
It might be that the two on the beach were in need of more tools andhad sent the others out to the boat after them.
Matt, thinking of his plans, measured the distance from the end of thepoint to the _Pom_.
"The _Grampus_ can do it!" he muttered, with an undernote of exultationthrobbing in his voice. "A quick dash, and then a hustle seaward--andthe trick is done. But those other two Japs--I wish they would leavethe boat and come ashore. They form the danger point in the carryingout of the scheme."
There was something else Matt noticed as he peered out from behind histhicket, and that was that two rifles lay on the sand within easy reachof the Jap mechanics.
"Those guns are another danger point," he said to himself. "The _Pom_,however, will be between the _Grampus_ and the beach, and will act as asort of barricade. Anyhow, nothing venture, nothing win."
For five minutes longer Matt waited, watching for the other two Japs toreappear through the _Pom's_ hatch. But they did not come, and he feltthat he could wait no longer.
Arising from his crouching position, he turned to retrace his coursedown the hill. He had not taken a dozen steps, however, when, dodgingaround a clump of bushes, he came face to face with the two missingJaps!
From the actions of the two men, it was plain that they were as muchsurprised as was Motor Matt.
The cause of this unexpected meeting flashed through Matt's brain likelightning.
The rifle shot had been heard, and these two Japs had been told tocross the ridge and investigate. Matt had gained the shore before theJaps had cleared the bushes and were able to see him. As they descendedthe slope, he was going up, and fortune had decreed that they give eachother a wide berth. But fortune had taken another tack, for she wasnow bringing Matt and the Japs altogether too close to each other forcomfort.
These Japs, like the two at work on the torpedo, were stripped of allunnecessary clothing; and, fortunately for the young motorist, theycarried no weapons.
For an instant Matt and the two yellow men stared at each other; thenthe Japs gave vent to a yell, and prepared to keep Matt from continuingon down the hill.
Matt, remembering the two rifles he had seen on the beach, had nointention of waiting for the other two Japs to reach the scene. Hesaw the men before him preparing to lay him by the heels in the mostapproved ju-jutsu style, but that did not keep him back.
He leaped forward, apparently aiming to pass directly between the twomen. They jumped to get in his way, whereupon he dodged to the right.
But, if he was quick, so were the Japs. No sooner had he changed hiscourse than they also had faced the new direction.
As Matt went flying down the hill, one of them made a dive for him. Theking of the motor boys struck out with his right fist--and he had a"right" about which Carl Pretzel was wont to sing praises.
The fist accomplished its work, so far as that one Jap was concerned.A sharp breath was jolted from the yellow man and the hands he had putout dropped limply, the while his whole body slumped backward.
But something happened to Matt, just what he had not the least idea.All he knew was that he was lifted high and sent crashing headfirstinto a thicket of bushes.
The second Jap had put into practice one of the wrestling tricks he hadlearned in Nippon.
Matt, however, was not sorry he had been thrown in that unceremoniousfashion, for, just as he dropped into the bushes, the sodden _whang_of a rifle spoke from the crest of the ridge and a bullet flew whiningover the very spot where he had been running.
The other two Japs had lost little time in coming to the aid of theircomrades.
Matt was up almost as soon as he was down. His superb physical trainingrendered him proof against any such fall as that he had just received.
Both Japs were reaching for him as he ducked clear of the bushes, buthe slipped out from under their gripping fingers and flashed downthe slope like a streak, screening his flight with every particle oftangled undergrowth that got in his way.
The rifles behind him continued to cough and splutter. The unarmedJaps, however, were between Matt and the marksmen, and the care thelatter had to use sent their bullets wide.
The Japs were no match for Matt when it came to sprinting. Matt hadlearned the game from a half-breed friend, the best "miler" in Arizona,and he now showed the Japs how an American boy can run when he has hisheart in it.
Before the yellow men had cleared the fringe of bushes at the edge ofthe beach, Motor Matt was in the water; and when the Japs emerged, Dickplowed up the ground at their feet with bullets from the Marlin, anddrove them back.
Matt could not have swum faster if there had been a whole school ofsharks after him, but before he got to the _Grampus_ lead from theshore was pounding a merry tattoo against the submarine's steel plates.Dick, exposing himself recklessly, was answering with the Marlin.Neither side was damaging the other, but the firing spurred Matt tosuperhuman exertions.
When the young motorist reached the boat, Carl ducked out from behindthe conning tower and gave him a hand up the slope of the deck.
"Now's the time," panted Matt, falling at full length across the curvedplates. "Start her--full speed."
"Where are we to go?" demanded Glennie.
"Around the point and take the _Pom_ in tow," Matt answered. "Allfour of the Japs are ashore, in this cove. Before they can cross theridge and interfere with us, we ought to be able to pick up the othersubmarine and make off with her. Look alive, now! We can't turn thetrick if you don't hustle."
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nbsp; The daring nature of Matt's scheme dawned on the lads with somethinglike a shock. And it appealed to them, too! It was just such a schemeas they might have expected Motor Matt to set going.
"Hoop-a-la!" jubilated Carl, as Glennie punched the motor-room jingler."Vat do you t'ink oof dot? Modor Matt goes ashore mit himseluf undcoaxes der Chaps to shace him mit rifles, schust to ged dem oudt oofder vay so ve can shteal pack der _Pom_. Vat a feller he iss!"
"You're giving me altogether too much credit, Carl," expostulated Matt."I ran onto those Japs by accident, and would have gone a good ways tokeep clear of them."
"Vell, vat's der odds aboudt der tifference? Der modor poys iss on dopund----"
A bullet from the shore slapped against the side of the conning towerand whistled off into space, passing so close to Carl's head in itsflight that he stopped his glorying and fell flat on the deck.
"They'll not stay long on the beach there when they see where we'regoing," remarked Matt grimly.
"They've stopped their firing now, old ship," cried Dick, "and arerushing back into the bushes as fast as they can scramble."
"It has probably dawned upon them that we're planning to run off withthe _Pom_," said Matt. "Quick work, now, and we'll win the day, and cutthese Sons of the Rising Sun out of our future calculations."
The propeller was churning the waters like mad, and Glennie was layinga safe course to round the point and bring the _Grampus_ close to the_Pom_.