CHAPTER XVIII
THE PURSUIT
For an instant after Tom's exultant cry the men in the boat ahead werenot aware that they were being pursued. Then, as the explosions fromthe motor of the RED STREAK sounded over the water, they turned to seewho was coming up behind them. There was no mistaking the attitude ofthe young inventor and his companion. They were leaning eagerlyforward, as if they could reach out and grasp the criminals who werefleeing before them.
"Put on all the speed you can, Tom!" begged Mr. Damon. "We'll catchthe scoundrels now. Speed up the motor! Oh, if I only had myautomobile now. Bless my crank shaft, but one can go so much faster onland than on water."
The lad did not reply, but thought, with grim humor, that running anautomobile over Lake Carlopa would be no small feat. Mr. Damon,however, knew what he was saying.
"We'll catch them! We'll nab 'em!" he cried. "Speed her up, Tom."
The youth was doing his best with the motor of the RED STREAK. He wasnot as well acquainted with it as he was with the one in his boat, buthe knew, even better than Andy Foger, how to make it do efficient work.It was a foregone conclusion that the RED STREAK, if rightly handled,could beat the ARROW, but there were several points in favor of thethieves. The motor of Tom's boat was in perfect order, and even anamateur, with some knowledge of a boat, could make it do nearly itsbest. On the other hand, the RED STREAK's machinery needed "nursing."Again, the thieves had a good start, and that counted for much. ButTom counted on two other points. One was that Happy Harry and his gangwould probably know little about the fine points of a motor. They hadshown this in letting the motor of the boat they had first stolen getout of order, and Tom knew the ins and outs of a gasoline engine toperfection. So the chase was not so hopeless as it seemed.
"Do you think you can catch them?" asked Mr. Damon anxiously.
"I'm going to make a big try," answered his companion.
"They're heading out into the middle of the lake!" cried the eccentricman.
"If they do, I can cut them off!" murmured Tom as he put the wheel over.
But whoever was steering the ARROW knew better than to send it on acourse that would enable the pursuing boat to cut across and shortenthe distance to it. After sending the stolen craft far enough out fromshore to clear points of land that jutted out into the lake, theleading boat was sent straight ahead.
"A stern chase and a long chase!" murmured Mr. Damon. "Bless myrudder, but those fellows are not going to give up easily."
"I guess not," murmured Tom. "Will you steer for a while, Mr. Damon?"
"Of course I will. If I could get out and pull the boat after me, tomake it go faster, I would. But as I always lose my breath when I run,perhaps it's just as well that I stay in here." Tom thought so too,but his attention was soon given to the engine. He adjusted the timerto get if possible a little more speed out of the boat he had borrowedfrom Andy, and he paid particular attention to the oiling system.
"We're going a bit faster!" called Mr. Damon' encouragingly, "or elsethey're slacking up."
Tom peered ahead to see if this was so. It was hard to judge whetherhe was overhauling the ARROW, as it was a stern chase, and that isalways difficult to judge. But a glimpse along shore showed him thatthey were slipping through the water at a faster speed.
"They're up to something!" suddenly exclaimed Mr. Damon a moment later."I believe they're going to fire on us, Tom. They are pointingsomething this way."
The lad stood up and gazed earnestly at his boat, which seemed to beslipping away from him so fast. One of the occupants was in the stern,aiming some glittering object at those in the RED STREAK. For a momentTom thought it might be a gun. Then, as the man turned, he saw what itwas.
"A pair of marine glasses," cried the lad. "They're trying to make outwho we are."
"I guess they know well enough," rejoined Mr. Damon. "Can't you go anyfaster, Tom?"
"I'm afraid not. But we'll land them, sooner or later. They can't govery far in this direction without running ashore and we'll have them.They're cutting across the lake now."
"They may escape us if it gets dark. Probably that's what they'reworking for. They want to keep ahead of us until nightfall."
The young inventor thought of this too, but there was little he coulddo. The motor was running at top speed. It could be made to gofaster, Tom knew, with another ignition system, but that was out of thequestion now.
The man with the glasses had resumed his seat, and the efforts of thetrio seemed concentrated on the motor of the ARROW. They, too, wishedto go faster. But they had not skill enough to accomplish it, and inabout ten minutes, when Tom took another long and careful look toascertain if possible whether or not he was overhauling the thieves, hewas delighted to see that the distance between the boats had lessened.
"We're catching them! We're creeping up on them!" cried Mr. Damon."Keep it up, Tom." There was nothing to do, however, save wait. Theboat ahead had shifted her course somewhat and was now turning intoward the shore, for the lake was narrow at this point, and abandoningtheir evident intention of keeping straight up the lake, the thievesseemed now bent on something else.
"I believe they're going to run ashore and get out!" cried Mr. Damon.
"If they do, it's just what I want," declared the lad. "I don't carefor the men. I want my boat back!"
The occupants of the ARROW were looking to the rear again, andone--Happy Harry, Tom thought--shook his fist.
"Ah, wait until I get hold of you!" cried Mr. Damon, following hisexample. "I'll make you wish you'd behaved yourselves, you scoundrels!Bless my overcoat! Catch them if you can, Tom."
There was now no doubt of the intention of the fleeing ones. The shorewas looming up ahead and straight for it was headed the ARROW. Tomsent Andy's boat in the same direction. He was rapidly overhauling theescaping ones now, for they had slowed down the motor. Three minuteslater the foremost boat grated on the beach of the lake. The menleaped out, one of them pausing an instant in the bow.
"Here, don't you damage my boat!" cried Tom involuntarily, for the manseemed to be hammering something.
The fellow leaped over the side, holding something in his hand.
"There they go! Catch them!" yelled Mr. Damon.
"Let them go!" answered the lad as the men ran toward the wood. "Iwant my boat. I'm afraid they've damaged her. One of them toresomething from the bow."
At the same instant the two companions of the fellow who had paused inthe forward part of the ARROW saw that he had something in his hand.With yells of rage they dashed at him, but he, shaking his fist atthem, plunged into the bushes and could be heard breaking his waythrough, while his companions were in pursuit.
"They've quarreled among themselves," commented Mr. Damon as high andangry voices could be heard from the woods. "There's some mysteryhere, Tom."
"I don't doubt it, but my first concern is for my boat. I want to seeif they have damaged her."
Tom had run so closely in shore with the RED STREAK that he had toreverse to avoid damaging the craft against the bank. In a mass offoam he stopped her in time, and then springing ashore, he hurried tohis motor-boat.