Page:Anderson--Isle of seven moons.djvu/193

Rh "You oughtn'ta do that," cried Carlotta in alarm. "Why the poor fellah 'll drown."

But when she ran to the rail and saw in the moonlight silvering the dark waves the sure swift strokes of their victim, swiftly heading for shore, her fears of murder were dispelled, only to be succeeded by others equally alarming.

"He'll start the bulls after us, Mac."

The latter assuring her that "no flatfoot could walk with any speed on the asphalt, let alone on the water," turned to the sailor.

"You there, will you ship with us? We'll double your wages if you can use your hands and lay off your mouth. Might as well. If you don't,—" and he significantly indicated the disappearing swimmer.

"Just as you say, Cap," the man assented sullenly.

Pushbutton Pete, who knew something of engines, as the odd scars attested, went below, and in three-quarters of an hour, just as they noticed a suspicious scurrying on shore, they weighed anchor, slipped between the two capes, and put out to sea.

In the morning, Old Man Veldmann and the Pink Swede went over the side in little swinging seats, and changed the yacht's markings, rimming her portholes, and adding a line of red one foot below her gunwales. Then they ripped off the brass letter N from prow and stern, and one E of her name, ingeniously transforming it into a C, then transposed the I and the L. Forthwith, the Aileen became the Alice. To complete the deception, MacAllister searched through the yachting register and found the ensign of a man