Page:At the Fall of Port Arthur.djvu/280

262 did so. "He has got to give up my money belt and my money, and give up Captain Ponsberry's money, too."

At this moment Peterson came up and was promptly collared by Luke.

"Stop! Don't you vos touch me!" cried Peterson. "I ain't noddings done, no."

"You helped Shamhaven to rob me," came from Larry.

"No, he done it all alone! I no touch noddings!"

"Oh, shut up!" roared Shamhaven, in disgust. "I never robbed anybody. If you lost your money Peterson must have taken it."

A quarrel ensued between the evildoers, in the midst of which came a cry from the Shohirika.

"An enemy is in sight!"

At once all attention was turned to the warship. Scarcely a minute elapsed when a signal was displayed:

"A battleship, and she is trying to escape up the coast!"

"To the boats!" roared the Japanese officer on the deck of the brig. "To the boats at once! This investigation will have to be postponed. We shall expect you to remain as you are"—the latter words to the captain of the big brig.