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 is holding up a loaded gun at you, and he knows it. So far that has been his one big advantage—that and the low cunning of sneaking off ahead of us. It's going to be a battle of wits, boy, and there's absolutely no telling what may happen, because he is foxy."

"We are three to three," Dave said.

"Three to three and a gun at present," Tempest corrected. "Great Mackerel! What are they doing with the Nautilus?"

The beach dropped at a sharp angle at the place where the boat had been left, so that in spite of the falling tide she still remained almost afloat. Flagg and his two assistants were putting their shoulders to her bow and heaving her off.

"They can't be going to cast her adrift," Tempest said, puzzled. "What would they gain by that?"

"They could starve us into accepting their terms," the boy suggested.

Instead of leaving the Nautilus to drift away