Page:Ralph Paine--The Steam-Shovel Man.djvu/171

 that General Quesada had been among the crowd which filled the boats and floundered pell-mell through the surf.

"The boss pirate got away from us," disgustedly exclaimed Jack Devlin.

"There is no use chasing them through the jungle," said the captain of marines. "They will scatter like a bunch of fire-crackers, and we should be tangled up and lost in no time."

"I did not see Goodwin anywhere," replied Devlin, looking very anxious.

"The hull of the Juan Lopez was between us and the boats, so that we couldn't see all of them go ashore. Goodwin may have been taken into the jungle. If he had been left behind on the ship, he would be making signals to us by now."

"He would if he were alive," dolefully muttered the steam-shovel man.