nearly as I can guess," replied Skipper Tom.

"How fast can you go?"

"Twenty-six to twenty-eight miles."

"Crowd it about all on, then. I don't want to have that other craft get
too close to Mexico before we push up alongside."

"All speed, Joe, and do it quick!" Skipper Tom called down into the
engine-room. Almost at once the "Restless" earned her name by fairly
leaping forward through the water.

Then the chase began in earnest.

"Noll, pass the word below for a sergeant and six privates," directed
Lieutenant Hal, in a low tone.

The enlisted men came up, taking their places on deck.

"Does the lieutenant want us to load our pieces?" called the sergeant
quietly.

"Not yet," was Hal's reply, passed back by Noll.

Then, on board the pursuing craft, all settled down to absolute
quietness, save for the running of the machinery. The distance between
the two boats was rapidly closing up, for it was plain that the other
boat had started at full speed as soon as she sighted the pursuer.

Glare! A strong, broad beam of light, from the stranger's search-lamp,
shone across the water, then picked up the "Restless" when the two boats
were less than a quarter of a mile apart. The uniforms of Uncle Sam's
blinking men must have stood out strongly before the vision of those on
the stranger.

"You have a megaphone?" asked Lieutenant Hal.

"Yes," replied Skipper Tom, passing the implement.

"Run up just as close as you can safely for a hail."

Lieutenant Hal waited until much more of the distance had been covered.
Then he raised the megaphone to his lips, shouting:

"Lay to, stranger! We are United States officers and must come aboard!"

"You can't!" bellowed a hoarse, defiant voice.

"We _must_ and will! Lay to!"

"Take the consequences, then!" came the same hoarse bellow.

Bang! It came altogether, in one sharp, crashing volley, from the
stranger's decks, and a tempest of bullets hit the "Restless."

"The pirates!" uttered Lieutenant Hal, at a white heat of indignation.

CHAPTER XIX

RASCALS AND MONEY TALK

Hal turned quickly, to see if any of his men had been hit.

"Not one hit, but it's a wonder," Noll informed his brother officer.
"The bullets of those fellows made a pin-cushion of the air all about
us."

"Ready, men! Load, aim!" ordered Lieutenant Overton. Then he added, in a
lower voice:

"If I give the word 'fire,' be sure you sweep that stranger's deck
clean."

"Don't you dare fire