yacht's boats,
lowered that morning. A dozen feet away, with his back to Mart, stood
Yorke, absolutely absorbed in the scene below.

Mart knew exactly how big that huge elephant gun would look to four
startled men, and he also knew that without Jerry's quick brains the
rest were not to be feared. Suddenly he saw Dailey point to the gauge in
the front of the pump, and at the same instant Borden ceased paying out
line; Jerry had reached bottom!

"Here you are, Mart," came a soft voice behind him, and Mart whirled,
nerved up to the action on which he had decided, and took the empty
elephant gun from Bob's hands.

Slowly he raised the huge gun until it half-rested along the rail,
pointing square at the head of Yorke. Then, speaking in a tone loud
enough for Yorke to hear, he addressed Bob.

"Holly, go and take that rifle away from Yorke. He ain't safe to hold
it."

The men below did not hear him, but Yorke did; and as he had expected,
the seaman turned his head. As he looked full into the huge muzzle,
Yorke's twisted, ever-leering face went pasty white and he submitted to
Bob's relieving him of his rifle without a word.

"Hands up, Yorke!" commanded Mart, still softly. "Bob, get his
revolver."

Bob obeyed, and still Yorke stared into the muzzle of the elephant gun
with fear-stricken eyes and a ghastly pallor on his face, as he reached
for the sky.

"Now get down on the landing," ordered Mart, and with that shifted his
gun over the rail so that it pointed straight at the three men below. So
far, they had heard nothing. Mart knew that he might be endangering
Jerry's life, but he did not hesitate, and jerked his head for Bob to
follow Yorke, who had started down the ladder.

"Get after him and take their guns, Bob."

The other boy obeyed, entering at once into Mart's plan. Yorke,
paralyzed with fear, kept his hands in the air as he descended, and when
his shadow fell across the landing, Dailey was the first to glance up in
surprise.

"Hands up, you men!" commanded Mart sternly, though he felt a quiver in
his throat. Would they call the bluff of that empty gun? "Quick about
it, there!"

Into the one-eyed face of Birch flashed an evil anger mixed with fear;
Dailey promptly stuck up his hands, as did Borden, who still clung to
the lines, but Birch only continued pumping, though he looked up
fearfully.

"I ain't a-goin' back on Jerry," he growled.

Mart read indecision in his tone, however. He knew that Jerry