holds
placed there for that purpose. Tom let him get a clear lead, then
started up after his chum.

From the shore broke out a rapid, intermittent volley. Steel-clad
bullets sang a song full of menace about that signal mast.

"Come down, boys! You'll be killed!" roared Mr. Seaton, looking up
apprehensively.

While Joe kept on climbing, in silence, Skipper Tom looked down with a
cool grin.

"Killed?" he repeated. "Well, if we're not, we'll fix the aerials. We
can't allow strangers to put us out of business!"

Joe found his place to go to work. Tom halted, with his head on a
level with his chum's knees. From the shore there came another burst
of rifle-fire, and the air about them was sternly melodious with the
pest-laden hum of bullets. Two of the missiles glancingly struck wires
just above Dawson's head.

In the lull that followed Joe's voice was heard:

"Hold the wire, Tom. Pass me the pliers."

CHAPTER XV

PLAYING SALT WATER BLIND MAN'S BUFF

"I've got to do something!" growled Hepton, his teeth tightly shut.

Raising his rifle to his shoulder, making his guess by sound, the man
let two shots drive at the shore, not far back from the beach's edge.
Then, after a pause and a long look, he let three more shots drive,
slightly changing his sighting each time.

"Come on, Mr. Seaton," he urged. "They're firing on your skipper and
engineer this time. It's up to us to answer 'em--clear case of
self-preservation. The first _law_ that was ever invented!"

Bang! bang! rang Seaton's rifle, twice. He, too, fired for the forest,
near the beach. It was like the man to hope he had hit no one, but he
was determined to stop if possible this direct attack on Tom Halstead
and Joe Dawson.

Evidently the first sign of resistance was not to stop the bothering
tactics of those on shore, for one wire that Joe was handling was
zipped out of his hands.

"They mean business, the enemy," called down Skipper Tom, softly, to
the tune of a low laugh. "But we'll get rigged, in spite of them. All
we ask for is that they let us get the wire fixed often enough for a
few minutes of sending and receiving once an hour."

Hepton and his employer continued to fire, using a good deal of
ammunition. The guard was much more vengeful in his firing and in his
attempts to locate the hidden marksmen than was Seaton.

"That's what those two men went ashore for last night," called down
Halstead, quietly. "First of all, to fool us and get