“What boat is that?” asked Ned.
“Hand me the glasses,” requested Mr. De Vere, as he went nearer to the cabin port. He peered through the binoculars for some time, then announced:
“It’s the steam tug, Monarch, from San Pedro. I wonder what it can be doing out this way?”
“Perhaps it was blown out of its course by the storm,” suggested Jerry. “I’m sure we must have been.”
“Very likely,” admitted Mr. De Vere. “Still that is a very powerful boat, and the captain must have some reason to be keeping after us the way he is doing.”
“Do you think they are following us?” asked Ned.
“It certainly looks so. We’re headed straight out to sea now,” he added, after a glance at the compass. “If the tug was out of it’s course it would be turned about and going the other way. Instead it is coming right after us.”
This was very evident, for, as the Ripper was laboring through the waves, the other vessel kept in her wake, and seemed to be overhauling the motor boat.
“Well, it’s a free country; I suppose they have a right to be here,” spoke Jerry.
“Yes,” said Mr. De Vere, watching the tug through the glasses, “but I don’t like their actions.”
“Why not? Do you think—” began Jerry.
“I don’t like to say what I think,” was the answer. “We will have to wait and see what develops. But I propose that we have some breakfast, or, at least, some hot coffee, if Bob can manage to stand in the galley. It has been a hard night for us.”
Bob soon demonstrated that he could get up a breakfast under rather adverse circumstances, and the derelict hunters were soon drinking hot coffee, though they had to hold the partly-filled cups in one hand, and maintain their balance by clinging with the other to some part of the cabin.
The day was clear, and, save for the high waves, there were no evidences of the storm. The big sea, however, was not likely to subside soon, and the Ripper had to stagger along as best she could, which task she performed to the great satisfaction of the voyagers.
Maurice De Vere seemed much worried by the appearance of the tug, which hung on the wake of the Ripper, maintaining a speed that kept it about a mile to the rear. The owner of the Rockhaven kept the glasses almost continually on the steam vessel, and the anxious look did not leave his face.
“Can you slow down the engine a bit?” he asked of Jerry, who had relieved Ned at the motor.
“Yes, if you want me to, Why?”
“I’d like that other boat to come closer to us. I want to see if I can make out who is aboard. If we slacken our speed they may approach before they see the trick, and I can form some opinion of what this strange chase means.”
“What do you think it means?” asked Ned.
“I’m afraid it indicates that Blowitz is after us,” replied Mr. De Vere. “I think he has heard of our voyage after the brig and has hired this tug to try and beat me. But slow down, and let us see what happens. The waves are not so high now, and you can do it with safety.”
Accordingly Jerry reduced the speed of the motor. The Ripper at once began to lose headway, and Mr. De Vere, watching the oncoming tug through the binoculars, announced:
“She’ll be closer in a little while, and I can make out the man on deck, who seems to be directing operations.”
The boys anxiously waited. Their employer kept the glasses to his eyes, though it was tiresome work, holding them with one hand. Suddenly he exclaimed:
“I can see him quite plainly, now!”
“Who is it?” asked Jerry quickly.
“Carson Blowitz! He, too, is after the derelict! He is going to try and cheat me again!”
Nearer and nearer approached the steam tug, for the pilot had, evidently, not taken into consideration the fact that the Ripper was going ahead at reduced speed. Soon it was close enough for the boys, without the aid of the glasses, to make out the figure of Blowitz.
“I must go outside,” announced Mr. De Vere. “Give me a hand, Jerry, so I won’t stumble and hurt my broken arm.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to ask Blowitz what he means by following me; and whether he is trying to find the derelict that belongs to me.”
Jerry assisted Mr. De Vere out on the small deck in front of the cabin. By this time the Monarch was within hailing distance, those in charge of her evidently having decided to give up trying to remain in the rear.
“Ripper ahoy!” called Carson Blowitz, waving his hand at the little group on deck.
“What do you want, you scoundrel?” asked Mr. De Vere angrily. “What do you mean by following me?”
“Rather strong language, my dear partner,” was the taunting answer from Blowitz. “Besides I don’t know that I am following you. The ocean is big enough for two boats, I guess.”
“Do you deny that you are following me, and seeking to find the derelict Rockhaven?” demanded Mr. De Vere.
“I deny nothing—I admit nothing, my dear partner.”
“I am no longer in partnership with you, since you tried to cheat me,” was the answer. “I consider our relations at an end.”
“Very well. But I am sorry to see that you are hurt. I hope it is nothing serious.”
“No thanks to you that I was not killed! You meant to end my life when you pushed me over the cliff, and, as soon as this business is settled I intend to see that you are punished for your crimes. You have gone too far, Carson Blowitz.”
“Not as far as I intend to go!” suddenly exclaimed the other, with a change in his manner. The two boats were now side by side, not twenty feet away. “You have guessed it,” he went on. “I am after the derelict brig, and I intend to get her. I am going to finish you before I am through. That ship is mine, and all the cargo on her. If you attempt to touch it I shall have to take stringent measures to prevent you. I warn you not to interfere with my property!”
“Your property!” cried Maurice De Vere. “That brig and all on it is mine, by every legal claim, and I shall maintain my rights to the uttermost.”
“Very well then, it is to be a fight!” answered Blowitz. “We are to be rival seekers after the derelict. Possession is nine points of the law, and I intend to take possession.”
“First you’ll have to find it.”
“Never fear. I am on the track. Good-bye, my recent partner. Sorry I can’t keep you company.”
Blowitz waved his hand, as though in friendly farewell, but Mr. De Vere turned aside, refusing to notice him, for the scoundrel had greatly wronged him, and was now adding insult to injury.
There was a ringing of bells on the tug, and the powerful vessel forged ahead, leaving the Ripper astern.
“Shall we speed up?” asked Jerry. “We can easily beat them, for ours is the faster boat.”
“No, let him go,” replied Mr. De Vere. “He has no more idea, than have I, where to look for the derelict. He is taking the same chances we are, but I’ll not follow him. As he says, we are rivals now. I hope I win, for my whole fortune depends on it.”
“We’ll do our best to help you,” said Bob.
“That’s what we will,” added Jerry, and Ned nodded an assent.
“Bear off to the left,” suggested Mr. De Vere, as a cloud of black smoke from the funnel of the tug showed that the engineer was crowding on steam. “We’ll part company from them.”
Speeding up the engine Jerry steered the Ripper out of the course of the Monarch. The hunt of the rivals to locate the derelict brig was now on.