Busily the launch chugged
across the intervening water gap.
"Schooner, ahoy!" hailed Eph, as the launch ran in alongside "What craft
is that?"
"Schooner 'Malta,' Cooper, master, from Sidney, N.S.," came the reply of
a man at the after rail.
"Seems to me I've seen you before, in Cobtown!" suddenly exclaimed Eph
Somers, as he leaped over the rail in advance of his marines.
"C-Cob--town?" demanded the schooner's master, falteringly.
"By the great Constitution! We've caught the 'Juanita' in disguise!"
bellowed back Ensign Eph, turning to Jack Benson, who was just boarding.
"See! There's the false stern structure."
"You're making a huge mistake of some sort, gentlemen!" protested the
vessel's master, tremulously.
"Marines, lay aboard," thundered Eph. "Take the deck, Corporal. Round
up all the crew you see, and make 'em stand at attention along one of
the seams of the deck! Sailors aboard, you down any man who tries to
block or balk you. Lively, now! I've seen this master in Cobtown, and
I'll take my oath this is the 'Juanita' with a pieced-out, false stern
and a faked third mast!"
"We hold you responsible for the deck, Corporal," spoke Jack, in a low
tone to the noncommissioned officer of marines.
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