“Well, what next?”

It was Tom who spoke, and his voice broke the spell that had held all hands as they gazed at the silent craft drifting away from them into the darkness.

“We must overhaul the Tarantula and set my father and yours free, Tom, if they are still there,” came from Jack.

“A good suggestion; but how are we to do it?” inquired Captain Andrews, who was not aware of the readiness of the Vagrant to be placed in active service at once.

“We’ll board the Vagrant. At the pace that spider-craft is going it won’t take long to lay alongside her,” decided Jack.

Before many minutes had passed Jack, Tom Jesson and Ned were on board the Vagrant. Jupe, much against his wishes, was left behind on the Sea King.

“Ah’d hev liked jes ter hev one good, big kick at dat Mexican tamale,” he argued; but it was decided to go without him.

The Vagrant’s engines, despite the recent strain placed on them, were found to be working perfectly. Amidst a shower of good wishes from those left on board the Sea King, she moved off into the darkness in pursuit of their recently vindictive enemy. As Jack had foretold, it did not take long to overhaul the craft with which Herrera had hoped to intimidate those on board Professor Chadwick’s yacht.

It gave the boys a somewhat uncanny sensation as they stole silently alongside the slowly moving Tarantula, and then made fast by throwing a grappling iron on her decks. This feeling was not changed when, clambering on board, they gazed on the decks strewn with senseless forms, lying as they had fallen. They appeared to be wrapped in deep, dreamless slumber. The gas had operated on them much as if they had been patients in a hospital under the influence of an anÆsthetic.

Stopping only to make sure that all on board were dead to outward impressions for an hour at least,—after which time Jack calculated they would begin to stir,—the trio of lads made no more delay about seeking out the stern cabins, in which, they believed. Professor Chadwick and the rest were confined.

Jack was the first to make the alarming discovery that the staterooms which had been the scene of their captivity were empty.

It was a bitter pill to swallow indeed. The boys, perhaps despite their better judgment, had confidently calculated on finding and delivering their friends. Now, however, it appeared that they were as far from accomplishing this as ever.

“There’s only one conclusion to draw,” said Jack at length. “Herrera, for reasons best known to himself, has left them some place ashore.”

“Unless he——” began Ned, but Jack cut him short.

“I guess even Herrera wouldn’t dare to go much further than that,” he declared stoutly, “the question now is,—where has he left them?”

“Judging from the speed with which he overtook the Sea King he could not have proceeded far from the spot where we first encountered the Tarantula,” decided Ned, “according to my ideas then, our friends have most probably been set ashore on his plantation.”

“Cracky! I believe you are right, Ned,” cried Tom in a jubilant tone.

His voice became more sober the next minute, though.

“In that case they will be under a strong guard,” he added despondently.

“I don’t see that that follows,” struck in Jack. “I’ve just been thinking that Herrera, judging from his large crew, must have most of his fighting men right here on board the Tarantula. In such a case, the ones left at the plantation can’t be much more formidable than those slaves Ned told us about a while back.”

“That does sound reasonable,” assented Tom, “so then it will be our best plan to make for the coast at once. Do you think you could find the mouth of that river again, Ned?”

“Captain Andrews has its exact bearings,” rejoined the “wireless” lad. “I guess we could pick it up with no more trouble than we’d have in making any other port.”

“That sounds good,” gleefully exclaimed Jack. “I reckon it will be our best plan of action, too.”

“More especially as Herrera and company are going to have bad headaches when they do wake up, and will take some time to get their wits together,” said Tom with a grin. “By that time, if all goes well, we ought to have secured the freedom of our party.”

“Jove! But there’s one thing we were almost forgetting,” cried Ned suddenly.

“What’s that?”

The question proceeded from Tom.

“This craft has wireless. When the bunch comes back to life they can flash a message to the plantation telling them to be on the lookout for us. That is, if they guess where we’ve gone, and there isn’t much doubt that they will.”

“Right you are, Ned Bangs,” agreed Jack; “but I guess with what we know about wireless it won’t take over and above long to fix the Tarantula’s apparatus so that it won’t be any more good than a bunch of junk.”

“Seems a shame,” commented Tom.

Jack and Ned stared at him.

“Yes, and it would have been a shame if Herrera had sent the Sea King to the bottom, as he fully intended to do,” indignantly exclaimed the latter. “I don’t see where he comes in to be entitled to any more consideration than a rattlesnake.”

“No more do I,” assented Jack. “Come on, let’s find the wireless room of this craft and get busy with it.”

It took but a few minutes to locate the wireless room of the speedy gunboat. It took still less time for Jack to sever the wires and render the condensers and helix useless.

“There,” he said, with a deep breath, as he concluded his task, “I guess it will be quite a while before any messages can be flashed from this craft.”

“Unless they have extra apparatus on board,” came from Tom.

“Gee whiz! That didn’t occur to me. Wonder if they have?”

“Well, we can’t waste time looking for it,” struck in Ned. “You said the effects of that gas would wear off in about an hour, didn’t you. Jack?”

“Yes.”

“Then I suggest we get a move on.”

“Right you are,” agreed Jack, and then, looking around for Tom, he missed him. The lad had slipped silently out of the place.

“What can have become of him?” gasped Jack, somewhat astounded at Tom’s quick disappearance act.

It was not till they emerged on deck a few seconds later that they heard sounds from the engine-room, and presently Tom showed up. He had a wrench in his hand, and bore a well-satisfied grin on his round face.

“What on earth have you been up to?” asked Jack.

“I’ve been administering much the same treatment to the engines of this craft that you have to the wireless,” chuckled Tom. “Gee whillikers! what an astonished outfit of tamale-eaters there’s going to be on this ship when they come to life!”