back contents forward {{frabfp057.png}} || eagles of the sky || him wonderfully on more than a few previous occasions, where the situation looked desperate. They were sliding down a steep glide with the engine shut off. The deck of the nearby schooner was plainly visible due to the lights aboard, and the successive discharges of firearms, each looked like a miniature flash of lightning. As they approached the scene of confusion the racket grew in volume,--a dozen men seemed to be whooping things up as though under the impression that the battle could be won by sheer noise--and broken heads. Perk kept his wits, and managed to locate the small stock of tear bombs that had been given into their charge, with the idea they might find them more or less useful should they strike a superior force of reckless law breakers and get into what Perk would call a "jam." Already he had succeeded in clutching a couple of the round missiles that were charged with the acrid gas that could play such havoc with human eyes as to render the strongest men as weak as babes and settled down in a position where he could throw them to advantage. [[57]] back contents forward