back contents forward {{frabfp065.png}} || eagles of the sky || splash than a pelican might have made and almost instantly Jack started taxiing ahead in the direction of the nearby anchored sloop. Perk had set the third tear-bomb down with the belief that there would be no necessity for his using it. Silence hung about the sloop, and ocr> lie had decided there could be no one around, fix> he had decided there could be no one around, unless, when they clambered over the side, they should discover some poor chap who had succumbed to the provoking gas or else been stunned by a blow in the wild melee that had raged previously. Just the same wise old Perk did not mean to be caught off his guard and so he dragged out a formidable looking automatic, supplied by the Secret Service to all its accredited agents as a means for compelling a surrender on the part of any "wanted man" when overtaken in his flight. The head-phones had been disconnected so there was nothing to hinder a prompt boarding of the captured boat when Jack gave the word. With the glorious flush of victory thrilling his whole frame Perk stood by to fend off as ocr> they drew close to the squatty stern. It would, fix> they drew close to the squatty stern. It would be his duty to clamber out on one wing and get aboard, carrying a rope by means of which the floating airship could be secured to the water craft. This he managed to accomplish without much [[65]] back contents forward