“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.