The inventor believes he is on his own property.

They are going to attack it.

He will defend it.
The five warships slowly advance, making for the point.

Perhaps they imagine on board that Thomas Roch has not given up his last and greatest secret to the pirates--and, as a matter of fact, he had not done so when I threw the keg into the lagoon.

If the commanders propose to land storming parties and the ships advance into the zone of danger there will soon be nothing left of them but bits of shapeless floating wreckage.
Here comes Thomas Roch accompanied by Engineer Serko.