Albert White's lack of concern about the approaching boats means that something different is due to arrive and save Joe from his watery grave. Then a seaplane dips from the clouds and Dion blasts the bad guys literally to bits with the Chekov's gun.
The film:
A Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan gives Joe a Hannibal Lecture, invoking We Are Everywhere and citing various government officials that are in his corner. Joe is unimpressed.
Joe: So, you're threatening me with people who are more powerful than you?