Page 66 (1/1)

"Fire if he raises his hand," said Holth by this time, and almost within touch of our quarry I can see the two of thes far apart, shrieking out curses, and the unhalloith his hideous face, and his strong yellow teeth gnashing at us in the light of our lantern

It ell that we had so clear a view of hi a short, round piece of wood, like a school-ruler, and clapped it to his lips Our pistols rang out together He whirled round, threw up his arh fell sideways into the strea eyes amid the white swirl of the waters At the saed man threw himself upon the rudder and put it hard down, so that his boat ht in for the southern bank, while we shot past her stern, only clearing her by a few feet We were round after her in an instant, but she was already nearly at the bank It was a wild and desolate place, where the linant water and beds of decaying vegetation The launch with a dull thud ran up upon the mud-bank, with her bow in the air and her stern flush with the water The fugitive sprang out, but his stuth into the sodden soil In vain he struggled and writhed Not one step could he possibly take either forwards or backwards He yelled in ie, and kicked frantically into the les only bored his wooden pin the deeper into the sticky bank When we brought our launch alongside he was so fir the end of a rope over his shoulders that ere able to haul hi him, like some evil fish, over our side The two Smiths, father and son, sat sullenly in their launch, but cah when commanded The Aurora herself we hauled off and made fast to our stern A solid iron chest of Indian workmanship stood upon the deck This, there could be no question, was the same that had contained the ill-omened treasure of the Sholtos There was no key, but it was of considerable weight, so we transferred it carefully to our own little cabin As we steaht in every direction, but there was no sign of the Islander Somewhere in the dark ooze at the bottoe visitor to our shores