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was abandoned in a flash

One e pole to shove off the Mauretania as if the ship were on fire while the other seized the helm and shoved the steam quadrant full ahead The launch shot toward the pier Bell ju the narrow craft, and pointed at the tug hipped alongside the ee”

“Gih!” cried the man with the brush

Bell smacked it into his hand

“On the jump!”

The steaed The

propeller spun, and the sharp-bowed little boat turned around and gathered way alongside the Mauretania They passed the last of the open coal chutes, where Bell had first spotted the Acrobat, and pulled into the wake of the tugboat propelling the ee

Bell heard a sharp two-finger whistle, an urgent warning

The Acrobat was signaling someone on the ship

Bell turned to see who his accomplice was

He saw a blur of li facets fly at his head He ducked, turning his face, but it came too fast — no man could throw so hard, it had to have been hurled fro could stop the jagged shard fro his skull

Isaac Bell heard a hollow explosion like a firecracker dropped in a barrel A sharp pain shot down his spine He felt his knees buckle, and he sensed that he was tu the launch shout, “Catch hirab hold But the hand he reached as too heavy to lift

Bell gathered all his strength for a her He felt the brush in his fingers, and he grasped it as tightly as he could The bristles slipped through his fingers, and there was nothing the tall detective could do to stop hi backwards into the water

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