forced their way by dint of the most
laborious exertions on the part of the crew.

Virginia watched the two men near her furtively. They were deeply
engrossed in their conversation. Neither was looking in her direction.
The backs of the paddlers were all toward her. Stealthily she rose to
a stooping position at the boat's side. For a moment she paused, and
then, almost noiselessly, dove overboard and disappeared beneath the
black waters.

It was the slight rocking of the prahu that caused Barunda to look
suddenly about to discover the reason for the disturbance. For a
moment neither of the men apprehended the girl's absence. Ninaka was
the first to do so, and it was he who called loudly to the paddlers to
bring the boat to a stop. Then they dropped down the river with the
current, and paddled about above the gorge for half an hour.

The moment that Virginia Maxon felt the waters close above her head she
struck out beneath the surface for the shore upon the opposite side to
that toward which she had dived into the river. She knew that if any
had seen her leave the prahu they would naturally expect to intercept
her on her way toward the nearest shore, and so she took this means of
outwitting them, although it meant nearly double the distance to be
covered.

After swimming a short distance beneath the surface the girl rose and
looked about her. Up the river a few yards she caught the
phosphorescent gleam of water upon the prahu's paddles as they brought
her to a sudden stop in obedience to Ninaka's command. Then she saw
the dark mass of the war-craft drifting down toward her.

Again she dove and with strong strokes headed for the shore. The next
time that she rose she was terrified to see the prahu looming close
behind her. The paddlers were propelling the boat slowly in her
direction--it was almost upon her now--there was a shout from a man in
the bow--she had been seen.

Like a flash she dove once more and, turning, struck out rapidly
straight back beneath the oncoming boat. When she came to the surface
again it was to find herself as far from shore as she had been when she
first quitted the prahu, but the craft was now circling far below her,
and she set out once again to retrace her way toward the inky mass of
shore line which loomed apparently near and yet, as she knew, was some
considerable distance from her.

As she swam, her mind, filled with the terrors of the night, conjured
recollection of