e was a tiny
puff of light; the man's body wavered, then fell forward inert. Mercer
climbed into the boat. He looked back. Anina was pulling herself up over
the stern. A long pole lay across the seats. He picked it up and started
with it toward the bow. And then he tripped over something and fell
headlong, dropping the pole with a clatter.

As he picked himself up there came a shout from the men in the woods.
Mercer hurried forward and cast off the rope that held the boat to the
bank. It had been tied more or less permanently at this end. As he fumbled
at the knots he heard Anina's soft, anxious voice calling: "Hurry, Ollie,
hurry!"

The shouts from the woods continued. The knots loosened finally. The boat
slid back away from the bank; with the pole Mercer shoved the bow around.
An instant later Anina had started the mechanism, and in a broad curve
they swung silently out into the river.

Up from the woods shot a beam of the greenish-red light. It darted to and
fro for an instant, almost vertically in the air, and Mercer heard the
crackle of the tree-tops as they burst into flame under its heat. Then it
swung downward, but before it could reach the water level the rise of
ground at the bank cut it off.

Without realizing it, Mercer had been holding his breath as he watched.
Now he let it out with a long sigh of relief.

"We did it, Anina--we did it," he said exultantly. "And we've got a
light-ray, too."

A moment later they swept around a bend in the river, out of sight and out
of hearing of their enemies.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE STORM.

On the little stern seat of the boat Mercer and Anina sat side by side,
the girl steering by a small tiller that lay between them. They were well
out in the middle of the river now, speeding silently along with its swift
current. They made extraordinary speed. Both banks of the river were
visible in the twilight--dim, wooded hills stretching back into darkness.

The stream widened steadily as they advanced, until near, its mouth it had
become a broad estuary. They followed its right shore now and soon were
out in the Narrow Sea.

"We'd better go right on across," said Mercer. "It's too early for Alan to
be at the end of the trail. He won't be there till to-night. We can reach
the Great City before he starts."

They decided to do that, and headed straight out into the sea. They had
been cold, sitting there in the wind, and wet to the skin. But the boat
contained seve