lt it would be all over with him, for they were not the men to show
any mercy.

Darting among the palm-trees, therefore, he strained every nerve to
draw away from his enemies, while they strove, with equal desperation,
to overtake him.

It was a straight run, and comparatively an unobstructed one, for the
palm-trees were far enough apart to give him a pretty fair course,
which was of equal advantage to all parties. Perhaps it is possible,
therefore, to imagine the anxiety with which, after running a short
distance, Captain Bergen glanced over his shoulder to see how his
pursuers were making out. But it is not possible to appreciate his
consternation when he saw that two of them were outrunning him, and,
as he had striven to his very utmost, the frightful truth was manifest
that he was sure to be overtaken before he could reach the _Coral_.

Those who were gaining upon him were Pomp, the negro, and Brazzier
himself. But the fact that they were gaining upon him was no cause for
the fugitive falling down and yielding without a struggle. He still
had his sheath-knife, which he grasped with a despairing feeling as he
realized, during those awful seconds, that complete, disastrous
failure, instead of the brilliant success he had counted upon, had
overtaken him at last.

The pursuers gained rapidly, and not one-half the distance was passed,
when all three of the men were almost within striking distance, for
Redvignez was at the elbow of his companions. Captain Bergen looked
over his shoulder, and was about to throw his back against a
palm-tree, with the view of turning at bay and fighting to the last,
when, like the historical John Smith of our own earlier times, his
lack of attention to his feet precipitated the very fate against which
he was struggling. His feet struck some obstruction, and being
exhausted from his extraordinary exertion, he pitched forward and fell
on his face. As he went down he was conscious of hearing two widely
different sounds--one the exultant cries of the pursuers, and the
other the terrified scream of a little girl.

Captain Bergen attempted to rise, but Redvignez and Brazzier were upon
him, and the knife of the latter was upraised with the purpose of
ending the matter then and there forever, when the cry of the child
was heard the second time, and little Inez sprang, like Pocahontas,
between the uplifted arm and the intended victim.

"Oh, don't hurt him! Please don't hurt him! Please, please