e shrouds, he found himself
dangling over the forward deck of the _Monterey_, upon which he quickly
dropped.

It so happened that the fight was now raging aft, and for a moment
Banker stood alone looking about him. He believed his rapid transit
through the air had not been noticed. He would not call upon his men to
follow as he had intended. Without much fear of detection he would slip
quietly behind the crew of the _Monterey_, and take a shot at Captain
Horn the moment he laid eyes on him. Then he could shout out to his men
to some purpose.

Banker moved on a few steps, not too cautiously, for he did not wish to
provoke suspicion, when suddenly a hand was placed upon his chest. There
was nobody in front of him, but there was the hand, and a very big one
it was, and very black. Like a flash Banker turned, and beheld himself
face to face with the man Mok, the same chimpanzee-like negro who had
been his slave, and with whom in the streets of Paris he had once had a
terrible struggle, which had resulted in his capture by the police and
his imprisonment. Here was that same black devil again, his arms about
him as if they had been chain-cables on a windlass.

Banker had two pistols, but he had put them in his pockets when he made
his swing upon the boom, and he had not yet drawn them, and now his arms
were held so tightly to his sides that he could not get at his weapons.
There was no one near. Banker was wise enough not to call out or even to
swear an oath, and Mok had apparently relapsed into the condition of the
speechless savage beast. With a wrench which might have torn an ordinary
limb from its socket, Banker freed his left arm, but a black hand had
grasped it before he could reach his pistol.

Then there was a struggle--quick, hard, silent, and furious, as if two
great cobras were writhing together, seeking each other's death. Mok was
not armed. Banker could not use knife or pistol. They stumbled, they
went down on their knees, they rose and fell together against the rail.
Instantly Banker, with his left arm and the strength of his whole body,
raised the negro to the rail and pushed him outward. The action was so
sudden, the effort of the maddened pirate was so great, that Mok could
not resist it--he went over the side. But his hold upon Banker did not
relax even in the moment when he felt himself falling, and his weight
was so great and the impetus was so tremendous that Banker could not
hold back, and followed h