man, trembling in every limb; "come, jump in, and
shove off."

At that moment a policeman came running down towards them.

"Are you mad?" exclaimed the man, grasping Gorman by the arm as he
sprang toward the boat.

In a moment, Gorman struck him to the ground, and leaping into the boat
pushed off, just as the policeman came up. He was whirled away
instantly.

Grasping one of the oars, he was just in time to prevent the boat being
dashed against one of the wooden piers of a wharf. He was desperate
now. Shipping both oars he pulled madly out into the stream, but in a
few moments he was swept against the port-bow of a large vessel, against
the stem of which the water was curling as if the ship had been
breasting the Atlantic waves before a stiff breeze. One effort Gorman
made to avoid the collision, then he leaped up, and just as the boat
struck, sprang at the fore-chains. He caught them and held on, but his
hold was not firm; the next moment he was rolling along the vessel's
side, tearing it with his nails in the vain attempt to grasp the smooth
hull. He struck against the bow of the vessel immediately behind and
was swept under it.

Rising to the surface, he uttered a wild shriek, and attempted to stem
the current. He was a powerful swimmer, and despair lent him energy to
buffet the waves for a short time; but he was again swept away by the
irresistible tide, and had almost given up hope of being saved, when his
forehead was grazed by a rope which hung from a vessel's side. Seizing
this, he held on, and with much difficulty succeeded in gaining the
vessel's deck.

With his safety Gorman's fear of being captured returned. He hid
himself behind some lumber, and while in this position wrung some of the
water out of his clothes. In a few minutes he summoned courage to look
about him, and discovered that the vessel was connected with the one
that lay next to it by a plank. No one appeared to be moving, and it
was so dark that he could not see more than four or five yards before
him. To pass from one vessel to the other was the work of a few
seconds. Finding that the second vessel lay moored to the quay, he
sprang from it with all his might and alighted safely on the shore.
From the position of the shipping he knew that he stood on the south
bank of the river, having been swept right across the Thames, so he had
now no further difficulty in hiding his guilty head in his own home.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.