at they should be wholly ignorant of the boat
and its occupants, which must have made most of the distance before
night closed in.

It followed, therefore, that if they were looking for the doctor and
his family they were also looking for the boat and the fugitives it
contained. The low-lying shore, with no trees fringing the bank, was
the worst place for him and his friends, and he was in a fever of
eagerness to reach the protecting shadows along shore. The nerves of
all were keyed to the tensest point, when they caught the dim outlines
of the overhanging growth, with the leafage as exuberant as it always
is in a subtropical region at that season of the year. The men toiled
with vigor and care, while the others glanced from the gloom of the
river to the deeper gloom of the bank, which seemed to recede as they
labored toward it. With a relief that cannot be imagined the bulky
craft glided into the bank of deeper gloom, which so wrapped it about
that it was invisible from any point more than a dozen yards distant.

It is inconceivable how a narrower escape could have come about, for
the two men had hardly ceased poling, allowing the boat to move forward
with the momentum already gained, when their enemies were discovered.
Mary Marlowe's arm was interlocked with that of her father, when she
nervously clutched it and whispered:

"Yonder is their boat!"

All saw the terrifying sight at the same moment. Almost opposite, and
barely fifty yards out on the river, could be traced a moving shadow,
the outlines of which showed a craft similarly shaped to their own,
except that it was somewhat smaller and sat lower in the water. The
men were too dimly seen for their number to be counted or their motions
observed, but, as in the former instance, the sounds indicated that
they were using paddles.

Since it was certain that the natives were searching for the fugitives
in the boat under the shadows of the bank every one of the latter
wondered that the pursuers remained out in the stream, when there was
need of unimpeded vision. They half expected their enemies to turn to
the left and come directly for them. But nothing of the kind took
place. The craft headed down the river, the sound of the paddles so
slight that only the closely listening ear could hear them, until it
melted in the gloom and vanished from sight.

It was a vast relief for the moment, but little comfort could our
friends take from the fact. Their enemi