ices only sent me flying faster, realizing the pursuit. The only open
passage led directly toward the river, and I raced through the black
night down the slope as though all the fiends of hell were after me. I
heard shouts, oaths, but there was no firing, and was far enough ahead to
be invisible by the time I attained the bank. An open barge lay there, a
mere black smudge, and I stumbled blindly across this, dropping silently
over its side into the water. It was not thought, but breathless
inability to attempt more, which kept me there, clinging to a slat on the
side of the barge, so completely submerged in the river, as to be
invisible from above. Swearing fiercely, my pursuers stormed over the
barge, swinging their swords along the edges to be sure I was not there.
One blade pricked me slightly, but I held on, sinking yet deeper into the
stream. I could see the dim outline of heads peering over, but was not
discovered. The same gruff voice which had interrupted the duel broke
through the noise:

"I tell you he turned to the left; I saw him plainly enough. What did you
say the fellow's name was, Grant?"

"How do I know? He called himself Fortesque."

"Sure; the same one Carter was sent out hunting after. Well, he dodged
down there among those coal sheds. That is the only way he could have
disappeared so suddenly. Come on, all of you, except Moore and Cartaret,
and we'll beat the shore."

I heard them scramble across to the bank, but there were sounds also
proving the guards left behind were still on the deck above me. Then one
of the fellows sat down on the edge of the barge, his feet dangling
within a few inches of my head.

"Might as well take it easy, Bill," he said lazily. "They 're like to be
an hour layin' hands on the lad, an' all we got to do is see he don't fox
back this way. Got any tobacco, mate?"

The other must have produced the necessary weed, for there was a scraping
of flint and steel, a gleam of fire glinting on the water, and then the
pungent odor wafted to me in puff of smoke. With one hand, I unbuckled my
sword belt, letting it, sword and all, sink silently into the river. I
must cross to the opposite bank somehow, and would have to dispense with
the weapon. Inch by inch, my fingers gripping the narrow slat to which I
clung, I worked slowly toward the stern of the barge, making not so much
as a ripple in the water, and keeping well hidden below the bulge of the
side. The voices above droned al