blood was up to a heat so fierce, that the water
seemed only to make it hiss furiously instead of quenching his ardour,
and he held on to his adversary like a bull-dog, when, with the fear of
drowning before him, Gurdon uttered the wild appealing cry for help that
had been heard at the Castle, and turned once more to struggle with his
foe.

Once again only, as his head was above water, did Gurdon shriek, giving
utterance to a yell of horror that was hardly human, for the feeling was
strong upon him now, as they struggled farther and farther from the
shore, that the gardener was trying to drown him. But no such thought
was in McCray's breast: his determination was to make a capture, and,
unlike his enemy, a capital swimmer, the water had no terrors for him.
Every one of Gurdon's efforts was interpreted to mean escape, and,
heedless of the peril and suffocation, the struggle was continued, the
water being lashed into foam, till, at last, McCray, as they rose to the
surface after a long immersion, awoke to the fact that his quarry was
nearly exhausted, and that they were in deadly peril; for Gurdon's arms
were clutched round him in a deadly grip that there was no undoing.
They were far from the bank, and, in the rapid glance he took around, he
knew that they were in about twelve feet of water.

"There'll be something for the big pike to go at, if it does come to
it," thought McCray, with a grim feeling of despair; "but, anyhow, he'll
trouble the puir lassie nae mair."

The water, bubbling round his lips, checked McCray's thoughts for a few
moments, or rather gave them a new direction; but rising once more to
the surface, with one arm at liberty, he struck out fiercely, to keep
himself afloat.

"If I could get to the bridge-piles!" he thought, as through the
darkness he could dimly make out the little green, slimy pier, not many
yards from him. "Gude help me! I dinna want to die yet!"

He fought on for his life, beating the strangling water from his lips,
and tearing furiously to reach the pile, where, perhaps, he might be
able to hold on till help came. Once, through the darkness, he heard
voices, and caught a glimpse of a light dancing about; but the next
moment the water was thundering in his ears, and its blackness seemed to
blot out all vision.

Another few moments of strangling horror, and he had once more fought
his way to the surface; but he was yards away from the bridge-piles, and
a feeling now of despa