me! I'll chuck him into
the hold.' And he clinched his words with another stream of fierce
imprecations.

He scrambled towards the spot where Chippy stood as fast as his feet
could carry him. The scout knew that he was in great danger; his
acquaintance with longshore folk was extensive, and he knew that among
them were to be found a few ruffians and thieves as desperate as any
alive--men who would not value a boy's life any more than a fly's, if
it became necessary to their safety to take it. If he were seized, he
would be knocked on the head, and his body flung into the hold of the
_Three Spires_, into the deep muddy bilge which lay there, as safe a
hiding-place for a crime as could be found.

There was but one way of escape, and he turned to it at once. His boat
had gone, but the river was still his refuge and way of release. He
seized the broken taffrail, swung himself over it, let himself go, slid
swiftly down the side, holding himself straight and stiff as a bar, and
struck the water with his bare feet with less than a splash, with no
more than a sharp _clunk_, and at the next instant was striking out
with all his might for the side of the creek.

The man creeping along the deck uttered a savage oath full of baffled
fury as he saw Chippy vanish over the side, and heard him enter the
water; then scrambled swiftly back to the boat, and sprang in.

'He's jumped over,' he growled. 'Pull round and after him. We'll get
him yet.'

'P'raps he's drownded,' said the other.

'Not him,' cried the fiercer thief; 'he didn't drop into the water like
one as gets drownded. He's makin' off--that's what he's a-doin'.
Pull, I tell ye--pull!'

They bent to the oars, and the skiff was driven at speed round the
stranded hull of the barquentine. For his part, Chippy was swimming as
he had never swum before. He was lashing the water with all his might,
swimming his favourite side-stroke, his fastest way of moving, now
glancing at the dark mass which marked the side of the creek, now
glancing behind to see if the boat pursued. In one thing he was very
unlucky. He had struck straight away from the side over which he had
slipped, the side upon which the boat was not lying, and was swimming
into the moonlight which now bathed the farther side of the creek. He
shot into the lighted space as the boat slid from under the shadow of
the broad stern, and was seen at once. Across the quiet water Chippy
heard the voice of his