a Spanish curse out of the darkness,
and Ludar, next moment, with the blood rushing from his side, staggered
forward and fell to the ground.

In an instant, before the villain could slink away, I had him by the
neck. It needed no cudgelling of my brains to guess who it might be;
for once and again that day while we worked I had marked the fellow's
evil eye on Ludar. Ludar had laughed when I had told him of it, and had
not deigned so much as to turn his head to see if I spoke true. And in
the bustle that had followed I too had forgot our enemy of the whip.
But he had not forgotten us.

Although I caught him in the dark, he was too quick for me. He had his
blade still, and though he struck wildly and only scratched my arm, the
blow loosed my grip for a moment; and in that moment he dashed past me
and up the ladder. I followed madly. As I reached the deck, I saw him
before me, running forward, and casting a glance behind to see if I
followed. Then, tripping on a rope, he lost his feet, and sprawled
forward, as I supposed, my easy prey.

But Heaven had taken his punishment out of my hands. For, at the very
spot where he fell, the gunwale of the ship stood open at a place where
the refuse of the late battle was being let out from the deck into the
water. And here, before a hand could be stirred or a cry raised, the
wretch plunged shrieking to the fate he deserved, and there was an end
of him.

When I returned below, I found Ludar gasping; but his wound, bad as it
was, was not so bad as the villain intended. The blade which had aimed
at his heart had turned aside on the rib, leaving, indeed, a hideous
flesh-wound in the side, but not threatening life. He was faint with
loss of blood, and I think, with pain; and when I spoke to him, he
turned a white face to me and said nothing.

Therefore, in no little panic, I lifted him gently to his bunk, and went
in search of help.

By good fortune I met Captain Desmond, to whom I told his fellow-
Irishman's plight; and presently he came forward with a leech. This
learned grandee seeing the wound not to be desperate, and having plenty
of business, I suppose, elsewhere, among his sea-sick lordlings, bade us
bandage up the wound as best we could, and find a better place to lay
the sufferer in than that foul hole. Saying which, he dawdled away.

Then Captain Desmond questioned me as to how it all happened, and when I
told him, he shrugged his shoulders and said:

"Help