ed boat keeping pace with them a couple of hundred yards out,
its owners having hard work to stem the current which ran along the
shore.

"Is it much farther?" said Brettison at last. "I am weaker than I
thought."

"Seventy or eighty yards; just beyond those rocks," cried Stratton.

"Hah, then I am strong enough," cried Brettison, with a sigh of relief;
and after a few moments' pause he stepped out again; they passed the
rocks, and the doubt which had existed in Stratton's mind as to whether
the party would still be where he left them was set at rest. But he
started as he saw that they were gathered together as if there were some
cause of excitement.

"Come along," he whispered quickly.

They were hurrying along, when there was a joyful cry, and the sturdy
Breton woman chosen for Dale's attendant cried out:

"Ah, monsieur; quick! quick! Here--help!"

Stratton quitted Brettison's side and rushed forward, to see, as the
group opened, a sight that made his blood boil with rage.

Dale was holding Myra's wrist with his left hand and struggling
violently with the admiral and Guest, who were afraid to exert their
strength for fear of injuring Myra, who was supported by Margot with one
arm, while with her strong fingers she grasped her patient's wrist in
turn.

"Quick, monsieur!" cried Margot; "it is a fit. He is half-mad."

Forgetting everything but the fact that Myra was in this scoundrel's
grasp, Stratton sprang at him, catching him by the throat to try and
make him quit his hold.

"Mr Stratton!" cried Sir Mark in angry amazement.

The name acted like magic. Dale shook himself free of the admiral and
Margot, loosening Myra's wrist in the act, and with an angry snarl, like
that of some wild beast, fixed his hands on Stratton's throat.

In spite of his last meeting Guest flew to his friend's assistance, and
Margot bravely flung her arms about her patient's waist; but in spite of
all the man's strength for the moment was gigantic, and, paying no heed
to the others, he sought to vent his rage upon Stratton, who felt
himself growing weaker and weaker in his enemy's grasp.

Twice over as they swayed here and there he caught sight of Myra's face
convulsed with horror while she clung to her cousin, and her look
unnerved him so that it would have gone hard with him but for the
arrival of a party of four men who had landed from the boat that had
kept pace with them along the shore.

One of these was the fisherm