urrent sucked him underneath the
water, and for several seconds he feared that he should be compelled
to let go his hold. But his muscles, steeled in the slow fire
of convict-labour, withstood this last strain upon them, and,
half-suffocated, with bursting chest and paralysed fingers, he preserved
his position, until the mass, getting out of the eddies along the
shore-line, drifted steadily down the silvery track that led to the
settlement. After a few moments' rest, he set his teeth, and urged his
strange canoe towards the shore. Paddling and pushing, he gradually
edged it towards the fire-light; and at last, just when his stiffened
limbs refused to obey the impulse of his will, and he began to drift
onwards with the onward tide, he felt his feet strike firm ground.
Opening his eyes--closed in the desperation of his last efforts--he
found himself safe under the lee of the rugged promontory which hid
the fire. It seemed that the waves, tired of persecuting him, had, with
disdainful pity, cast him ashore at the goal of his hopes. Looking back,
he for the first time realized the frightful peril he had escaped, and
shuddered. To this shudder succeeded a thrill of triumph. "Why had he
stayed so long, when escape was so easy?" Dragging the carcases above
high-water mark, he rounded the little promontory and made for the fire.
The recollection of the night when he had first approached it came upon
him, and increased his exultation. How different a man was he now from
then! Passing up the sand, he saw the stakes which he had directed Frere
to cut whiten in the moonshine. His officer worked for him! In his own
brain alone lay the secret of escape! He--Rufus Dawes--the scarred,
degraded "prisoner", could alone get these three beings back to
civilization. Did he refuse to aid them, they would for ever remain in
that prison, where he had so long suffered. The tables were turned--he
had become a gaoler! He had gained the fire before the solitary watcher
there heard his footsteps, and spread his hands to the blaze in silence.
He felt as Frere would have felt, had their positions been reversed,
disdainful of the man who had stopped at home.

Frere, starting, cried, "It is you! Have you succeeded?"

Rufus Dawes nodded.

"What! Did you catch them?"

"There are four carcases down by the rocks. You can have meat for
breakfast to-morrow!"

The child, at the sound of the voice, came running down from the hut.
"Oh, Mr. Dawes! I am so