As I stepped out of the light boat into the loaded one, and directed my
crew to follow, one of the men--an Irishman, named O'Connor--touched his
forehead in the approved shell-back style, and observed--

"Av ye plaise, sor, Misther Forbes was sayin' would ye be so kind as to
sthep along to the houle afore ye makes your next thrip to the ship?
He's afther wantin' to shpake to ye."

"Oh, very good," said I; and, stepping ashore, I directed Joe to go
across to the other side of the basin to fetch the ladies and children,
who had crossed earlier in the afternoon, and now stood waiting to be
conveyed back to the ship, and then went groping my way along the dark,
uneven path toward the hole. The man O'Connor and somebody else--who it
was I could not distinguish in the gloom--were stumbling along in front
of me, and making very poor headway, I thought, for I quickly overtook
them. They were in my way, working along as they were, two abreast, for
the path was very narrow; so I said to them--"Here, let me pass, you
two; I am in a hurry!" They stepped aside without a word, one to one
side of the pathway and one to the other; and as I passed between them
one of them cried, "Now!" and, before I could even so much as think,
they both flung themselves upon me and bore me to the ground, one of
them springing upon me from behind, with his arms round my neck and his
knee into the small of my back, while the other dashed himself upon his
knees on my chest, and gripped me by the throat by one hand, as he
pressed the cold muzzle of a revolver to my temple with the other.

"A single worrud or a movement, and I'll pull the thrigger on ye, as
sure as death!" ejaculated O'Connor, between his set teeth, as he
tightened his grip upon my throat. "Now, Bill, feel ov his pockets and
take his barkers away, av he has anny, while I hould him. Now, listen
to what I'm tellin' ye. The others--that's Misther Forbes and the
gintleman--is already tuk, so ye needn't be expectin' any help from
thim; and as we've got such a hape of goold and silver out ov this
houle, we're goin' to be contint wid it, and intind to take the
thriflin' liberty of borryin' the ship to carry it away wid us; you can
have the rest yourselves, and much good may it do ye. Ah, that's right,
Bill," as the latter extracted a brace of loaded revolvers from my
jacket pocket; "just feel, while ye're about it, av he has a knife, and
take that from him, too. Now, are ye sure that'