eps aft, thinking to gauge our progress by the
wake astern. I was abaft the cabin on the port side when Dorothy
called my name--a sudden accent of terror in her voice.

The alarm was sounded none too soon. Either fortune, or skill had
served those demons well. Gliding silently through the obscuring
cloud, hanging in dense folds of vapor to the water surface, propelled
and guided by a single oar, used cautiously as a paddle, they had
succeeded in circling the stern of the _Santa Marie_, unseen and
unheard by anyone aboard. Not even the girl, unconscious of the
possibility of approaching danger from that quarter, her attention
diverted elsewhere, had her slightest suspicion aroused as they glided
noiselessly alongside, and made fast beneath the protection of the
after-chains. One by one, moving like snakes, the devils passed
inboard to where they could survey the seemingly deserted deck. Some
slight noise awoke her to their presence, yet, even as she shrieked
the sudden alarm, a hand was at her throat, and she was struggling
desperately in the merciless grip of a half-naked Indian.

Yet at that they were too late, the advantage of surprise had failed
them. A half dozen had reached the deck, leaping from the rail, the
others below clambering after their leaders, when with a rush, we met
them. It was a fierce, mad fight, fist and club pitted against knife
and cutlass, but the defenders knowing well the odds against them,
angered by the plight of the girl, realizing that death would be the
reward of defeat, struck like demons incarnate, crushing their
astounded antagonists back against the bulwark. I doubt if the
struggle lasted two minutes, and my memory of the scene is but a
series of flashes. I heard the blows, the oaths, the cries of pain,
the dull thud of wood against bone, the sharp clang of steel in
contact, the shuffling of feet on the deck, the splash of bodies
hurled overboard. These sounds mingle in my mind with the flash of
weapons, the glare of infuriated eyes, the dark, savage faces. Yet it
was all confusion, uproar, mingling of bodies, and hoarse shouts. Each
man fought for himself, in his own way. I thought only of her, and
leaped straight for her assailant with bare hands, smashing
recklessly through the hasty guard of his cutlass, ignorant that he
had even struck me, and gripped the copper devil by hair and throat. I
knew she fell to the deck, beneath our feet, but I had my work cut out
for me. He was a h