ently and in the darkness; and that
question was soon to receive an answer.

The trick of killing the unfortunate man with his own knife,--and making
it appear that he had committed self-destruction,--would have been too
shallow to have been successful under any other circumstances; but Le
Gros felt confident that there would be no very strict investigation;
and that the inquest likely to be held on the murdered man would be a
very informal affair.

In any case, the risk to him would be less than that he might expect on
the consummation of the combat,--the _finale_ of which would in all
probability, be the losing of his life.

He was no longer undecided about doing the foul deed. He had quite
determined upon it; and the attempt now being made by his confederate to
steal the knife was the first stop towards its perpetration.

The theft was too successfully accomplished. The wretch on getting up
to the rum-cask, was seen to sit down silently by its side; and, after a
few moments passed in this position he again rose erect, and moved back
towards the mast. Dark as was the night, Le Gros could perceive
something glittering in the hand of his accomplice, which he knew must
be the coveted weapon.

It was so. The sleeper had been surreptitiously disarmed.

For a moment the two men might have been seen standing in juxtaposition;
and while thus together the knife was furtively transferred from the
hand of the accomplice into that of the true assassin.

Then both, assuming a careless attitude, for a while remained near the
mast, apparently engaged in some ordinary conversation. An occasional
shifting of their position, however, took place,--though so slight that,
even under a good light, it would scarce have been observed. A series
of these movements, made at short intervals, ended in bringing the
conspirators close up to the empty hogshead; and then one of them sat
down by it. The other, going round it, after a short lapse of time,
imitated the example of his companion by seating himself on the opposite
side.

Thus far there was nothing in the behaviour of the two men to have
attracted the attention of their associates on the raft,--even had the
latter been awake. Even so, the obscurity that surrounded their
movements would have hindered them from being very clearly comprehended.

There was no eye watching the assassins, as they sat down by the side of
their sleeping victim; none fixed upon them as both simulta