wd.

The Malay leaped forward with ample ability to outstrip all his
pursuers, but just as he arrived in front of a large swimming
establishment a bullet from a policeman's pistol brought him to his
knees. The crowd quickly pressed around him. The criminal staggered to
his feet, made a fierce dash at a man who stood in his way, and sank a
good knife into his body. Then he bounded away, fled swiftly past a
narrow beach where swimming-clubs have their houses, and disappeared in
the ruins of a large old building that lay at the foot of a sandy bluff
on the water's edge. He was trailed a short distance within the ruins
by a thin stream of blood which he left, and there he was lost. It was
supposed that he had escaped to the old woollen-mill on Black Point.

As in all other cases where a mob pursues a fleeing criminal, the
search was wild and disorderly, so that if the Malay had left any trail
beyond the ruins it would have been obliterated by trampling feet. Only
one policeman was in the crowd, but others, summoned by telephone, were
rapidly approaching from all directions. Unintelligent and
contradictory rumors bewildered the police for a time, but they formed
a long picket line covering an arc which stretched from North Beach to
the new gas-works far beyond Black Point.

It was about this time that Captain Freeman cast off and started out to
sea.

The summit of Black Point is crowned with the tall eucalyptus-trees
which the Flying Devil had seen from Telegraph Hill. A high fence,
which encloses the general's house, extends along the bluff of Black
Point, near the edge. A sentry paced in front of the gate to the
grounds, keeping out all who had not provided themselves with a pass.
The sentry had seen the crowd gathering towards the east, and in the
distance he noticed the brass buttons of the police glistening in the
western sunlight. He wondered what could be afoot.

While he was thus engaged he observed a small, dark, wiry man emerging
upon the bluff from the direction of the woollen-mill at its eastern
base. The stranger made straight for the gate.

"You can't go in there," said the soldier, "unless you have a pass."

"Da w'at?" asked the stranger.

"A pass," repeated the sentry; and then, seeing that the man was a
foreigner and imperfectly acquainted with English, he made signs to
explain his remark, still carrying his bayonet-tipped rifle at
shoulder-arms. The stranger, whose sharp gleam of eye gave the soldi