lanking of the cabin, and the seamen held a
hurried consultation together.

Meanwhile, in the sea, a fierce struggle had been going on. His left
arm pierced by the knife, which had sought his heart, but in the
darkness missed its aim, Hughes had risen to the surface after his first
plunge, the body of his antagonist Gough falling on him as he did so,
both instantly grappling.

The soldier's arm was powerless, as with a savage shout, and deep
guttural oath, Gough pinned his enemy by the throat; dashing back his
head against the rough planking of the raft, while with his clenched
fist he dealt him blow after blow.

Clutching wildly and impotently at his aggressor, Hughes felt his
strength failing. Soon his head was below the water again, he struggled
to the surface, his senses were rapidly leaving him, and the fierce
exulting shout of his enemy rang vaguely in his ears. Down came the
sledge-hammer blows on his defenceless head, the man Gough fighting like
a fiend, roaring in his fury, and biting like a wild beast at his foe,
as he once more tore away his victim's hold and pressed his head below
the raft. The water gurgled in his ears, the savage shout mixed with
the noise of the waves as he went down, when suddenly the grip on his
throat ceased, his antagonist's eyes rolled wildly; with a yell of
agony, he seemed to leap half his height from out of the wave, and then
all around it became reddened with his blood.

A violent struggle followed, making the sea boil for a moment, as a
monstrous shark disappeared with its prey, and the strong arm of the
carpenter seizing the drowning man by the collar, drew him from the
ocean crimsoned with the blood of his antagonist, and cast him, stunned
and senseless, on to the planking of the raft.

Volume 2, Chapter X.

THE RESCUE.

Isabel, recovered from the state of insensibility into which she had
fallen, on seeing all at once the quiet of the night turned into a scene
of murder and of bloodshed, had taken refuge in the cabin. She paid no
attention to what was going on around her, but sat on a pile of sails,
rocking herself to and fro, and moaning as she did so. Several balls
passed through the canvas screen, but she paid no attention to them.
She had seen her husband, the last friend left her, stabbed as she
believed to the heart, and thrown into the sea. What was the result of
the fight now to her, and yet, as she saw even in her misery the
helpless body drawn from th