Part 48 (1/2)

But, so out and the bigout a howl of pain, as his arm dropped limp to his side

He darted for the boat and threw himself into it, seized a spare oar and pushed off frantically

”Pull,--pull like hell,” he yelled

They needed no second bidding, for they shot out into the Bay as if a thousand devils were after them

I turned to ascertain who my deliverer could be; and there, on the beach, only a few yards away, stood Mary Grant with a serviceable-looking revolver held firht hand

”What? You! Mary,--Mary,” I cried in an agony of thought at the awful risk she had run

”Are you all right, George?” she inquired anxiously

”Right as rain,” I answered, hurrying to her side

”Did they get Jake's trunk away?”

”No! The low thieves! It is lying there in the water Do you think you could help ht up the trunk at one end, while I took the other And we carried it back between us to Jake's cabin

Poor old Jake! I could hardly sure he presented His grey hair was drooping over his forehead, every line in his face showed a droop, and his long, white moustache drooped like the tusks of a walrus, or like the American comic journals' representations of the whiskers of ancient and fossilisedbound, as the robbers had left hiered to his feet

He was sober as a jail bird, and, excepting for his broken lip and chafed wrists, he was, to all appearances, none the worse for his experiences It surprised me to notice how little he seemed interested in the recovery of his money All his attention and sy, Mike, as slowly getting over the clubbing he had received and hiash in his neck, evidently made by one of the robbers with Jake's bread-knife Mary washed out the wound and I stitched it up with a needle and thread, so that, all things considered, Mike was lucky in getting out of his encounter as easily as he did

As for the crack I had received over the head, it had h, but it was superficial and not worth worrying about

I decided I would not leave Jake alone that night and that, as soon as I had seen Mary safely ho

”When you co ink and paper with you

I want you to do sohed, for I kneas in his h the narrow path, in the dead of that ht me afresh How I ad her of it, and of how I loved her But it was neither the time nor the place for protestations of affection

”How in the world did you happen to get down there at the right hter