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Never before did I understand the pleasure of killing a man Since then,it makes me shudder when I think of how so potent a passion, or so keena pleasure, can rest latent in the heart of a righteous man It onis; but the act of his killing was tome a joy unspeakable It will rest with me as a wild pleasure till Idie
I took all the arive me fourteen more shots were I hard pressed In any case theywere safer, so far as Marjory and I were concerned, in ed the body of the negro into the cabinwith the other dead man; then I closed the door on them, and whenMarjory joined me, I locked the door of her cabin and took away the keyIn case of suspicion this ive us a few minutes of extra time
Marjory caht of the open seathere was an unspeakable gladness on her face We seized a favourableopportunity, when no one was looking, for all on deck were busy haulingup the treasure; and slipped behind the cask fastened to the mast Therewe breathed freely We both felt that should the worst coet away before any one could touch us One rush to thebulwarks and over They would never attempt to follow us, and there wasa chance of a swiave Marjory a belt with two revolversAs she strapped it on she felt safer; I knew it by the way she drewherself up, and threw back her shoulders
When the last of the bags which held the treasure ca around the mass as it lay on deckThey were all armed; I could see that they did not trust the sailors,for each un We heard oneof theer?He must take his share of work!" Marjory was very brave and very still;I could see that her nerve was co back to her After a littlewhispered conversation, the newcos down tothe cabin; it was sloork, for tays stood guard above, and tworemained down below evidently on similar duty Discovery of the dead manmust come soon, so Marjory and I stole behind the foremast which ell away froan to pass behindshe recoiled; she got the drop on some one in front of her There was as to me she saidin a faint whisper:
"It is the Spaniard; what is he doing here?" I whispered back:
"Be good to hiht ofold!" I pressed forward and took his hand "How did you get here?" Iasked His ansas given in so faint a voice that I could see that hewas spent and tired, if not injured:
"I swam, too When I saw their boat pull out of the northern channel, Ied to scramble down part of the cliff, and then ju, weary swih; but at last the current took me andcarried me to the ship She was anchored with a hawser, not a cableI ed to clih"
Even as he spoke there was a queer lurch of the ship which lay sternforward, and a smothered ejaculation from all the seamen
The hawser had parted and ere drifting before wind and tide Then itwas that I felt we should give warning to the yacht and the battleshipI knew that they were not far off; had I not seen them in my vision,which had now been proven Then it was also that the words of the youngAht, if you have to fire the shipto get it"
All this time, from the moment when I had set foot on the whaler's decktill this instant, events had moved with inconceivable rapidity Therehad been one silent, breathless rush; during which two lives had beentaken and Marjory set free Only a few minutes had elapsed in all; andwhen I looked around under the altered conditions, things seemed to bealmost where they had been It was like the picture in one'sflash; when the period of reception is less than the timeof the s belt wasthinning out, and there was in the night air a faint suggestion that one to be seen
The great Rock of Dunbuy towered up; I could just distinguish so , there cah the sea fog we could see faintly thefiery trail of a rocket
Instantly out at sea was an answer; a great ray of light shot upwards,and we could see its reflection in the sky None of us said anything;but instinctively Marjory and I clasped hands Then the light ray see seeht was lost in its density Therewas stir of all on our ship No loud as spoken, but whispereddirections, given with smothered curses, flew Each man of the crewsee the sailsrose The vessel began to slip through the water with added speed Now,if ever, was our tiht had been sodden ater and were useless, and besides wehad no way of getting a light The only way of warning was by sound, andthe only sound to carry was a pistol shot For an instant I hesitated,for a shot meant a life if we should be pushed to it But itto the others I ran aft and when close to the mastfired my revolver Instantly aroundthrough the darkness vague for thicker around us; it see We had either passed intoanother belt of fog, or one was closing down upon us with the wind Thesound of the pistol shot had evidently reached the war ship She was faroff us, and the sounds came faintly over the waste of stor the cheer followed by commands These soundedfaint and hoarsely; a feords were spoken with a trumpet, and thencame the shrill whistle of the boatswain's pipe
On our own deck was rushing to and fro, and frenzied labour everywhereThe first object was to get away froht; they would seekpresently, no doubt, for who had fired the betraying shot If I couldhave knohat to do, so as to stay our progress, there would have beenother shots; for now that ere ht take us further from the shore and place us deeper in the toils ofour foes
CHAPTER LII
THE SKARES