ge
gazing into his own through the sights of the rifle. He observed that
it was a gray eye and remembered having read that gray eyes were
keenest, and that all famous marksmen had them. Nevertheless, this one
had missed.

A counter-swirl had caught Farquhar and turned him half round; he was
again looking at the forest on the bank opposite the fort. The sound
of a clear, high voice in a monotonous singsong now rang out behind
him and came across the water with a distinctness that pierced and
subdued all other sounds, even the beating of the ripples in his ears.
Although no soldier, he had frequented camps enough to know the dread
significance of that deliberate, drawling, aspirated chant; the
lieutenant on shore was taking a part in the morning's work. How
coldly and pitilessly--with what an even, calm intonation, presaging,
and enforcing tranquility in the men--with what accurately measured
interval fell those cruel words:

"Company! . . . Attention! . . . Shoulder arms! . . . Ready!. . .
Aim! . . . Fire!"

Farquhar dived--dived as deeply as he could. The water roared in his
ears like the voice of Niagara, yet he heard the dull thunder of the
volley and, rising again toward the surface, met shining bits of
metal, singularly flattened, oscillating slowly downward. Some of
them touched him on the face and hands, then fell away, continuing
their descent. One lodged between his collar and neck; it was
uncomfortably warm and he snatched it out.

As he rose to the surface, gasping for breath, he saw that he had been
a long time under water; he was perceptibly farther downstream--nearer
to safety. The soldiers had almost finished reloading; the metal
ramrods flashed all at once in the sunshine as they were drawn from
the barrels, turned in the air, and thrust into their sockets. The
two sentinels fired again, independently and ineffectually.

The hunted man saw all this over his shoulder; he was now swimming
vigorously with the current. His brain was as energetic as his arms
and legs; he thought with the rapidity of lightning:

"The officer," he reasoned, "will not make that martinet's error a
second time. It is as easy to dodge a volley as a single shot. He
has probably already given the command to fire at will. God help me,
I cannot dodge them all!"

An appalling splash within two yards of him was followed by a loud,
rushing sound, DIMINUENDO, which seemed to travel back through the air
to the fort and d