ht dazzled him for a second,
and his throw was stayed. The three yachtsmen, huddled in their chains
aft, stared in helpless amazement at the tableau; for such it became,
when the fight stopped for a breath and every man's passion-filled face
was lighted by the red glare.

"Shoot him down!" shouted Pearse in horror.

And Venner and Tomlin strove for words without success. Venner was dumb
and sick in face of Dolores's peril. Yellow Rufe uttered a grim,
Satanic growl of laughter, and drew back his arm for the cast. His
plight was utterly desperate; he knew death waited for him with
clutching talons, and with his last breath he would reap toll that
should make his name a thing to recall with dread afterward.

"This for thy witch's heart!" he howled, and his arm quivered. Then out
of the shadows aloft, above the smoky flare, came down the tremendous
shape of Milo, forgotten in his post at the masthead, but never taking
his eyes from his Sultana.

Like a gorilla he slipped down the backstay with one hand; with the
other hand he reached downward with a swift, sure clutch, and as Rufe's
wrist flexed to cast his javelin Milo's hand gripped him by the neck
from behind and swung him bodily off his feet, while the wide-flung
cutlas flashed through the air and plunged with a hiss over the side.

"I thank thee again, Milo," said Dolores, slipping her dagger into the
sheath and looking on at Rufe's struggles with the unconcern of one far
apart from the actual conflict. "I wished to take him alive; yet had
almost been forced to cut too deeply. Bring the villain to me. And,
Caliban, get more flares, lanterns, lights, and make us a theater of
justice here."

She stepped aft, saw Peters at the wheel, and smiled as she realized how
her boarding of the sloop might have resulted.

"Hah, but it would have availed thee nothing!" she smiled at Venner. "I
read thy heart as I read the stars, friend. Watch how completely Yellow
Rufe pays his debt to me. He has fled me through forest and mountain;
through a sea of howling storm; yet he pays. And thus all men pay who
think to flout Dolores. Keep thy eyes wide, friends, and watch."

Yellow Rufe was brought before her, and his swarthy face was pallid in
the red light. There was something of the splendid beast about this
fellow, too; a quality that showed even when he faced certain death and
no merciful one. He had run, and when overtaken he had fought; and now
he must pay.

"Hanglip, to the