ely to conceal himself, he must do so in such wise as to leave no
spoor, no clue to his hiding-place.

And as the young adventurer fled swiftly along the river-bank his heart
was filled with a bitter despair. Death stared him in the face at every
turn--death, violent but swift, on the weapons of his enemies, or death
by torture at their hands--here or when they dragged him back captive to
their wild stronghold. The ruthless persistency of their pursuit seemed
to point to no other intention. The sight of the grisly stake and its
impaled burden came back to his recollection and rendered him desperate.
All considerations of policy were thrown to the winds. He would sell
his, life dearly now.

Still there was a chance, and he resolved to make the most of it.
Casting his eyes keenly around he noticed a quick rapid movement, then a
splash. An iguana lying along a tree trunk which sloped out almost
horizontally over the water, alarmed by his presence, had run to the end
of the boughs and dived in. The idea struck him as an inspiration. In
a moment he was up the tree; then, following the example of the iguana,
he let himself drop into the water as noiselessly as possible.

It was over his head, but his feet touched ground almost immediately.
Then he rose again, and keeping under cover of the bank began to swim
upstream. The current being deep was sluggish, and Gerard, who was a
strong, powerful swimmer, made good headway. Carefully avoiding the
slightest splash he had swum about two hundred yards, when he became
sensible of a strange, but ever so slight vibration. It was caused by
the tread of footsteps on the bank.

He dived and swam beneath the surface in order to avoid leaving any
ripple. When at last he arose to breathe he found he was beneath a huge
overhanging bush, whose branches trailed down into the water. Nothing
could be better for his purpose.

Holding on by a bough, he drew a long deep breath. Then peering
cautiously forth through the foliage he watched and listened. Again
came that barely perceptible vibration of the bank, and he thought he
could detect the muffled sound of voices.

The shadow of the tree-fringed bank lay in an irregular line upon the
water. The sun was now almost straight upstream, reducing the shadow to
a mere three or four yards of width. And, a short distance below him,
projecting from this line of shadow, Gerard, from his concealment could
make out the moving silhouettes