Dent, who had seen the swift action and the
confusion it caused; "that's given us twenty yards," and now he
allowed Jack to seize the paddle. Kneeling on one knee in the bottom
of the sampan, Jack put all his strength into the strokes of the broad
paddle. He had paddled a canoe often enough at home on the river which
ran near the school, and his powerful young arms backed up the
boatman's efforts to such purpose that the sampan travelled as it had
never done before. Behind him he heard the fierce swish of oars, and
knew that the skiff was once more in hot pursuit.

Suddenly, without a hint of warning, the end came. Jack was just
beginning to thrust the paddle down for a strong, deep stroke when the
sampan struck something. The shock was so great that Jack was flung on
his face. As he sprang up again he heard Buck cry, "She's hit a
floating log." The sampan was uninjured. She had struck the obstacle
with her tough keel-piece, and had been turned aside at right angles.
The Shan had been flung down too, but was up in an instant and
gathering his oars. But this loss of a moment gave the pursuing skiff
her chance. Driven by twelve brawny arms, held straight as a dart, her
sharp beak of stout, hard teak crashed into the light gunwale of the
sampan, hit her broadside, and cut the little vessel down to the
water's edge.

Scarcely recovered from the first shock, the second hurled Jack
headlong. He felt the sampan turn turtle under him, and in another
second he was shot into the dark, fierce current, and felt the waters
close over his head.

CHAPTER IX.

A CLOSE CALL.

Jack did not rise at once. As he sank, the words of Buck flashed into
his mind, and he dived and swam swiftly down stream. When he could
stay under no longer, he came very slowly to the surface and put out
his face. He drew a deep breath and looked eagerly about for the
enemy, dreading to see a heavy oar poised against the sky to beat a
swimmer under. But there was nothing close at hand, and he trod water
and raised his head very carefully to look round.

Suddenly the splash of an oar falling upon the water came to his ears.
He looked behind him and saw the dark mass of the skiff thirty yards
away. One of the oarsmen was standing up and striking at some object
in the water. A pang went through Jack's heart as he realised that one
of his companions must be there, struggling for his life, and being
brutally beaten under. Then he saw the frightful dan