vesting, their way lighted by the nearly full moon.

Up ahead the wooded sides of the bluff came down to the water's edge.
Frank led Auguste out on a shrub-covered spit.

Not until he was nearly on top of the bateau did Auguste see it. Frank
had pulled it up out of the water, covered it with branches, and tied it
to the roots of a tree that had toppled into the water, undercut by the
river.

With sinking heart Auguste saw that though the riverboat was small, it
would be heavier and harder to row than a canoe. Well, Frank had done
his best, and now he would have to do _his_ best.

His heart leaped with fear as he heard hoofbeats.

Horsemen, coming down the road from Victor.

Frank stopped working on the boat and lifted his head. "Damn! That skunk
must have seen you after all."

The pounding was coming rapidly closer. Auguste's heart was beating as
fast as the oncoming hooves. He saw the horsemen by moonlight--_five_ of
them, racing through the high corn.

Frank and Auguste pushed the little boat into the water bow first,
pointed stern resting on the shore. Auguste put his pack in the stern
and the rifle and ammunition in the bow, where they were more likely to
stay dry. The current pulled the bow downstream, the flat bottom
grinding in the mud.

Auguste saw a flash and heard a loud boom. Something whistled through
the bare branches of a bush beside him.

He leaped into the boat.

"Here. Beef and biscuit." Frank tossed a bag to Auguste, who set it on
the seat beside him. Frank pushed the bateau's stern free.

"Now row for your life!"

Pulling as hard and fast as he could, Auguste steered diagonally into
the Mississippi, trying to get beyond pistol range without spending all
his strength fighting the current.

"Hopkins, goddamn it, I'll kill _you_ if he gets away!"

Raoul's voice. Auguste wished he had time to load his rifle and shoot
back, but if he stopped rowing they were sure to get him.

Five bright red flashes and five shots roared out one after the other
from shore.

_If one of those men is Eli Greenglove I'm dead for sure._

Auguste heard a sharp rap on the side of the boat and splashes in the
water on his left. He felt naked sitting up in the boat pulling
frantically on the oars. He could stop rowing and lie down using the
side of the boat as a shield, but then he would remain within range,
drifting south along the riverbank, and Raoul and his men could follow
him and shoot at him at their l