es of savages, and a flight of arrows directed against
Houten's launch gave ample evidence of the side the bowmen favored.
Barry touched Gordon's arm, and together they emptied their pistols into
the trees, a useless expenditure of ammunition at that distance. But
their efforts were unnecessary; the trap required no bolstering; for
with the first cries from the jungle came an answering shout, and behind
the ridge where Rolfe and Little and old Bill Blunt lay appeared these
watchful guards with a dozen Dutch seamen alongside them; and the arrows
had barely reached their mark, harmless, when a single, blasting volley
of musketry drove the intruding natives shrieking to cover, never to
risk another attack.

The little incident had taken but a few seconds, yet when rifles ceased
barking and silence again enveloped the gloomy creek, the deadly grapple
on the wreck had reached its climax. Leyden was upon Vandersee's breast,
one hand clutching desperately at his throat, the other gripping a
murderous knife yet unable to use it, for the big Hollander had a grip
on the wrist that could not be broken.

"Like a rat!" muttered Gordon. "Lord lean to Justice!"

Barry suddenly found Natalie in need of support, for her courage, once
past the crisis, was not proof against the sort of soul-revolting
conflict she was now forced to witness. Barry drew her to him with an
arm about her shoulders, and she rested against him with a little sigh
of relief. His own eyes refused to leave the scene on his old ship; but
beside him he heard voices, and he knew that Mrs. Goring too had found
the stress too great and had sought comfort in Gordon's arms. Yet those
two people had reason, too strong to be downed, for witnessing Leyden's
atonement; and while on that blasted and corpse-like wreck two men
fought, one in awful, cold, remorseless silence, the other with broken
screams of insane fury that availed him nothing, Mrs. Goring murmured
between racking sobs:

"Not vengeance for my pain, dear God! Only repayment for the golden
years he stole from the man who loved me!"

The sobs ceased, and the murmuring hushed, and the two women were spared
the rest. With a terrific outburst of shrill railing against everything
human or divine that could have any possible hand in his defeat, Leyden
gathered superhuman strength out of his desperation and tore loose his
knife hand. His other hand, at Vandersee's throat, had grown white and
numb from its own efforts