bre shadow of the wall.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

CRUSADERS, TO THE RESCUE!

"What am I to do!"

It is the ex-man-o'-war's man, still lying under the launch, who thus
interrogates himself. He has put the question for the fourth time that
night, and now as emphatically as ever, but less despairingly.

True, the conspiring assassins have only stepped aside to a lurking
place from which they may more conveniently pounce upon their quarry,
and be surer of striking it. But their changed position has left him
free to change his; which he at once determines upon doing. Their talk
has told him where the man-of-war's boat will be awaiting to take the
officers back to their ship. He knows the new wharf referred to, the
very stair at which the _Crusaders_ have been accustomed to bring to.

It may be the cutter with her full crew of ten--or it may be but the
gig. No matter which. There cannot be fewer than two oarsmen, and
these will be sufficient. A brace of British tars, with himself to make
three, and the officers to tot up five--that will be more than a match
for four Spanish Californians. Four times four, thinks Harry Blew, even
though the sailors, like himself, be unarmed, or with nothing but their
knives and boat-hooks.

He has no fear, if he can but bring it to an encounter of this kind.
The question is, can he do so? And first, can he creep out from under
the launch, and steal away unobserved?

A glance of scrutiny towards the spot where the assassins have placed
themselves in ambuscade, satisfies him that he can. The fog favours
him. Through it he cannot see them; and should be himself equally
invisible.

Another circumstance will be in his favour: on the soft, sandy beach his
footsteps will make but slight noise: not enough to be heard above the
hoarse continuous surging of the surf.

All this passes in a moment, and he has made up his mind to start; but
hesitates from a new apprehension. Will he be in time? The stair at
which the boat should lie is not over a quarter of a mile off, and will
take but a few minutes to reach it. Even if he succeed in eluding the
vigilance of the ambushed villains, will it be possible for him to get
to the pier, communicate with the boat's crew, and bring them back,
before the officers reach the place of ambush?

To all this the answer is doubtful, and the doubt appals him. In his
absence, the young gentlemen may arrive at the fatal spot. He may
return to find