covery.

"Oh, papa, I have forgotten my pistol!"

"Wait and I'll soon get it," she added, starting to leap the short
distance from the gunwale to land, but Jack Everson caught her arm.

"You must not think of it; tell me where you left the weapon and I'll
bring it."

"I laid it on the table in the dining-room and in the hurry forgot it
when we left."

Jack turned to his friends.

"Don't wait here," he said, aware of the nervousness of the whole
party. "Push down stream, and I'll quickly overtake you."

Without waiting for further explanation, he leaped the slight space and
started up the lawn on a loping trot. For convenience he left his
rifle behind, but made sure that his revolver was in his hip pocket.
He did not apprehend that he would need the weapon in the short time he
expected to be absent, but if anything went awry it would be more
useful than the rifle.

In that moment of profound stillness following the disappearance of the
young man among the trees grouped about the lawn, the motionless people
on the boat felt a thrill of terror at the unmistakable sound of oars
from some point on the river not distant.

"Let us land and take refuge in your house," suggested young Wharton;
"we cannot make a decent fight in this boat."

"We shall have a better chance than in the house," was the reply of the
physician; "the bank of the river is shaded by trees a little further
down; we must lose no time in getting there, and avoid the least noise."

There were two long poles belonging to the boat, one of which was
grasped by Wharton, while Anderson swayed the other, the remainder
watching their movements, which could not have been more skillful.
Pressing the end against the bank, and afterwards against the clayey
bottom, the craft speedily swung several rods from shore.

While the two men were thus employed, the others peered off in the
gloom and listened for a repetition of the sounds that had frightened
them a few minutes before. They were not heard again, nor could the
straining vision detect anything of the dreaded object, which could not
be far away. Not a person on board doubted that a number of their
enemies were near and searching for them. Dr. Marlowe would have taken
comfort from this fact had the circumstances been different; for the
men who were hunting for him would go to his house, since it was there
they must gain their first knowledge of his flight; but, as he viewed
it, it was impossible th