odies hurried
toward them.

He did not shout out or make any noise; he simply lessened the distance
between him and them by increasing his pace. The two stooping forms,
casting long, oblique shadows across the white, hard road, were almost
level with their intended victims. Now the shadow of one of them crept a
little in advance of the ladies, and Adrienne Cartuccio, seeing it,
stepped suddenly back with a cry of alarm.

"Giovanni! Giovanni! There are robbers! Ah!"

The cry became a shriek, but it was instantly stifled by a coarse hand
thrust upon her mouth. At the same moment her companion felt herself
treated in a similar manner. They could only gaze into the dark
ruffianly faces of their captors in mute terror. The whole thing had
been too sudden for them to make any resistance, and Giovanni, their
trusted escort, seemed suddenly to have disappeared. As a matter of
fact, he was watching the proceedings from behind a convenient bowlder.

The man who was holding Adrienne pointed to the carriage, the door of
which the driver had thrown open.

"This way, Signorina," he said "It is useless to struggle. We shall not
harm you."

She shook her head violently, and with a sudden effort thrust his hand
away from her mouth.

"What do you want?" she cried. "Who are you? You can have my jewels, but
I will never step inside that carriage. Help! help!"

He wound his arms around her, and, without a word, commenced dragging
her across the road.

"You may shout as much as you like," he muttered. "There will only be
echoes to answer you."

A sudden warning cry rang out from his companion, and, with a start, he
released his victim. The Englishman had stepped into the middle of the
group, and, before he could spring back, a swinging left-hander sent him
down into the dust with a dull, heavy thud.

"You blackguard!" he thundered out Then turning quickly round he faced
the other man, who had sprung across the road with bent body, and with
his right hand in his breast. There was a gleam of cold steel, but
before he could use the knife which he had drawn, his arm was grasped
and held as though by a vice, and slowly bent backward. He dropped the
weapon, with a shriek of pain, upon the road, and fell on his knees
before his captor.

The Englishman's grasp relaxed, and taking advantage of it, the man
suddenly jumped up, leaped over the wall, and disappeared in the
plantation. Pursuit would have been impossible, but none of them t